[S05.E03: Border]

11 hours ago, chaifan said:

oooh, that's a great theory, and I really hope you're right.  I've always thought Nick was boring, and a rather useless character for all the time he's been around.  This would be a great plot line for him.  

And I've also been wanting a plot line around wives who are part of the resistance.

I hope you're right on all of this. It would be incredibly interesting.  Way better than more close ups of June's face.

We know Commander Lawrence's wife strongly opposed how women were treated in Gilead, and we also saw Emily in a posting with a genuinely kind Wife, who fell conveniently ill each month at the time of the Ceremony.  It would be quite interesting to explore the experiences of women like these more, and the show can certainly cut down air time of June staring at the camera in order to introduce their experiences. 

[S06.E18: Us]

3 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I'm not sure why they even had Kate and Toby divorce since Toby still acts like her husband.

They have - for reasons totally unknown to me - chosen to make Kate the heroine of this story, with her international curriculum and two men completely in love with her.  

And the unfortunate thing is that if the writers hadn't tried to put Kate on this ridiculous pedestal, she could have had a really nice and reasonable narrative arc.  She  started the series as Kevin's assistant, who was still trying to find herself and her path.  And then she could have become a wonderful music teacher for blind children, and a loving, devoted mother to her children.  That would have been a nice arc I could have supported.  Instead, every time they try to mention a ridiculous accomplishment of hers or have her ex husband talk about how wonderful she is, I roll my eyes and want to throw things at the tv.  

And Toby could have had a nice arc, as an ex-husband who came to honor and pay respect to his former mother in law, Rebecca, at the end of her life.  I think that would have been an appropriate ending for him, not for him to be chasing after Kate.

[S06.E16: Family Meeting]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

She went from teacher's aide to the pinnacle of childhood education in 10-15 years, and got two degrees, all the while raising two children (one of whom has special needs).

All of which is totally consistent with the character we've seen. 😆

 

As terrible as this will sound, there are many universities where one can earn a degree online (or in person) fairly easily.  Kate could have completed her bachelor's degree online at a less competitive or for-profit university, and there are a lot of online for profit master's degrees in education that offer lots of courses asynchronously or during the summers or evenings when teachers are free.   I had tuition reimbursement from a state university system and earned an online master's degree in education, and it was literally just something I did while watching television.   I could believe that someone like Kate could earn a bachelor's and master's degree from a less competitive university, and it also seems reasonable for Kate to be chosen to create a music curriculum for visually impaired students.  According to my cursory search on the internet there are 3 schools for visually impaired children in California, so there probably isn't a huge pool of people competing to create a curriculum to study music for visually impaired children.  I would find it very difficult to believe that Kate would be chosen to create a general education curriculum in music for the entire state, because unlike Toby I do not have a particularly high opinion of Kate and believe there would be far more successful music teachers in California.  Her students seem to really like her, which is great, but the showrunners need to stop  trying to sell her so hard.  Phillip turning from hypercritical boyfriend with his ex to a puppy dog who chases after Kate is totally unbelievable.  Toby talking about how wonderful Kate is and "joking" about their getting back together is ridiculous (I'd be happy to see them getting along, but that phone call was totally over the top given their relationship). 

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

I was glad (and a bit surprised) to see Lilly's mom grow a backbone and go out and enjoy her life and be too busy to take Lilly's calls begging for help.  

As for Emersyn's mother, it makes her crazy that everyone hates her and prefers the drug addict MIL to her.  But she's such a negative, critical person that it is unsurprising that everyone hates her.    

It really did seem to be an incredible amount of liability the midwives were taking on by letting an underage girl leave with that moron.  If I understand correctly, they were in contact with her parents, which means they should have had a written release from Kyleen to disclose medical information to her parents.  Why didn't one of the three of them leave to call Kyleen's parents to tell them that their daughter was in danger?  They clearly understood at that point that Jason was a complete moron who refused all reasonable medical interventions and controlled his underage girlfriend.   The midwives should have delayed kicking them out until Kyleens parents arrived in the parking lot. If Kyleen's parents were in the parking lot of the midwife center after they were thrown out I think she would have gone with them straight to the hospital when her idiot boyfriend insisted she wasn't really in labor.  Now we do know he eventually took her to the hospital, but we don't know how delayed this decision was, and I really think it would have helped her a lot to see her parents in that parking lot as they left the midwife center.   Even Jason's parents would have insisted on taking poor Kyleen to the hospital at that point so it might have been helpful to have them there too. 

[S06.E03: Rock and Hard Place]

5 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I’m still not sure what Mike was supposed to do with his sniper rifle. Didn’t he say something like “go on…do it”? What was he wanting Nacho to do? 

