heavysnaxx

What The Affair really needs at this point is Cherry's Australian great-aunt, Barbara Stanwyck.

Oh I think Sunshine is, if anything, less perceptive and equipped to make connections than he first appears. Many college students - not just recent ones - take the path of repeating back material correctly and get excellent grades. And then there's his inability to read a room - he didn't seem to grasp how his coworkers might feel about him going off to nap, mid-shift. But what I'd loosely call "maturity" or even emotional intelligence is...not great.

Well, there's being told things and then there's really hearing them. From what I've seen of Thatcher, I can easily imagine her waving away any help on offer and disparaging it, to boot. I would ordinarily be on the side of the person in her position but her utter lack of either humor or self-awareness is just chilling, given the power she holds.

I had the very same thought! Thatcher had a much rounder face and a bit of a double chin, and while maybe ol' Nancy's do was a bit more elegant, it was very similar to Maggie's, in sheer magnitude. There was a moment when Thatcher was in profile in this episode when that bulwark of hair and Anderson's more delicate features made me think, "That's Nancy Reagan!"

Gillian Andersen is just KILLING IT as Thatcher. I feel like I have her entire emotional history already: She's uninformed about the culture and customs of the place she's about to visit but instead of availing herself of insider-knowledge, she opts to remain proudly and obstinately ignorant. It's not pride. It's fear. She needs that ignorance as a reason for why her failing will not be her fault. That tells me she has little real confidence in who she is, her ability to build a rapport with others, or in her capacity to evolve as a person. She doesn't feel as if she belongs there and she refuses to do any of the work to change that, even when the Queen is trying to be kind. Her much-vaunted "grit" is nowhere in evidence. She's a PM and negotiating high-level social engagements is part of the job but she's defeated by a pair of walking shoes.

It's difficult because I watched this after having read about her life and I need to stick to the show. I agree with you both except on the point about Diana surely being able to have visitors - from what we see in episode, the move into Kensington was like crossing over into another world that was more a workplace than a home. She was instructed not to trust anyone outside the Palace in the lead-up to the wedding because of the media frenzy. Her family wasn't close in the way we mean close. Her friends were largely off-limits. I think people forget that, on the spectrum of royal marriages at the time, Diana for all of the Spencers' aristocracy, was considered a commoner and that meant if anything went wrong - if she talked honestly to a friend, the friend gossiped and the media got it - she would be blamed and her family shamed. Lady Fermoy made that clear. And yet we see that the same Palace didn't ensure she had training in how to cope with the mammoth media frenzy or set her up with an inner-circle group. FFS, the family had each other to complain with about Diana yet these very senior "adults" never asked themselves who their newest family member might have to kvetch with. She was 19! How did they not grasp that she needed - and would do so much better with - intimates during such a stressful time?

I agree with all of that but I could not forgive the Windsors in this episode on two matters: -They knew the age difference and power differential. Charles was 31 and Diana 19. They knew it was essentially a job hiring and that Diana did not truly understand that. Heck, her ignorance was the core of her appeal to them as someone who knew how to perform the role but wasn't informed enough to see what the role really was. They exploited her. -Her isolation once engaged and their failure to grasp that showing emotional care was part of doing their duty. They saw she was suffering and their response was to judge her as weak. It's grotesque. Did you notice how we never see her with her own family while getting ready for the wedding? She's alone. And I do blame Charles for this. He's the elder in age, rank, and knowledge. He knows what's going on. He could have shown simple concern for her as part of his duty. Honestly, I do have sympathy for him, in general, but the Windsors' defensive coldness is just plain cruel and he's continuing it.

She's not male and there are male successors who render her irrelevant. If she were in the position of either of the two Queen Elizabeths or Victoria, she'd be the favorite.

"Sandy was lecturing about how a chef who's not white has to keep their emotions in check and act professionally" Tom loses his shit on the regular, serves raw chicken = passionate perfectionist Kiko fired mid-service for serving fried food, sobs privately, shows up to finish charter despite being fired = unprofessional

When she wasn't reached for comment about Tom's professionalism," Downton Abbey's Mrs. Patmore didn't say, "I don't mean to be unkind, but the lad were a bit of a big girl's blouse." She also didn't point out what she managed, versus what Tom had to do: Her Brief: Feed large household for 12 years in a Yorkshire basement She works with: Coal-fire, a dozy kitchen maid Her triumphs: Cooking in a corset while semi-blind; a wedding breakfast during war rationing Fears: Electrical appliances, being married for her cooking The # breaks she took: 2 (Surgery; once sat down in His Lordship's presence) Lives by: “It’s a poor workman who blames his tools."

The hardest part of arresting a boat is waiting for it to find a jacket large enough to hide its bow before you perp-dock it in front of everyone. I assume you arrest a boat the same way you fire someone for prescribed medication that you insist on calling "drugs" as if you're a Maritime Florrie Fisher: With disordered thinking, no bail(ing), and relying on a bosun who really doesn't love you back. I'm just an unfrozen maritime lawyer and even I've never seen a deeper crevasse than the one Sandy has that Malia's currently all up in.

