cardigirl

I also enjoyed the guys' storyline this episode so much more than the girls. Maggie is SO annoying with her self-righteous attitude. Gah! I mean, I guess I should feel some sympathy for a very pregnant woman, but I felt none for her and her rising panic that she was losing control of her life. I kind of hope that the actual storyline is that many women who are expecting their first child operate under the assumption that their lives will not be all that disrupted until said child arrives and then they realize they can schedule and plan all they want, but baby may have other ideas. If that's Maggie's story, it could be a good one. LOL I loved how well written the guys' conversation was and while I really doubt a young adult would go to his own parents rather than friends about his first sexual experience, it wasn't a bad scene. and the guys got across the point that he shouldn't worry about it being perfect. Poor Rome and his dad. I'm not looking forward to the Alzheimer's storyline.

I was 31 when I had my second child and remember the gynecologist saying I was one of his oldest pregnant patients. 😒 That was way back in 1983!

That is something I've been wondering about. I guess you could make grain alcohol with corn, but wasn't flour (wheat) suspect is the initial spreading of the fungus? Yet there was bread with Joel and Ellie's meal in Laramie. _____________________________________________________________ Late night musings ... One other thing that I thought about, because I might be a wee bit obsessed with the show, was Maria's rather complicated hairstyle. Seems that would take a lot of time and resources to maintain, and thus didn't fit into the idea of being in a post-apocalyptic time. Minor detail but with the internet going nuts over two production personnel showing up on screen, I thought I'd mention it and see if anyone else was wondering about the same thing.

I really enjoyed this episode, for all of the reasons stated by so many before me. The opening with the older survivors, Ellie and Joel bonding, the beautiful scenery they were walking/riding horses through. This is a gorgeous show, even if it is a post-apocalyptic world. Made me want to move to the Canadian Rockies. But what I loved most was that moment when Joel yelled "Tommy!" and all the emotion that one utterance conveyed. My heart just seized up. Great acting by Pedro throughout the episode. (Please, please go watch The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Pedro is ah-ma-zing in that! In a totally different way.) I, too, hope Joel survives, mostly because I really enjoy seeing Pedro Pascal on my screen. #shallow 🥰

I guess when her boss mentioned that sometimes moms decide to stay home after the baby comes (which is true, btw) and then realized he shouldn't have said that because she could take it as him encouraging her to not come back, I didn't see it as calculated, but I was already annoyed by Maggie, so I probably was inclined to think he was more hapless than calculating. I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. Of course, whatever happens, Maggie will not be in the wrong, and all of her friends will come to her rescue.

Sorry, but I disagree with the bolded part of your post. I thought they were being super subtle about it, if he is, indeed, a dick at all. Maggie hates him, but as far as I remember we only have her word for it? Was this the guy responsible for getting rid of her boss? That storyline was also badly handled, and Maggie would have been let go anywhere else in the world. Of course, getting pregnant not long after those events means that even if the station was contemplating replacing her at some point, they can't do it NOW. If this is where the show is ramping up to, a showdown between Maggie and her boss and women's rights, well, not sure I have the patience for it, as the show will likely handle it all weird. And I think most of the time pregnancies on tv shows are shown to be fraught with danger and mishaps. It's done for drama, and not a fair representation of what the majority of women experience when they are pregnant. I could get behind a storyline where Maggie feels that all anyone cares about anymore is the baby, and she's just the mom. THAT happens to all mothers. LOL.

Maggie super bugged me this episode, but DJ Nash seems to have an issue with portraying childbirth and pregnancy as relatively drama free. Remember when the show went crazy on the lactation nurse's ass because she apparently wasn't nice enough to Delilah when she had Charlie? Do people not prep for pregnancy? By that I mean, Maggie just seemed to be suffering through it, rather than actively trying to deal with her morning sickness. It's been a while, and I remember the nausea lasted longer with my second pregnancy, but geez louise, Maggie was manic. If she has hyperemesis gravidarum, then why is she working herself to the bone? Many women who suffer from that end up on bed rest or in the hospital with intravenous feeding. While Gary's therapist gave him good advice about helping Maggie by reminding her she was still herself, I just didn't care for Maggie's reaction to pregnancy. Maybe I've blocked it all out, but I don't remember being pregnant as being miserable 100% of the time. And is her boss really a jerk just pretending to be nice? I don't remember from last season if he was threatening in any way. Other than that, the rest of the show didn't bug as much, except, a food truck would more than likely be in downtown Boston, near businesses. Most food trucks I know charge relatively higher prices than I think homeless people would be willing or able to pay. Not a sound business decision, but logic ain't a part of this show. I like Rome and his father, but will not enjoy the Alzheimer's story, if that is where they are heading. This show. It continues to amuse me with its illogical setups. And not too much mention of Boston this week. 😒

16/17 Ballad of Gentleman Jones February 13, 2023 I enjoyed this episode for all the reasons that I enjoy Murdoch. Lots of humor mixed in with a serious mystery, and a lot of the cast back together. Hooray! Let's hope Watts sticks around, and becomes a main player again. Daniel Maslany is fun to watch. Poor Ogden, chafing under her life. Was the ship Murdoch showed her a model of a yacht he was buying for them?

