Coxfires

I loved Radiohead's "No alarms and no surprises" of episode 2 when Maeve starts to experience her own change

My issue with Connor, or rather his treatment, is that he is defined only by his relationship with Oliver. With the exception of the second episode of the season which concentrated a bit more on his lawyer skill, his only other actions were all Oliver-related, with no personal storyline or agency. There are lots of interesting sides to Connor that could benefit for more backstory or development, but the character is stuck with his RL only.

I agree about Drake, if he replaces one of the K5, I'll be disappointed. I don't like the character nor the actor

Regarding Alex being sorry or remorseful, I think that he is, he just doesn't vocalize it in explicit ways, or at least that is what I get from his lines. IMO he really thinks he is going to jail because what he did was wrong. He told Meredith he felt like trash in episode 2, he keeps telling her how about he soon won't be there anymore. And I am not excusing him, I think that he should be harshly sentenced for what he did, but regarding his remorse, there is also the fact that he didn't beat up Deluca because it was Deluca, he would have blugeoned any guy that would have been there, it wasn't personal. And I feel that he still can't really cope with that, and is in kind of a denial phase that he could lose it like that. This all tie up with him needing psychological help more than anything. And finally, there is also the fact that the writers probably kept this for the trial. This still doesn't excuse him or meant the law should be "lenient" on him, but to me, he is expressing remorses in lots of ways, just not frontal TV ways.

More than "I'm sorry", which is a saying that I often find hollow, I'd like Alex to tell DeLuca that he didn't deserve to be hurt this way, because he recognizes that he is a decent human being who should never have been at the receiving end of such a beating. Saying "I'm sorry" is making it all about you when it's the wronged party that should be acknowledged as such.

I agree with it. He can't undo what happened but I wish we will see him be directed to therapy. I understood why he didn't want another, albeit deserved, lecture from Arizona (it was pretty realistic, no one likes to be reminded that they screwed up) because it won't change anything. I took his dismissive remark about DeLuca more as a way to deflect and avoid the conversation than a real dig at the guy. It was him trying to run away from the discussion rather than facing his mentor be pissed at him. Now he has to face the consequences of his actions but most importantly really trying to work on his anger issues. I also don't understand why people would be so shitty on DeLuca and was glad to see Arizona show him the compassion he deserves. He is a victim who has done nothing wrong and was right to press charges Meredith is getting ridiculous with the whole Not-Triangle issue.

I agree, to me, Jo lying and Alex pummeling DeLuca are two separate issues. Alex didn't attack DeLuca because Jo lied, he attacked him because he couldn't contain his rage. He could have yelled, insulted them both, left smashing the door, told them to get out, etc. but he and only he alone is responsible for going postal on DeLuca. I also think that the decision to amp up Alex' outburst to eleven and make DeLuca's condition so dramatic was thought afterwards, just like they retconned Alex thinking Andrew assaulted Jo. I mean, they chose to have Alex enter when she was laughing after DeLuca fell on top of her. If they really wanted to go the "I thought she was being raped" route, why couldn't they have Jo cry when he entered the room (since she already was)? Then he would have seen his gf lying half naked on a bed and crying with a guy on top of her, and "voilà", no need of a retcon. I don't feel like they have managed well to transition last year's scenes into this season to fit their story. Now, do I feel like Alex deserve what happens to him? Yes I do. But I appreciate that he doesn't try to make excuse for himself and recognizes just how much he fucked up. So I'm all about watching him get through it, atone for his mistake and grow up in the process. On the other hand, Alex' actions don't nullify Jo's lies, particularly considering the number of occasions she could and should have disclosed the truth to him. She also has to face her own demons and come clean, not for Alex but for herself. Keeping it a secret isn't solving the fact that she is still married to this guy, and that she needs to step up, ask for divorce and part ways definitely with this part of her past, because as long as she'll put that under the rug instead of facing it, this will remain an issue for her.

