slothgirl

In EVERY medical situation I've ever been a part of with a friend or family member as the patient, it's almost impossible to get the staff to let me stay in the vicinity while they are doing ANYTHING, even when I'm calm, rational, and informing them that I am the health care proxy. Yet AngMem not only lets entire gymnastics drill teams hang about doing a dance off, but now they find fault with family members who AREN"T hovering about in the way having a hysterical meltdown like every other TV family member? AND a surgeon's daughter is able to wander into the observation deck to watch a surgical procedure and distract her father while he's operating? No wonder they only have 1 surgeon... the others quit because they couldn't concentrate with all the random people interfering with procedures and violating HIPAA laws.

Not me... I like Original Recipe Abby. The girlyness always bugged me. She was cool-quirky and then she just became infantile snowflake quirky. On the other hand, Kate bugs me more than I remember. For someone who was in a top position in an extremely male industry (secret service agent guarding POTUS) she certainly does let Tony get under her skin. How on earth did she get through SS training and work her way up to the top of the ladder in that agency?

She has made mention of her crew and her people. It made me wonder if by naming the person, other people could be affected. Then I wondered "How?" Well... if the offending person was someone key to the run of the show, then it might lead to cancellation if media and public pressure led to firing that person . That would cost a bunch of people their jobs. When she says "multiple" physical assaults, it could be that she is referring to OTHER people who have confiding in her about their own experiences with some person. To be more specific about who, when, and what would be a choice that those people should make, not her. Although she isn't specific, the ONLY change in the show was that she never appeared with Harmon. So either he personally or his dog is the issue. Or someone else behind the scenes that we don't see and Harmon stood up for them. But that seems unlikely because if it was a random crew member, they would fire that person before losing Abby. It has to be either Harmon or a producer-type (or somehow both) Unless the dog actually assaulted her more than once (and we've read nothing to indicate that it EVER did) it seems like she isn't talking about the dog just being there on set since she claims multiple physical assaults. Maybe the dog assaulted more than just that one crew member. Or maybe she is a rabble rouser. It's really hard to say. The "inside sources" might be using gossip media because the showrunners know that Abby was hugely popular and making a formal statement that she is nuts will hurt the show, even if that is the truth. It could be that there IS something hinky going on and she can't speak about it for the reasons above. My guess is that we will never know now. She has left the show and media coverage will die down by next season. It pretty much already has. I would think if Harmon was abusive in any way, other people over the course of his long career would be coming out with it after all this hoopla, unless nobody wants to be the first to go out on a limb. If they can bring down Harvey Weinstein, ANYONE can be brought down. I know I'm glad to see Abby as a character gone. I didn't enjoy the character's (backwards) development. I've been watching early season re-runs on cable from the Kate days and Abby was a completely different character played by the same actress. Barely recognizable.

OMG.. that giant sloth hitting the ground was pure comedy gold! (and yes.. I said all along that Tuunbaq's face looked more like a sloth than a bear)

He would be a shoe-in for an Emmy if it weren't for Donald Sutherland in Trust. And how funny that the 2 best - by FAR - performances this year are by the son of a famous acting father, and the father of an also famous acting son. I think Richard Harris was a product of his time as far as acting styles, and coming from theater himself, wasn't prone to subtlety. In the case of the Sutherlands, as much as I love Keif, the father is the master.

My take on the scene where Crozier says that the passage doesn't exist is that he is motivated by a desire to halt exploration and exploitation of the area for the good of both sides, not by an actual belief that the passage didn't exist.

I love both of these observations! It's going to be even more enjoyable doing a rewatch with all these ideas and concepts to ponder from the beginning On of the reasons I took away from this show, although it may have nothing to do with fact, is presented in his supposed final words.. He doesn't just say that "we are dead and gone", but that the Northwest passage doesn't exist. He tells them not to continue searching for it. He is trying to convince Europeans to stay away and stop looking, not just for their own safety, but for the safety of the Inuit and natural world. If he had returned, his message wouldn't have been effective. Of course, it wasn't effective anyway, but he could only try.