I'm watching these as my local PBS station is running through the Marple episodes now. I'm not sure why they took such liberties with the plots of Christie's novels, but I agree that the production values are very good, and I enjoy them on the level of enjoying scenic Britain. LOL. I thought the one about Marple's friend thinking she had witnessed a murder on a train going past her train was quite good. The one with Tuppence Beresford was just ridiculous is so many ways. Great cast though.

Not quite. I liked the episode very much, but felt like it was too idyllic. I mean, sure, Frank and Bill were attacked by raiders (we only saw that one attack) and never seemed to get close to being infected by roaming "zombies." The one fight we're shown is when Frank wants to use some of the resources to fix up the shops and paint the houses on their street so it looks nice. Bill still believes that they could run out of supplies, Frank doesn't care. And they had lots and lots of stuff. More than enough for them to have invited Tess and Joel to stay with them. I've wondered why they didn't. Well, Bill never trusted them, I guess. But it sure seems like they offered some value to at least Frank, by giving friendship, strawberry seeds, etc. Joel even lays out what they can offer them when he and Bill are left at the table alone. So maybe the only way to survive is to close yourself off, and not offer help to others. To only focus on that one other person. And when that person is gone, it's time to die.

I think the whole discussion of who has the right to decide whose life is worth more was broached pretty well. Clearly, Kathleen couldn't understand the need for her brother to die, so that Sam might live. Her brother was a good man, a great man, I guess, if we go by what was said about him. (We don't actually get to meet him.) And he was betrayed by someone who loved him, because Henry loved Sam more than he loved Kathleen's brother. Kathleen's brother was killed by FEDRA, clearly a corrupt organization. Kathleen became corrupt in her need for vengence. But her questions about others' actions, the collaborators, and how did they feel now, when they were about to feel the consequences of their actions. All of that was a little murky. What exactly was the need for FEDRA to have informers for? Why were they hunting Kathleen's brother? The resistance was resisting what? This is where the show is more like a video game (to me). No real explanation of anything. Just our two heroes in danger constantly, a semi-defined goal of getting Ellie to someplace where they are working on a cure. Why is there no cooperation between safe zones? Is it impossible to maintain any kind of communication system? Is wireless radio the only way to communicate long distances? Is there agriculture anywhere? Some kind of food production? Pockets of oases where chickens, pigs, cows survived, or is everyone living on 20 year old cans of Chef Boy-ar-dee (which, btw, would contain flour)? Back to who gets to live and who gets to die ... Sam is clearly an innocent. He's young, cute, and adorable. Someone worth caring about. So protect the innocents at all cost? When Joel told Ellie he was sorry she had to go through all of this (i.e., fighting for her life, shooting someone, listening as Joel finished him off), he was mourning her lost innocence. Perhaps Kathleen's brother would have willingly gone to FEDRA, if it would save Sam. Perhaps not. But in a world of limited resources, people start making decisions about how to spread the resources around. When Kathleen said children die all the time, she was baring her grief. Why was Sam's life worth more than her brother's? Joel said earlier in the show, that the only people you fight for are family. Since Sam was not Kathleen's family, she couldn't see why Henry would do what he did. Since Kathleen's brother was not Henry's brother, he could do what he did for his family, Sam. While I was silently cheering when the hoards of infected came up and got rid of the resisters, I thought the basic question of how does one decide who gets the resources to live and who doesn't was a great one. More of a philosophical discussion than I would expect from a show based on a video game. P.S. Comparing this situation to the COVID situation, there was a lot of scary talk on both sides. P.P.S. Apparently children were still being born after the start of the infection. Both Ellie and Sam were younger than the 20 years this infection has been going on. I just find that interesting.

I don't want to say I loved this episode, because it made me so sad, but I LOVED THIS EPISODE. The acting, the scene setting, all of it was excellent. I was on the edge of my seat the entire episode. Loved this episode more than episode three, so much more tragic! The world building that is going on in this show is so great. I'm old and didn't play any video games other than Mario, so I'm surprised that the source material for this show is a video game. Amazing. Big round of applause! (Also glad that Kathleen met her end at the hands of a clicker. Very satisfying.)