I really liked the episode and the case of the week, I'm glad we don't have a big Hapstall case this year. I really like how despite ruling out Oliver as the dead body, the show manages to drop hints that it could be Connor : him being the center of the episode, having him tell the client about his involvement in a murder, his current depression, and Annalise not telling Oliver who the body was... but knowing this show all of these could be huge red herrings, because with this show nothing is ever obvious, and that is why I like it. Also glad to see Connor win a case by himself with no sex or Oliver intervention, that is a first. Annalise is still the biggest badass mastermind there is, atta girl.

This episode just reminded me how underused Justin Chambers has been on this show. He was able to convey Alex's guilt, despondency, irritability, regrets and investment in the kid so naturally, it is a shame we didn't get to see more of these in previous seasons. Although I definitely think that Alex deserves every punishment that comes to him, his sincerity in recognizing that he brought it on himself alone felt very true. His scene with Bailey was great. I loved that she said that he was the "surprise" and Chandra's "You're a good doctor" delivery was perfect. She sometimes chews the scenery too much for my taste but in this scene, both actors were top notch. Meredith though annoyed me with her meddling. The DeLuca stuff came from good intention but just made things worse, she invited Alex to a party thrown by someone else without checking first, and her telling Riggs what to say...just eugh. Being there for Alex wasn't enough for me not to dislike her this episode.

The bolded part makes me tick. Mer shouldn't refrain herself from having a relationship with someone who she is interested in and who is reciprocally interested in her for the sole sake of Maggie's crush. It isn't like Riggs slept with Mer whereas he was dating Maggie, or was married to her, she isn't even on HIS radar. the adult thing to do is just treating Maggie like an adult: riggs isn't into her, but into Mer. It sucks, but she could move on. Instead everyone acts like they are 16 at best. Alex: he brought it all on himself, but as said above, still no anger management issue addressed. and isn't it ironic that Alex is affected at work by something that happened in his private life (albeit with a co-worker), whereas everyone that has screwed up while working at Seattle Grace (Bailey, Mer, Izzy) weren't as affected as he is now?

I think it's about time Alex had a psychiatriic evaluation considering all the crap he's been through. I'm definitely not excusing him and will never condone violent behaviour, but the guys does carry a lot of negative history in him, from his childhood to his love life and being shot, plus his father's death recently. We never saw him deal properly with it, just shruggiing it off and moving on, a therapy wouldn't come too soon, and the extremely violent outburst he displayed just confirms it. Now, I wouldn't want him to get a "poor guy" treatment and DeLuca would be more than right to press charges. I hope he won't back down from it, Alexe needs to be judged for this. I wonder how they'll deal with the actual sentence and make it just enough. I don't see the show going up to withdrawing his licence but you can't put what he did under the rug just because it is Alex.

If anything, I'd like for the breakup to be an opportunity to have Connor be of more importance in the weekly cases resolution. I can't remember an instance where it was one of his deduction or work as a lawyer that helped the case, but the fact that Oliver hacked for him or some info gotten throuugh sex (like iin S1 with Pax). The rest of his involvement mainly revolved around his relationship with Oliver and it would be nice for him to have individual character development outside of it.

I really want them to handle Alex and Jo story on a sensible level, which is take time to focus on both of them and what they go through. at this point, I don't really care about the "she should have told him" aspect of Jo's lie, but I'd like to have a bigger exploration of what she went through. she obviously was in an abusive relationship that forced her to change her name and such, and if this isn't treated seriously but just put there in the open only for "DRAMA" pruposes, I'll be pissed. These kind of subjects need to be addressed and this is as much Jo dealing with a dark time of her life as this is Alex'. On the other hand, I'd really like that this event allows Alex to have a real exploration of his anger management issues, but also the other shitons of crap that has happened to him and have never been explored that much but as a throaway line. I hated that him being shot was only treated as a way to put Mark and Lexie back together and that everyone forgot about it when Derek and Cristina had so much episodes dealing with the consequences of the shooting. I also dislike the fact that we never had any follow through with how his sister Amber was coping. So yes, I hope that the fallout of the DeLuca beating won't be treated as a Jo/Alex and friends thing, but as a way to explore the character themselves and for them to have the focus on (but who am I kidding, it's gonna be all about the sisters ij one way or another...)