I'm not entirely certain.  My personal belief is that he was rooting for Nacho to kill off some of the cartel before dying, but I don't know for certain.

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

17 hours ago, TooMuchRealityTV said:

 

I hope Jenna wanting to be a Doula is not a whim. It's not going to work long term with Aiden and I don't think these girls are getting teen mom money. Having a career is the smartest thing she could do for herself and Luca.

 

She genuinely understands that for as long as she is financially dependent up Aiden she won't be free.  That's more insight than I think we've ever seen anyone display on any of the Teen Mom or Unexpected franchises.  It does seem as though there is a chance of her achieving financial stability but given the fact that she was raised by two incredibly awful parents her path isn't going to be easy. Her dad had the nerve to state "it's not normal to be that toxic for such a young relationship."  He's not wrong about Jenna and Aidan's relationship, but a man who spent his grandchild's baptism whining about his ex wife sitting in the front pew really needs to shut up and not judge anyone else.  

And speaking of people who need to stop talking, Tiarra  chose to ignore her doctor's advice when she didn't take iron supplements.   It's too late to whine now about how dangerous this is for her and the baby.   

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

Tiarra claimed in an earlier episode that her lack of a physical social security card was why she could not sign up for health insurance in her current state. I was assuming that she was claiming she needed that for Dee's military insurance.  But Dee's interpretation that Tiarra was flying home because she wanted to makes a whole lot more sense, since a routine prenatal visit at a  planned parenthood would cost a lot less than 3 round trip plane tickets.  Irregardless, she found the card on air a few episodes ago, so hopefully they can put that  issue behind them and focus all of their attention on the all important issue of which teenage mother came up with the original design for their second nursery.

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

Kylen was very much strengthened by Jason's parents understanding that their son is totally wrong here.  She was challenging him as much as we've ever seen her do that.  This is pretty painful to witness on television, but I hope Kylen is able to watch this show when it airs and understand exactly who Jason is, and that she will run away from Jason.  

I was glad Kylen's parents were able to tell her through the television show that she can always come back home.  They need to keep sending the message that she will always have a  home with them, and they will take her back at any time, no questions asked.  At this point, I think if this poor girl puts a post on social media asking for help there will be lots of total strangers willing to show up to rescue her and take her home or to a women's shelter for safety.

I am quite worried about how Jason will react when he sees this show broadcast - if he worries about her leaving, he will be even more dangerous, and I worry he may take his anger out on her.

And Jason's parents raised this monster, so I hope they will take the responsibility of sitting Kylen down alone off camera, and telling her that if she chooses to leave they will understand and be there to support her.  She's a pregnant kid, and is terrified and needs as much of a support system as possible.  I actually think Jason's parents might be capable of this, since they seem to understand exactly what is going on and realize the seriousness of isolating Kylen from her dad during what might be the last time she can spend with him.  And the utter sadness of the fact that instead of spending the end of his life in peace, he is utterly terrified that Kylen isn't safe, and he knows she isn't happy. 

[S06.E12: Katoby]

On their first date Phillip says, "you're no fun.  Actually, that's not true, you're extremely fun."    Philip must have had a stroke or a magical invisible lobotomy in between his first and second sentences. His initial assessment was correct.  Kate is no fun.  She also takes absolutely no responsibility for anything that is her fault, and the fact that the writers magically turned Philip into a puppy dog chasing after her is some of the worst writing I think I've ever seen on network television.

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

So Tiarra is flying from Maryland to Kentucky with a toddler for routine doctor's appointments and then ignoring the doctor's advice by not taking her iron medication?   Maybe these people all reproduce so young because they are too stupid to expect to live long?  

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

12 hours ago, RoxiP said:

 

Kylen - I wish you would open your eyes and run back home to your mom and dad.  They may be a little shy of a full deck but they love you and that self-absorbed control freak is not going to be there for you except to tear you down.  My heart breaks every time he opens his mouth and belittles her.

 

Kylen's dad showing the toys he hopes to leave as a legacy to his grandson was truly heartbreaking.  And her mother knows she might be completely alone once he passes and if her daughter is still brainwashed or if Palm Tree head hurts her.  The reality of this show is such a huge contrast to  the Teen Moms who whine about how difficult their lives are in between vacations.  

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

On 3/29/2022 at 2:23 PM, IvySpice said:

The problem is that she's crummy at her chosen profession. You want to be dependent on a man, fine -- whatever floats your boat. There are women who are GOOD at snagging a stable guy with a solid income. (Case in point: my husband's first wife. Truly gifted at getting great providers to take care of her.) Lilly has no idea how to pick out a good one, and that's the only skill that matters in that career. 