Being one of the few I guess that thinks he has aged significantly in the last year, I wonder if maybe they are trying to catch him up to how he looks. (keeping in mind that people have a skewed idea of what people look like a specific ages, though this discrepancy usually affects women on screen more than men).. Or maybe they are going to make a case for retirement. Or maybe they just don't remember the specific details of "canon" the way fans do. The folks in the design, prop, and set-dressing departments probably change more frequently over the years. Writers change. Producers, show-runners change. The ACTORS probably don't even remember details about their characters the way die-hard fans do. I'm thinking that just not getting the date right because they didn't remember or didn't bother to research, is every bit as possible as deliberately ret-conning Gibbs age.

A Mark Harmon / Allison Janney reunion would be awesome. I always hoped they'd find a recurring role for her on NCIS

Looked at MH's IMDB page to see what all he'd been in. Didn't know he'd been the hearthrob in Goliath Awaits (because who really knew who MH was way back then?) Googled GA and found it on You Tube... yep the whole movie. Got sucked into watching it last night until 3AM. The internet is a dangerous rabbit hole. There was a scene where he jumped on a table to make an announcment and it sounded and played JUST LIKE "Listen up everybody... we've opened a package containing a white powder". OR was it "Listen up everybody... our #1 most wanted.. Go!" For most of the rest of it he was over-acting in completely Non-Gibbs fashion, but there were glimpses. He was basically the weakest link in the cast, obviously cast for "pretty" rather than skill.

Amazon is out of stock of the Smith biography... I wonder why? ;)

the 3 who were found (the mummies) were buried on Beechey Island. The ships reached and left Beechey before the start of this narrative on being stuck in the ice. There are several allusions to the fallen sailors buried on Beechey. I don't think Crozier's body was ever found, and I'm not sure if any others besides those 3 were found AND identified. That's why I was surprised when you said we know he died. I didn't think that history knew what happened to him specifically, although the assumption would be that he did die trying to reach "civilization"

They weren't particularly obvious about the passage of time all through the series, so I can handwave that more time had passed between Ross coming and the final shot. One of the things I bitched about in an episode thread at some point was that I was only getting a clear impression of how much time was giong by because I knew from reading wikipedia how much time was involved. Perhaps with my closed captioning on, I missed some "x months later" show cards. But not having one right before the very last shot to me does not automatically mean it was immediately after he evaded Ross and the rescuers. Do we know that Crozier died with his men? Did they ever find his body? I thought part of the history given by the Inuit that were interviewed was that there were tales of Corzier outliving most of the others. Possible sightings and that sort of thing. That's how I saw it as well. A bird would mean thaw ahead and possible game or open water

I always figured there was more than 1 Tuunbaq. They called in another Shaman to help when LS lost control of Tuunbaq. How would another shaman know what to do or be any better at it unless there were multiple Tuunbaq / shaman pairs? I also have a vague memory from something I read in the 10 weeks of being obsessed with this show (has it really been that long?) about the real mythology Tuunbaq is based on (not just from the book, or what the book itself used as a basis)

wasn't the "2 years later" note for when Ross and Co showed up to rescue? I don't remember there being a note for the last scene which I assumed could be any number of years after that. I haven't had the heart to rewatch yet.

Technically, there WERE trying to get the plane delayed... Gibbs told someone to tell them to "hold it, but don't tell them why". Also, technically, if he isn't even who he says he is, then i don't see how any DI would cover him. The agents can just say "We didn't arrest Mr Golden Boy, we arrested Mr Big Baddie.. oh wait.. you're telling me they are the same person? Oops.. our bad" Meanwhile the PTB haven't a leg to stand on because the guy they think is protected by DI doesn't even exist. Vance led the rescue during which all of whassisname's "brothers" were killed by the team. Also, whassisname probably knows at this point the cover is blown, so there's no point in worrying about giving it away and maintaining the fiction of charity hero.

Out of character maybe, but realistic. It isn't a federal employee's job to line up a replacement or someone to cover for them if they have to be out. It's only their responsibility to have their work area in a state that someone else CAN come in without wondering where Major MassSpec is stored and how to get it running. What's silly is that there aren't more Abbys already in the lab and that the best replacement for her is someone taking her first real job. I think "an agent I was standing right next to got shot and killed and I nearly died myself" is a pretty acceptable reason for quitting on the spot and not giving notice, assuming the position even required giving notice. So while it might have been out of character, I don't find it unprofessional. Plus, she tells the team and then just takes off, but she might have "given notice" to Gibbs (when he visiting in the middle of the night when no one was watching) or the Director, before she was even out of the hospital. IRL, her recovery before she left would have been at least 2 weeks, but she had to leave the hospital, wrap up the case, and be well enough to fly across the pond before Reeves got too stiff.

well, yes, I know what the point is... that the empire is so spread, that it's always daytime somewhere. But when you are in London, it's just ironic.