Simon was my favorite from the get go, far before the superhoodie plotline (not that I didn't like it), because Iwan Rheon was so good at portraying his loneliness and Simon's utter incapacity at communicating and blending in. He could make you feel just how painful daring to speak was for Simon, yet at the same time you could feel that he was craving for human interaction. S1 Simon had also a darker side that he lost a bit after superhoodie came into the mix, that I found made him even more interesting. Simon was an outcast, but he also was weird, a bit of a voyeur and a creep at times (that scene with Sally in the freezer...) His shyness prevented him to properly express his thoughts, and it would always come out wrong when he did. I give all the props to Iwan for managing to make his character magnetic even when he didn't have a single word, proof that you can play an extremely introverted character without him being bland. Even as Future!Simon, he still was a man of few words but managed to convey the difference in self-confidence the character had acquiered. He truly is an amazing actor I'd like to see in many more movies or shows

I have been rewatching the first 3 seasons (never could get into 4 and 5 either) and even if 3 was a bit inferior to 1&2, this is still my personal favorite TV Show. I remember watching it live when it came out, and still feel that I haven't seen any other show that made me laugh, care and whose characters despite being extremes felt completely fresh and genuine to me. The take they had on the powers was really interesting, having them originated in the people personalities and them not using it for the greater good but instead having to deal with them. The other major asset was the cast, chosen not because of their looks but their talent and how well they portrayed their characters. Even if the industry is slowly getting there, it is refreshing to see average people on screen who click instead of wooden pretty faces. I mean, none of them were totally ugly but I can't see any US show casting Lauren Socha, Joe Gilgun or even Iwan Rheon (even if GoT made him more popular with a polar opposite character) as leads. I loved these characters because they felt real and different. Yes, they were archetypes, but they weren't stereotypes, they all had a spin on their idiosyncrasies that raised us above the cliché we see so much on TV. Well, it all comes down to personal tastes but I love The Rapture and felt is suited the show to a T, so I have to disagree on this one. I loved the show's soundtrack, that wasn't based on the latest pop hit, or some kind of emo cover of it, but rather picked from the indie scene. I was personnally pleased to hear Blur, Ratatat, the Prodigy, Portishead, Joy Division, U.N.K.L.E, the Glitch Mob and other super talented artists with various styles and influences that were chosen because they suited to a scene or an emotion. and props to the composer of the original tunes that were fantastic too.

I know that CBS has published a video of Jonah Nolan's comments on the finale and some further answers but CBS decidely sucking until the end, I can't watch it because I'm in France. Has anyone seen it converted on YouTube or anywhere else I could watch it?

Yeah, it is a bit too bad that Fusco got up so quickly, because I found that it was otherwise a very nice call back to Reese and Fusco Pilot scene "when you put someone on the back of your car, you've got to search them properly"...although unlikely, Fusco pulling the pin out of a grenade would have made me ecstatic. Anyway, the progression of Lionel Fusco over the years in POI is one of the best character development I've had the chance to see.

One of my friends recommended it to me last year, I caught up with "If-then-Else". I liked it right away, but I get that binge-watching helped a lot, because I never felt like the show was a stereotypical procedural. There was a huge "Lost" feeling with it, not only because of the awesome Michael Emerson, but because of the mysteries surrounding him and the Machine, but also how Reese's past tied into it. I also love the way the show managed to depict the evolution of Reese and Finch relationship, plus everything that had to do with Elias and HR. The episode that "sold" POI to me was "Cura te ipsum", with a fantastic end scene that still resonates this day. I liked Carter and Fusco, but I'll admit that I started to find the show not just engaging but fantastic by mid S2, when Root and Shaw were added, and found S3 mindblowing. To me, the show took a whole other dimension there, and the way it managed to deal with HR, Decima and Vigilance was perfect, up to MIA. It lost a bit of momentum in the second part of S4, but found its way back and I love S5. POI is for me a great engaging and intelligent show, with a great writing, especially regarding women. Root and Shaw are fantastic characters, not stereotypical, with a real own personality, not defined by their relationship status and whose storyline don't depend on a man's. Yes, I do appreciate to see such females on my screen. which doesn't mean that I don't like the men, I couldn't see POI without Finch and Reese (although the latter has seen his role decreased lately, which pains me a little, hope it'll be restored in the last 2 eps)

