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Listen at the 1:20 mark. Ha!

On the other hand, here in the Giant's second largest market we didn't get to see the game until midway through the second quarter.

I'm not sure if even the Judge, who has no beginning and no end, who is an eternal being, I'm not sure if even she has enough time in her existence to binge watch the entirety of NCIS.

This is what happens when I slide Jared Goff to the bench. You're welcome, Rams fans.

What's all this controversy about the halftime performer not being local? That's... not ever been a thing before, right? I just checked the past 4 SBs and it's just not. Yet I've heard 4-5 different sports talk programs bringing it up and it's been discussed here. I'm so lost. Strange games today! Did anyone predict the Bills blowing out the Vikings? Or Clay Matthews getting a roughing the passer penalty? Or Sam Bradford getting replaced by another quarterback? Or Jacoby Brissett subbing in for Andrew Luck for a hail Mary pass? (Which then, hilariously, was overthrown.) Alright. Maybe a few of those were predictable.

It feels like the show is relying more on ex post facto messages to tell the story rather than finding a way to write a cohesive narrative. It's nice to be told that Charles finished 5 more years at the school and supposedly hated it afterward, but why are you simply telling us that instead of showing us the impact it had on his character? If it had none, then first I must question why you're telling us this story at all, and second, why bother even giving us the post-script? The same holds true if the important character in the tale is Phillip rather than Charles. There was no resolution in this episode and the addition of the post-script makes it seem like there never will be. We are left with 3 pivotal characters all teetering at the precipice of some personal revelation. So... what's the point?

Scott's Tots is a good episode and all, but the excruciating-ness of it doesn't begin to hold a candle to the uncomfortable agony of the UK Office.

I think the answer is still his net worth of $900 million.

This point gets brought up frequently. While there's some merit to the idea that Marcus could just enter market X without these business owners, the fact is that someone has to run those businesses. He could hire an MBA fresh out of a top flight university with no experience for $70k/yr, invest a couple hundred thousand in setting up stores, and then be completely on the hook if it fails. Or he can invest in an existing business that's shown some signs of success, likely spend less money upfront, and have an entrepreneur with some existing experience in the market. He can then train those entrepreneurs up on their business skills and use his existing network to fill in any gaps. And he has less to lose if it fails.

Am I wrong in picking up allusions to The Picture of Dorian Gray here?

I don't recall him mentioning the money spent on the POS and website, but my assumption is these are done in-house and through affiliate promotions. There's nothing particularly unique about the Kool Kids site (unlike the lighting designer interface a few episodes back), so it's just a theme up on Shopify which already ties into the new POS system that they showed on the computer screen but I already forgot. Usually when Marcus tries to get their margins up it's by eliminating low-margin items and focusing on those with higher margins that sell better. In other words, he's fixing an inefficiency in their system to optimize their margins. How well this works in reality? Who knows. I've never been in retail to have any idea how realistic that is. He also allows them to tap into his business network and also buy in bulk, which surely reduces their costs and boosts margins.

"This is called modern day clienteling." No, Marcus, it isn't. Those words have literally been said only once before in the history of the Internet. If you want to make up words to describe new processes or technologies, go for it, but don't pass it off as if it's a thing. "The clothes you carry are nice, but they're not... cool" Said wearing a terrible, tacky broken heart varsity-style jacket. All in all this episode wasn't bad. Low on forced drama and high on business. Still, another clothing store? When Marcus mentioned that the guy sent a thousand emails (which ended up being 300+, more than I expected in reality, and a little obsessive...), I couldn't help but think that all of those emails were ignored until he got cancer and finally had a sob story to be told on air. Maybe that's harsh and pessimistic, but it fits with the show. Kool Kids? Blech. And not only blech, but there are at least a half dozen other Kool Kids clothing companies out there. (Or is it Klothing?) I had to search Kool Kids Clothing The Profit to find the link through the Profit Update site. I visibly cringed when Marcus mentioned the product lines should "tell a story" but for once he used this in the proper, traditional business sense! Not that there needs to be a literal story behind every business and every product. He simply meant that there should be brand coherence between all the products. Or that they should at least be divided up in the store into various product segments.

She's been on several times this season, although they have not made a big deal out of her appearance on the other show. (Which I think is the right decision.) In this episode I believe she was sitting next to Marcus during a meeting and got in a couple of lines. That's usually the extent of her involvement so far. We have seen her run a few meetings. She may have been the one during the diaper bag episode that showed him the new branding but I can't remember for sure.

I thought he tried with the cycling class, where they were clearly coached to call out specific issues with the clothing. Maggie was simply more imperturbable than diaper guy. If Mark Cuban were starring in the Profit (hey, there's an idea...) he would have called Maggie out as a gold-digger.