Two young, totally out of control kids by two baby daddies is going to make it awfully hard to catch the next provider, but maybe if he's hoping to land a spot on a reality tv show...

[S01.E10: Open House]

2 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

 I want to know why Janine is so desperate for Barbara's attention. I doubt Ava will lose her job.

They've laid the groundwork as to Janine having a very absentee mother, and as a child her teachers were her surrogate parents.  It could make a very interesting episode to explore this in more depth.

 

I agree that although Ava is totally incompetent, she is also a survivalist and she will probably find some devious way to keep her job.  

[S01.E10: Open House]

While anyone would be an improvement over Ava, Greg is emblematic of the kind of person who often gets administrative jobs in schools.  Greg has the potential to be a very strong teacher (his students genuinely care about him) but as of right now he quite frankly isn't skilled enough as a classroom teacher to be an effective principal who can help teachers improve.  I totally get how hard it would be to work for Ava, but honestly the best thing in the world he could do is put forth the effort into learning how to become a skilled teacher and then he will be able to become a wonderful administrator (I do believe he has a lot of potential for that also).  But we have a system in which too many beginning teachers can easily get their administrative credentials without ever truly understanding how to teach who then become middling administrators.  In some states, you are required to have a certain number of years experience as a teacher, but unless you learn how to become a skilled teacher first its very hard to be a skilled administrator.   It's also extremely concerning how high a percentage of elementary school administrators are male given the demographics of the teaching staff which is overwhelmingly female, although often that is due to the fact that some highly skilled teachers like Barbara don't want to leave the classroom and become administrators.

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

56 minutes ago, AR Traveler said:

 

I don't understand Tiarra (sp?)'s back and forth to Kentucky for OB appointments?  One, she can apply for a new social security card in Maryland, last I checked.  Or better yet, marry her fiance' so she and the kids are on his insurance.  I presume she's going to deliver in MD, therefore why not get a doctor there?  Where are they coming up with that kind of money for back and forth flights?  How about this:  Your daughter is getting old enough to start learning to behave.  It's called discipline, and it is a blessing to those of us who have to fly with you and your angel.

 

 

I don't understand any of this.  In addition to the fact that applying for a replacement social security card would have solved this problem,  how on earth could it not be cheaper to go to a local planned parenthood as an uninsured patient for a routine pregnancy visit as opposed to flying your pregnant self, your sister roundtrip, and flying with a two year old?  The huge bill will be for delivery, but flying back and forth to see the doctor for routine doctor bills isn't going to avoid the delivery bill.  

 

And boy did I feel badly for the birthing center employee when Palm Tree head mentioned circumcision and she asked who the pediatrician would be, and the brain dead mom thought she was asking about her own pediatrician.  I guess the only good thing about this mess is they don't have to find a new pediatrician, they can just use mom's, and in 13 years hopefully the pediatrician will beg them to give the child birth control.  

 

We can only assume Tiarra's baby daddy is correct and she is secretly enjoying going back home to visit her family.  Hope they can resolve this (especially since they found the card) before they start weekly appointments.

[S01.E06: The Uncanny]

On 4/14/2020 at 3:00 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:

 

I assumed surrogacy was more like in-vitro fertilization and another woman carries the child to term.   But I don't know enough about it, and this was the 80s.  As ridiculous as the turkey baster was, I thought it was the father's semen inserted into Mia.  So I assumed that Pearl was the biological child of Mia and creepy Jesse Williams'.  I didn't think Nicole Beharie's character contributed her eggs. I guess that's why I don't think less of Mia for keeping the child, especially when I can't see a reason why an otherwise healthy, financially stable couple wouldn't adopt.  

           

Today most surrogate use either the egg from the intended parent (mother of the couple paying) or an egg donor.  That way neither the egg donor or the surrogate have a clear cut claim for custody.  IVF existed in the 80s, but the turkey baster method was (and still is) much less expensive.   

Most reputable surrogacy agencies require that surrogates have experienced pregnancy, and potential surrogates undergo extensive psychological testing to ensure they can handle following a complicated medical regimen for implantation of an embryo, pregnancy, and then handing the baby over to the intended parents.  Throwing money at a random kid on the subway desperate for tuition money is absolutely not acceptable.  You need to choose someone who has given this a great deal of thought, and who ideally isn't in a desperate financial situation in which they make decisions they will regret later.    