I didn't get the sense that he's a jerk, more that his focus was on this case and while yes, he's interested in Margaret, he's also keenly aware of needing to resolve the case. Plus, technology. LOL. At the end, Margaret didn't say yes right away, because she's playing the game of not being over eager. You could tell by her smile she was not shutting him down, merely letting him know he was going to have to work for it.

Is it possible there are only 14 episodes in this first season? ☹️

I agree with you about Margaret's continued growth. I enjoy what we've seen so far and want more. However, I think Todd's character development isn't stalled. He genuinely wished Susan the best with her new fiance, and you could tell that it was a new feeling for him. He's been enjoying working with his mother, and she's come to appreciate him and his results. I'm enjoying watching that relationship grow. I think it was intimated in a previous episode that the children's father died young (?) and she had to support them. I think that's to explain her concern with appearances and having successful children. Margaret seems to be loosening up a bit on what constitutes success. Although, I am worried about her daughter and the path the show has set her on. Is the show really not back until March?

That scene was so well done. It made me realize what this show could have been, because James Roday Rodrigues killed it in that scene. It's just too bad the writing is so off or the storylines are so ... problematic. I've enjoyed the series mainly for JRR, and for the Boston area references. When Sophie talked about walking "all the way" to the Newton Center (or Centre) CVS to buy deodorant, I knew exactly where that was. I will watch til the end. Hope they don't kill off Gary.

Season 16, Episode 16 - An Avoidable Hinder I enjoyed the episode, especially the scenes with Murdoch and Ogden puzzling out the mystery together. And I always enjoy "flashbacks" into established characters' younger days. Pretty good storytelling in this one. Yay! I didn't like the storyline with the handball, mostly because I know that Inspector Brakenreid is a bigot where Catholics are concerned. But it ended well, and I was very happy to see the character realize that he shouldn't be trying to tell his son how to live his life anymore. How many episodes are left in this season? And have we heard if there will be a season 17?

D'oh! I didn't read the article, just noticed ads (or something) on my tv saying I could stream it earlier next week. Now the temptation is ... do I watch it early and thus have to wait longer for episode 6 or do I watch it on Sunday, and have the same long wait I usually do? 😆

Yay! I guess this is because of Super Bowl Sunday?

I didn't catch why Joel decided to go through a city. Seems he should've stuck to the backroads.

I haven't played the game, so my objections are not based on what differences were made to Bill's character, but more to the somewhat cliched path the show took to tell Bill and Frank's story. And the strawberry scene, for whatever reason, did not make me cry. (Why yes, I am stone-hearted. 🥶) I enjoyed watching the prepper prep for living isolated in a world that was disintegrating around him, but then he "found" someone who could maybe alleviate the loneliness and it didn't ring true (to me) and I wasn't as invested as some others seem to have been. Maybe if someone other than Murray Bartlett had played the role I would have been more invested. Maybe it was the "10 miles west of Boston" scenery that threw me out of the episode, but I disagree that this was the greatest love story ever told. It was fine, and I'm sure it will get emmy nominations for both actors, but I think the first episode of this series is still my fav.

Another review that I agree with. Of course, many of the replies to the review do not agree with its take on the episode, but they also don't offer anything in the way of a structured argument as to why this episode should not be critiqued and found wanting. Mostly people accuse him of being talentless, LOL.

I wanted to love this episode. Surely Linda Rondstat's "Long, Long Time" would drive emotions, and it did. I love that song, and it has very personal connotations for me, but Bill and Frank's love did not move me. I enjoyed the humor and the scene with the strawberries, but I don't know that these two would have ever been together if the apocalypse had not occurred. Maybe that was the point, one needed the other to take care of him, and in return he gave love. After reading the PrimeTimer review, I have the unpopular opinion of agreeing with a lot of what was said. A lot of Frank and Bill's story was not a surprise, although, I was certain disaster was going to occur at some point (infection, raiders, fight with each other that ends in tragedy) but none of that occurred really. They avoided infection, fought off the raiders, and only had the one fight about sprucing up the town. (For the love of god, what?) But they did get older, and Frank got ill, and so ... It was very nice to see Joel and Tess in earlier times. Joel and Ellie continue to evolve. She's not trusting him 100%, which seems very realistic to me. I fear Joel is underestimating Ellie at this point. When you have to be on guard 24/7 it is hard to let those defenses down. I think the part of the show that moved me the most was Joel telling Ellie about the executions of healthy people there was no room for in the government centers, seeing the scraps of cloth clinging to the two skeletons, and then, in the flashback, seeing those pieces of cloth as clothing and a blanket on a young woman and her baby. Horrifying.

Agree with you about the scenery. I live 10 miles west of Boston and Newton does not have mountains. 🤣

He also called before he went in. He got tasered when he should have high-tailed it outta there! I also do not enjoy torture scenes.