Yes. Not exuberant, but accepting. As the Netsilik said to him: "this is something you just have to accept". It went far beyond Silna's fate. He accepts that this is "home" now. He also probably has enough sense of duty left that he accepts that if his men don't get to go home, neither does he. Add to that the loathing he probably feels for the british explorere minset now, and the knowledge that if he returns, it will only encourage future expeditions to a land that "wants them gone" and that they have no appreciation for, then I really can't think of a reason he WOULD return. Part of his "duty" now, in his mind, is to discourage others from embarking on another fool's errand for the glory of something "unobtainable". I absolutely love the psychology of this series... of the characters, of the show, and of the people creating the show through acting, directing, writing, composing, designing... This is what you get when TV is elevated to Art.

You think it's plausible that they might have expected rescue. I think the rescue itself would be totally implausible and also that they would expect it. So we just differ on what we think it plausible. I didn't get a good look at his stump to know how healed it was. I only know the impression I got of time passing, and it wasn't a few days. By poisoning himself, Goodsir poisons anyone who eats him, leaving anyone who doesn't unaffected. Their own actions play a part in their death or illness. By shooting some or all of them, they do not share any responsibility for their fate. So it'snot at all the same thing. I agree that Goodsir was irritating in the beginning. That's why I loved the arc for his character in the last few episodes. I never felt like the actor was doing a stellar job, and once I read what he said about the Hickey character, I really felt like he fell short in delivering on it. I think the primary motivation for Crozier to stay was not the cannibalism or the potential questions or shame... it was that he came to realize the level of arrogance and hubris in his culture's exploration as well as what it was capable of driving men to, and he preferred the Netsilik way. His only reason to return would have been his duty to get any of his men back home, but once they were all gone, he had no motivation because he no longer thought of it as home himself. It would have felt like a farce to be back in "society", and he'd probably want to strangle people every time they spoke!

When I've gone to England, it seems to me the phrase should have been"The sun never shines on the...."

I LOVE the fact that Goodsir does not envision humans in his last minutes, but rather the natural world and his innate love and curiosity for it. As he says to Crozier, the place is still beautiful to him even now. Humans on the other hand are no longer beautiful to him. They have destroyed his soul, and the only peace he can see would be a world without humans. Goodsir's character arc was a little slow to get moving in the series, but it's one of the most fascinating ones by the end. For me, his return to a love of the perfection found in nature (as depicted by the perfect spiral of a shell, a flower, and crystalline structure - which also bring to mind earth, air, and sea) ... that redemption is what turns his tragic corporeal end into something beautiful and true to character. Had he imagined Silence or any other human (and really, who else could he have seen at the end? We never knew anything about his family or friends prior to the voyage) for me, that would have been too cheesy. His death visions were sublime and perfect, IMO. I don't believe Silna was condemned to die. She was cast out of the group and condemned to solitude... no longer with Tuunbaq or other humans as companions. She managed to survive on her own quite a bit up to that point, and probably would survive physically for quite awhile, perhaps even a normal lifespan. But like Crozier, she could no longer be part of the human culture she always knew. I liked the symmetry of their parallel destinies. I also like it far better that they have these destinies apart from one another. But then I hate the trope of pairing up as a wrap-up to stories and would have groaned if it had happened here with LS and Crozier or Goodsir. IRL, people don't live happily ever after. I think it would have been interesting if Tuunbaq had been real, but less corporeally solid. I envision a force made of wind (especially since the wind played such an important role in the scoring of the show) and it was only ever partly formed with other parts appearing and disappearing in a sorta swirling fashion as though it was made of smoke being blown about. A smoke bear. I also think they made a huge mistake giving it a human face. It looked clownish, and I kept getting distracted trying to decide if it looked like Crozier and that that was supposed to mean something. It would have also been cool if in it's ghostly, smoky, windy, not quite formed way, each crew member saw it differently. So then it is a real force, and yet it is also personal, like a lead induced hallucination would be. Unlike many, I liked the IDEA of Tuunbaq. The execution just didn't quite work, both in the actual graphic and the explanation/continuity of explanation. I think we have to agree to disagree on this whole idea of rescue being something they should have considered possible. For one thing, Goodsir would never have gone back to England once he had practiced cannibalism, and also knowing that he would have to continue to do so to stay alive waiting for a rescue that would probably not come. What Hickey forced him to do destroyed him. The others thought that Hickey was going to keep them alive until they could reach help; they wanted to live. Goodsir saw the truth and knew that salvation of any kind was forever beyond their reach now; he wanted to die. As a practical matter, if help from the brits did come, how would they find these little encampments in hundreds of miles of terrain? Dumb luck? Their best chance of being FOUND was staying on the ships. Crozier knew that help wouldn't come soon enough to save them on the ships and they would have to head for a place known to be inhabited rather than expect anyone to come to them. Why would he or any of the others think that help would come soon enough somewhere in the vast expanse of King William Island where no one even knew where they were if it wasn't going to reach them on the ships? Anyone coming would have to also go where the ships were and no one could get there unless it thawed, which was looking pretty unlikely. No one would mount a land expedition on KWI to look for them without have SOME idea of how far they got on water. Just heading out north on KWI in hopes of finding the crew going south wouldn't make any sense... they had no way to know the sailors were even on King William. They could have been ANYWHERE. Little's party did have food. They took almost everything and put a few token cans outside the tents of the sick. I don't recall discussion about how much provisions they had left at that point, but with so few people, and the possiblity of finding game if they continued south, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect they could have survived at least a month if not 2. They survived long enough to go completely stark raving mad and they seemed pretty clear-headed when they set out.