 

[S01.E03: Seventy Cents]

On 3/21/2020 at 4:55 PM, Enero said:

 

Loved the parallels of Mia’s Chinese co-worker being short $0.70 to buy formula for her baby and the store clerk being indignant and cold, and not just letting her have the formula for the money she had, but told her to leave if she couldn’t pay, while White Izzy gets on a bus and doesn’t have enough money to ride but the bus driver lets her ride anyway.

 

This is actually the NYC MTA policy.  Their coin counting machines aren't totally accurate, and it would take forever for the bus driver to argue with every person who is short, plus it is extremely dangerous for drivers to keep arguing with potentially crazy people.  They are supposed to let you on the bus if you use any amount of change to protect the driver.  When I have a lot of change, I use this because I don't have to go crazy counting out the exact amount - as long as its close, the bus drivers don't even get annoyed.  They just want you to move so people can keep boarding and they can stay on time with their route.  I read it was the actual MTA policy after some crazy person didn't pay and attacked the driver, who was letting him on without paying but still the guy attacked him.  I think its like how most stores tell employees not to stop potential shoplifters - its too dangerous for anyone but security to deal with it.  

[S01.E02: Seeds and All]

On 4/16/2020 at 8:56 AM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

Could that have been a mini-scam on her part: taking the money to buy expensive brisket, but then buying cheap hamburger and Ritz crackers instead, making a meatloaf that everyone will love and counting on Elena to not rock the boat by asking where the additional $$$ went?

 

 

To be fair, she never asked for the job, and was pretty reluctant to take the job, so it seems pretty likely that she will passive aggressively be a lousy housekeeper (and possibly profit along the way).     Someone as uptight and image conscious as Elena would never have someone working for her who didn't really want the job because she would be a nightmare of a boss.

[Unexpected: All Episodes Discussion]

36 minutes ago, Marisagf said:

Was it Palmtree Head (PTH) who he was a "professional rawdogger?"  He's a keeper, that one!  ;)

yes.  and she said he started with a condom and then took it off.  If he did that without consent (which wasn't clear from the interview since the girl has the IQ of salt and thought this was hilarious), that's rape in some states.  Palmtree head deserves all the world's scorn that this show will bring him.

[S02.E14: ...Wheatley Is To Stabler]

So not only has Wheatley's body not been found, but am I the only one who was suspicious that his son might also be alive?  I was worried Wheatley staged his son's shooting for the police feed, and the son will join him in his escape/future plans to torture the viewers by coming back on screen.

[Season 9 Discussion]

On 3/3/2022 at 9:56 AM, Phishbulb said:

Lol, that one brief shot of Murray at the wedding looked like he was a Force ghost like Anakin and Obi-Wan at the end of Return of the Jedi. 

It's fitting that Murray now looks like a ghost in his edited appearances, because the entire show is just a shadow of what it once was.  Pop pop was ultimately the only character anyone could really root for on this show, and watching these awful people rehash the same awful plots is painful.

[S04.E12: Hot for Teacher and Writing a Wrong]

3 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

No kidding, it's giving me whiplash. Two weeks ago Mark was so far behind the other students at the magnet school that he resorted to drugs to keep up. And this week he's so much smarter than them that they're paying him to write their college essays? Huh? At first I thought I had misheard and he was doing this for kids in his normal school, but nope, it's for that magnet school kids that he kept referring to as idiots. And I don't think the writers understand the difference between a magnet school and a private school, since Mark and Darlene kept referring to the magnet school crowd as rich snobs (and Skylar's dad had paid for some new facilities). As far as I remember, they've never mentioned that this was a private, tuition-based school, and all the magnet schools I've ever heard of (including the one I attended) were public schools that were free to anyone in the area who met the entrance requirements.

The writers were probably thinking of a  magnet school like Stuyvesant/Bronx Science where you have to take a highly competitive admissions test for admission.  Most of the students at Stuyvesant spend years preparing for the entrance exam (although they're not all rich; many students are first generation immigrant students whose parents spend an enormous percentage of their income on tutoring schools to prepare the kids for entrance).   The problem is that I don't think that Lanford is within commuting distance of Chicago, so I have no idea how they could have such a competitive magnet high school unless the school was really tiny.    28,000 students take the entrance test for Stuyvesant each year, and approximately 3% of these students are admitted so it is a magnet school academically similar to what Mark seems to be describing.   However, I can't imagine there are that many students within commuting distance of a rust belt town that you could have an extremely competitive admissions process into a magnet school.  I'm assuming the writers are drawing on their experiences living in NY/SF/LA here, which seems to be a common mistake they make.

 

 I could buy the fact that Mark is a good writer even if he struggled with an advanced math and science workload (which would be twice as hard for him if he didn't have the same academic preparation as his classmates), and that the other kids aren't strong writers if they are instead gifted in math/science, but it is utterly moronic that he's reusing the same essays for students from the same school.   It's quite common for tutors to be drafted to write college admissions essays, and if these kids are rich they might be quite happy to hire people to write all their big papers/college essays.