Yeah, I didn't think of Sarah at first when they talked about fertile eggs, I was thinking it was a way for them to go on a hunt for Helena and her embryos. Honestly, I decided in my head that more time had passed. The bonds created by the characters are too deep for me to be just 6-months fresh, and it wasn't that hard to picture that more time passed in between episodes than what was really shown on-screen

After a great hindsight into Shaw's psyche in the previous ep., I was extremely pleased to see Fusco back on screen. The handling of his character over the 5 seasons has been fantastic and all the kudos to KC for being awesome in the role. I agree that it is definitely time they stop fooling around with him: he IS part of the team, whether they like it or not, and at this point not cluing him in on the risks he is facing is ridiculous. I mean, The Machine herself tagged him as Secondary asset and Team Machine would be stupid not to think that Samaritan didn't pick up on Fusco's implication, what with him digging deeper and deeper into the "fustercluck" that is going on. I hope that by mid-season, he'll be finally integrated 100% in TM. I too loved the fact that Root was genuinely worried about Reese and actively looking for helping him the same way he went to her rescue in the season opener. They will never actually make grandiloquent friendship declarations to each other, but there is an undeniable bond they have formed that is expressed through their actions, and god knows I love when Team Rocket brings it up. They've gone a long way, these two, and I appreciate that it wasn't acknowledged in an ostentatious fashion, but little by little each episode. Actually, I can't wait for Shaw to be fully back to get some of my favorite interactions going on: Shoot (obviously), the Mayhem Twins and Team Badass. Regarding the episode itself, several things come to mind: I wonder if Root's encounter with Samaritan's clueless operative might not help recruit him in TM in the end, I'd like that: if Samaritan can recruit people, so should team Machine. The simulations outcomes are quite chilling, but as said above, the 1 in billions time the Machine manages to win, if it ever does, will be crucial. It might indeed require from the Machine to deviate from what we saw in If-Then-Else last year: will it have to resort to an excruciating sacrifice? I found it really interesting that finch said that TM should re-code itself, considering how wary he was of her before. Finally: ELIAS!! I was so giddy when I saw him!! although I found him a bit depressing and despondent... I need to know how much he knows, and I hope he'll be there to fight the good fight until the end.

Well, that was a bit anti-climatic and all over the place, just like this whole season. The Enzo/Bonnie scene was probably my favorite part, which makes me regret that we were only granted one episode to see their relationship evolve. There was far too many time lost on the pseudo Caroline/Stefan/Alaric situation, and I agree with the posters that underlined that it would have been much better to not put Caroline in the "Mom" shoes, but rather keep her as a co-parent with no feelings from Alaric whatsoever. Her choosing Stefan in the end doesn't put her in a good light now with regards to the twins. It might also be good for next season to focus on one threat, unlike this year where the baddies were multiplying and diluting, with an inconsistent mythology. Since it seems next season will have Damon/Enzo and whatever infects them be the Big Bad, at least they now have time to write a consistent season around it. And it would also be nice for the writers to know what they really want the audience to think about Damon, because they really lost me this year. They have him do awful things in the name of "love-that-is-fear" and have everyone and their mother blame him for the whole world's issues tell him he is the worst friend/son/brother ever but when he is not there he is still a piece of crap, but they still want us to root for him, because...? I wasn't satisfied by either of the talks he and Stefan had this episode (and with Bonnie), I felt that there was really no pay-off nor real analysis of the character in these moments. Poor Bonnie was once again crapped over, losing her magic, her best friend and her boyfriend at the same time, couldn't they have her catch a break and a win for once? She better have a killer storyline for KG's exit next year. As for Damon being the Big Bad, I can see the good things (Damon as pure evil is generally fun to watch, and at least we will have a definite threat), but it also means that no character development is to be expected, since "it is not him". And I suspect what will bring him back will be "the Power of Elena Gilbert"- and, really, I got so fed up of hearing about her even when she wasn't there- so nothing new here. and since it will also be IS' exit (and probably the end of the series), I'm all ready for the big happy Delena ever afetr which, meh.