Dustin is no longer on their about page. That could simply be due the "independent salesman" status that Marcus wanted to setup. However, in searching for his new business I found this YouTube channel. There's also this standup comedy video from 2010... I can't tell if it's him? Maybe I'm not awake enough yet.

"If Jen's not going to be clear, I'll be clear. We need a website right now and we need it to be good." That's so very clear now, thanks Marcus. I'm not sure from the episode whether Brian wanted clear direction about what to do, or if he wanted the freedom to make his own decisions. After less than an hour with him I certainly can't make any real judgments (I'm not Marcus Lemonis, after all), but in my experience, that kind of attitude comes from someone who wants the glory of success without the responsibility, risk, or the work required to get there. They don't have the initiative or the drive to actually make things happen. I generally liked the look of the showcase display they did. Yes, there was a juxtaposition of the historic building versus the very modern faux-historical lighting, but the idea was to showcase their capabilities, not to go for historical accuracy. So while the atmosphere seemed nice, it left me with the impression that they have 1 style of light and that's all. The hanging Edison bulb and a whole bunch of... sameness. I guess there were a few different brassy shapes throughout the rooms, but there was no real creativity in the lighting. Nothing unique or noteworthy at all.

I didn't catch machine Simply Slices was using, but Blaze pizza uses an industrial looking machine press to shape their crusts. I assume most of the big pizza chains use something similar for most of their pizzas, but I could be wrong.

I used to joke that you could turn on the TV at any time during the day and some channel would be playing MASH. Glad to see that's true again! Here's the background on the laugh track. DVDs apparently have the option to watch without it, which I never realized!

I feel like I missed part of the episode? Is Diaper Dude no more? They are now No Bull, or is that just a new product line? Does No Bull still sell diaper bags? I genuinely couldn't tell. The bags looked the same but the two "branding" photos we were shown just had these younger looking hip men with their bag and... No baby in sight. Do they take their diaper bag to work with them? Did they forget their baby at the store? Then they pitched the product at some sort of outdoor store and failed to mention babies or diapers or the purpose of the bag even once. I guess the kind of guy who needs an uber manly diaper bag might be swayed by an impulse purchase when buying his chum and deer urine, but the price point doesn't lend itself to that. Also, there has to be some irony in this guy who can't get a word in when his wife is around needing his diaper bag to feel manly, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet. I guess No Bull is better than Diaper Dude? I guess?

Wow. I assume it was probably Molly Ephraim's decision to not return, but wow. For Boyd, I think it'd be hilarious if they aged him back down again to his first season age. It wouldn't make any sense, but does anything about the show make sense at this point?

Hey treacle tarts! Harry Potter loves those! And honestly, if you buy a pie crust and forego the lattice, it seems like it would only take 5 minutes to make one. Bread seems like a cheat but all the recipes I found call for it. Totally making this next time I'm in need of a pie, or for my next Harry Potter themed party. Victoria was such a graceful loser! So much so that I feel rotten calling her a loser. It was clear she was gone, she knew it, and was perfectly content with the decision. She made some very interesting baking decisions this week but they just didn't pan out. Some of those showstoppers really were perfect patisserie window displays. Wow.

Omg... that guy (Lamar?) interjecting about how much he doesn't like math was the funniest thing I've seen on this show. It was so random and pointless. Math is a construct, and that limits him, so he hires people to do math for him. What?? Later he added, "this is going to be fun because quadrants are the best." "We have to give constructed things because otherwise people get lost." Marcus: "I still don't know what the vision is." Heh, no pun intended? About the glasses "necklace" thing, Marcus: "that looks effing ridiculous." Thank you, I was just saying literally that exact thing. The lady at their store planning meeting gave such a repulsive look when they mentioned having a bar so they can do popup events. Also Marcus, sorry, but acetate glasses are not unique to Ellison. All the major companies offer that material. And no one wants acetate jewelry.

Marcus does plenty of things to annoy me too, but I think this one is pretty harmless. It was just something he said in the moment. Either he actually believes it and believes he's a tougher negotiator than he actually is, or he said it just to push the deal a little harder, or he didn't really mean "always." (People always use absolutes in everyday speak when we don't really mean them.) I don't see it as an deliberate lie or something that he thought about too deeply.

It was really amusing to hear this statement right before the Sentimentalists came on, because I think they perfectly demonstrated that the inverse is equally true.

Bummer about Mandy and Eve. Looks like Kaitlyn Dever (Eve) has 4 movies completed / post-production right now, as well as 3 roles last year. They all sound pretty generic to me, but 1 starred Steve Carell and another Hugh Jackman. She also has a limited-series Netflix show in the works. She's keeping busy! Molly Ephraim (Mandy) is in the Hugh Jackman movie with Kaitlyn, and had recurring roles in two shows last year. There doesn't seem to be as many other projects stopping her from joining the cast. (At least according to IMDB.)