 

But there's really nothing keeping Mark from taking community college classes for two years, and then transferring to a good 4 year school.  In CA, you can automatically transfer to most of the UC campuses if you complete certain GPA and course requirements at a community college (you still have to apply to UCLA and Berkeley but most of the other UC campuses, including Davis allow you to start at a community college and then transfer over).  Mark might even be able to start on those courses during the summer while he is in high school since so many schools have expanded their online course offerings.  And this is assuming worst case scenario that he doesn't qualify for financial aid somewhere.

[S06.E05: Heart and Soul]

 

11 hours ago, project90 said:

I thought it was her finishing high school early. Is there any difference to graduating and the GED? does it affect what you can do after school?

 

A GED can be used for admission into a community college or bachelor's degree program.  If a student graduates from community college or a bachelor's degree program, then it doesn't matter if they had a GED or a high school diploma because all employers will look at is their college degree.  If they drop out or don't attend community college, then the fact that they have a GED makes it a little harder to find employment than if they had a high school diploma, since most jobs consider graduating from high school to be a sign of a more reliable worker because you need to be persistent and attend school to graduate from high school (or you did before they allowed online credit recovery).  

What this really could affect is her college admission prospects.  A highly selective college would wonder why a student would leave school early without graduating, and "to follow my boyfriend" is not a good answer.  She can absolutely get into a community college, and possibly a less selective 4 year school with a GED, but it would certainly lessen her chances of admission to a selective college straight after high school unless she was doing something more impressive than taking care of her boyfriend's kid.  But it certainly is possible for a student to enroll in a community college, do well, transfer to a 4 year school and then apply to med school.  In California there is a pathway for automatic transfer into UC Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz for students who do well in community college (You need to apply for admission now to UC Berkeley and UCLA).  

I taught in the NYC public school system, and had a student once drop out because she got rejected by all her top choice schools.  At the time  she figured that since the best college she was accepted to was City College, she might as well drop out, get her GED, work for the spring semester of her high school senior year because she'd get into City College with a GED anyway.  This was 20 years ago, and I don't know if City College has changed their admissions requirements, but back then her plan worked and she enrolled the following fall at City College with her GED and savings from her spring and summer employment.  I told her she'd be fine as long as she graduated from college.  She's in trouble if she doesn't, because statistically employers consider GED recipients to be closer to high school dropouts in terms of hiring.  I know she enrolled in college, but don't know if she finished.

 

[S08.E17: A Community Hero and a Wide Turn]

Rewatching this show, I have to say that the episodes with Violet were some of the funniest (and I think the highlight was her college professor boyfriend's mom coming to dinner).  I don't think Roscoe added much to this show, but its disappointing they didn't at least give us an update on Violet.  I could have skipped the fighting new drunks in favor of that.

[Single Drunk Female - General Discussion]

I really hated Brit in the first episode.  It was fine for Brit to go up to Sam at the bar and try to start a polite conversation, since its pretty tough to ignore your former friend at a bar.  But when Sam went outside completely wasted that was clearly not the time to have a difficult conversation about the end of their friendship/her dating Sam's ex.    Sam is  - at this exact moment - fired, on probation, fresh out of rehab, completely wasted and living back at home with a very difficult parent.  And Brit goes outside and brings up Sam's stint in rehab and offers an insincere apology quickly followed up by defending herself for dating Sam's ex.  For the record, I don't actually have a problem with Brit dating Sam's ex as long as they were broken up for awhile before she started dating him.  But I do have a huge problem with the fact that Sam blocked her on social media, which made it clear that she didn't want to talk to her, and instead of leaving a drunk person having an incredibly hard time alone like she wants, Brit follows her outside to have a difficult conversation with while she is so drunk she's about to puke.   Brit is an engaged doctor, and Sam is currently a hot mess.  She's already won and doesn't need to rub it in her face.   It's a small town - they'll run into each other again when Sam is sober and they can have this conversation if she genuinely wanted to apologize.  Sam is responsible for her choice to drive drunk, but I can honestly understand that she was pretty upset by Brit's passive aggressive nonsense and wanted to leave immediately.  She totally should have gone in her friend's lyft, but Brit was pretty awful here.  Brit reminded me of when Carrie stalked Natasha to offer her an apology for sleeping with her husband (Carrie was 100% wrong and what Brit did wasn't anywhere near as bad, but she still should have left Sam alone if she made it clear she didn't want to have any contact with her.  )