I know there are million other things to discuss about this episode, but Donnie's "I gotta go...shit" was pure gold. Never change, Donnie.

That is what I meant : applying that logic doesn't work

doram, I agree with what you say generally, and, as I said, I do think that Damon screwed it up for the characters once too many. But the fact that he screws up doesn't take away the fact that others do, but tend to forget. Stefan didn't have to kill Andie, he just did it because he could. It is an easy cop out to pull out the "Ripper" card. and if you go by the logic then in this case everything is Stefan's fault for not letting Damon die in the first place and making him transition when all he wanted was to die. Just like Stefan didn't have to become a Ripper for Klaus when Damon was bitten by Tyler. It is hypocritical to fault Damon for wanting to save Elena again her consent (and the consaquences) when others have done exactly just the same by saving him when he didn't want to. (although, if we push further, in retrospect, everything is Katherine's fault) To be clear: this is not a Damon vs Stefan I am doing. I think everyone should have staked Damon years ago, he deserves it a thousand times. But just because he deserves it doesn't mean any other character is a saint or has never faulted. Yet, in S7, we are stuck in a black and white status of "Bad Damon" " Good Stefan", where all characters moan about how awful he is where poor Stefan endures him, while, in reality, the facts are mode complicated than that. The shows "tells" things but they do not align with it "shows".

I never found the show good either, but I will admit that it makes for a nice "leave your brain on the nighstand" evening. Admittedly, I watched all 3 first seasons, but lost interest after that and have seen only random bits here and there from S4 to now. The thing is, even though I thought Nina Dobrev was a good actress, I just never liked Elena, and how people reacted around her. Her Special Snowflake Status, how her well-being always superseeded the one of any other character on the show, and how we were hammered with her "empathy", I just couldn't with it after S3. the Love triangle and Delena were the worst part of the show to me. The global treatment of women in the show is pretty horrendous too. Caroline being tortured has gotten old pretty fast, Bonnie is reduced to plot device, and that is just scratching the surface. Now, about the characters forgiving each other, it is not like there is anything realistic to expect from any of them. They all are a big bunch of hypocrites, willing to call anyone "bad" when it suits them. As I said, I missed a lot, and Damon deserves more than his fair share of blame, but the rest of the characters have a strange habit of being two faced about him. He screwed them over times and again, they hate him and all have valid reasons to want to kill him/never see him again, but somehow, when there is a mess to clean, they go seek his help (well, it isn't worse than Bonnie, who is told repeatedly that she is expandable but is still expected to save them all and sacrifice herself for them). The show has this fantastic abiity to have the characters whitewash each other in a blink while still blaming them at the same time. That is hell of a conundrum. For instance, my memory is fuzzy, but I remember one episode where Elena was telling Damon he was the most horrendous person ever and blahblah fishcakes, prompting him to leave, but later was all "where were you Damon" when he wasn't there to save her precious ass. In a way, she was right: Damon did try to kill her, her firends, and her brother, so she has every right to hate him. But at the same time, he should rescue her after she told him to go eff himself? Errr...okay.... An other example is when the "kids" were lighting candles in the memory of dead people, blaming Damon for Jenna, Mason and other people's deaths, but incidentally never mentionned that Stefan killed Andie and such. This bipolarity towards the character is exhausting: either you hate him and part ways, or you acknowledge him for what he is and don't act all offended when he screws up, since it is what he does. The most enjoyable part of the show has always been the brothers dynamic to me, which is why I decided to try again in S7. Unfortunately, the show squandered its opportunities with Lilly, Bonnie still has no storyline of her own, Enzo has no point, and the huntress is disappointing. But the worst is that once more, we are stuck with Stefan being "the good" brother and Damon being a worthless D-bag. But since I'm masochistic, I'll watch till the end of this season this time, maybe there is a tiny hope that things will evolve, who knows?