And a master of accents! Remember on Bones how he faked a middle eastern accent until he slipped up and his American accent took everyone by surprise? I'm thinking that diplomatic immunity primarily protects someone from arrest and prosecution of crimes committed while being covered by the DI, not for international war crimes committed at some previous point in another country. It's also questionable whether it would cover someone who operating under an assumed name and identity. That's too much subtle nuance for this show. It's always been hamfisted about relationships and dark past crap. I agree that Jack's plan was to kill him and Gibbs plan was to pull out a save of her soul at the last minute cause THAT"S never been done before on this show. The man should be a priest. Gibbs: I've never told anyone about this before Me: And yet, everyone knows anyway.

It would be a far bigger risk for LS to attempt to help a large group of people of people she KNOWS to be dangerous to her (especially Hickey who already kidnapped her once) than to rescue the lone survivor in a slew of dead bodies. She did have evidence that Crozier himself was not like the others. How would she have rescued the whole lot of them even if she wanted to? She certainly wouldn't have brought along additional help after what happened to her father and to the little family. Alone, she was the one in more danger from them than they were from anything else, since they already viewed her an an enemy. The idea that Goodsir should have held out hope because it was a possibility that she might try, is laughable to me. There's NO WAY Silence would have even gone NEAR Hickey's group while Hickey and some of the others were alive. Besides, she was on a mission to deal with Tuunbaq at that point. It was her sacred role. Getting distracted trying to save dozens of invaders wasn't something she could take the time to do. She only saved Crozier AFTER it was clear to her that Tuunbaq was dead. I'm pretty sure that more than days went by while Crozier was recovering. Given the state of the other camps when he was finally able to go for a walkabout, I'd say that more than weeks went by also. I'm guessing maybe a couple of months. If I'd been paying more attention to everything they said about the seasons, it might be clear, since at that point Crozier is telling her that it's getting colder and they need to start moving. (I remember that because it was just another example of that subtle arrogance... like he knows better than she does when and where they need to be, based on the local weather) We don't know what she put on his wounds, but clearly the locals would have had their own medicine practices or they would all be dead from various things. I find it more ludicrous that Blanky wasn't in far worse shape given the level of necrosis in his amputated leg. I couldn't tell how his prosthesis even stayed on or how he walked on it since it looked like the stump didn't even meet it. But then Blankey is a total bad-ass... Crozier is a badass in his own way too.

Found this interview which clarifies that it is a boy and we were supposed to know that it is NOT Crozier's child. Seems to me they failed on both counts. http://collider.com/the-terror-ending-explained/#crozier