Not gonna lie, I was bracing myself for seeing Sr. Monica Joan become a handsome laird's Sisternach when they had her standing with her hand on the stones. But I'm guessing the Scotland of Outlander isn't THIS one, to paraphrase Shelagh. Image: Parody of an Outlander promo showing Sr. Monica Joan and Jamie Fraser on either side of a stone. "POPLANDER 9/10 Starz"

Tom Checketts is (not) in fact one of the Checketts from Poachly-in-Unclewho that's related to the Masshole Afflecks that have a duplex in Southie-on-Wickedfrigginpissa. Casey Affleck refers to his distant cousin as "this fuckin guy." Apparently, they had a falling out when Casey called him a tool after Tom disparaged Dunkies' coffee.

Tom Poachly-Unclewho, aka A Boy Named Sous Vide, of Pustule-on-Gordon, has all the skillz and charisma of a shitty-first-draft Bond villain before Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives him some wit and an interesting back-story for his rage.

[Oops, messed up the intended image. Oh well!]

With all due respect, I don't see anything red-flaggy about Scott and Tinsley. Break-ups are frequently very much the decision of one person - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, nor is there in moving on to date other people afterward. My take is that I bring my own experiential lens to stuff. In this case, I see what I once went through: an on again/off again relationship with someone who had hard boundaries, who dumped me (which I fought) multiple times, and who dated in between. Super painful for me, for sure. But controlling or inappropriate of them? Nope. The problem was that we were incompatible. We wanted different things. That's what *I* read into what limited true info I have about a reality-show relationship.

My feet are currently so swollen they look like monstrous root vegetables and my doc, though concerned, is cautious about me using water pills because, as diuretics, they can lower your electrolytes if you're not careful. I can't imagine drinking heavily while using them. And while wearing such high heels! Talk about heading for a fall - see "Sonja." Presumably none of these women have my complications but DAMN are they cavalier about stuff like this.

I want to move to Chicago and have a baby with this post. I'm nominating it for a 2020 Richard Lawson Prize for Crackerjack Creative Writing - Alternate-Reality TV Show. Observations: -I believe Dorinda showed up at her local deli waving a spatch-cocked bird under each arm, yelling, "MAKE IT NICE FOR MY LITTLE FRIENDS!" and dripping jus everywhere. -Some are saying (me, here) that Blue Stone Manor may have been built on counterfeit-chicken money - Dorinda's long been trafficking in fake Bresse chickens, to be exact, by buying up Pak 'n Save birds, painting their legs blue, and passing them off as privately imported chickens from France. "Blue Stone Manor" actually stands for "BSM," or "Bresse Suckers' Money." Image: A Bresse chicken with the telltale blue legs. OR IS IT???

Ladies and gentlemen of this episode thread, I’m just an unfrozen maritime lawyer. Your show frightens and confuses me! Sometimes I think "a captain" means "someone who knows more than the valet who backs my BMW into a parking spot." Sometimes when I hear "bosun," I don't think "sous chef," "HR nightmare," or "possibly projecting my narcotics use onto others." I don’t know! My primitive mind can’t grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know – when everything goes to hell - as it's beginning to - because Malia had to baby-sit bunk with Poachly Clubfood-Unclewho, there are two maritime-law-abiding ex-yachties named Hannah and Kiko who'll be enjoying some ice-cold schadenfreude. Thank you.

Did you mean, "manning up the grill?" Pretty sure Malia's about to start talking about herself in the 3rd person. "MALIA'S GETTIN' PRETTY STEAMED!" Tom is such a delicate genius.

"NEXT ON BELOW DECK MEDITERRANEAN: Sandy realizes belatedly that Hannah YAWNed at her while being fired; Tom shares a painful memory as an anger management training doll; Malia mans up and begins dressing like Sonny Crockett; a guest doubles-down on refusing to try the veal and tip their server; 3/4 of the crew get black-out drunk and no one cares; Bugsy regrets a recent trip down to the crossroads."

So another white "Michelin-starred" chef FREAKS OUT (TM Malia White!) over having to do his own prep and baking a simple cake while the brown guy who does "ethnic food" can bust out 6 courses for 12 and doesn't act like a cake is even worth talking about, much less waste time complaining about. And Kiko's the one who's just not up to the job. /s/ PHOTO: The very pretty cake Kiko baked and decorated during an early charter.

Frankly, all Hannah has to say in response to Sandy about ANYTHING is: "Whereas your best judgement was to keep Pete and fire Kiko. Me, I'd have to be high to be that stupid. Neither of which I was." Repeat as needed.

Yeah, that occurred to me and that was why I said "mitigate" Hannah's wrong-doing, not put her in the clear. Presumably, Sandy's captainhands aren't wholly bound by a bunch of by-the-book-sentencing-guidelines and she would have the latitude to factor in the specifics of this particular offense. Regardless, IF Sandy fires Hannah for using her own as-prescribed medication, for a medical condition Hannah had previously disclosed, but failed to officially report for this particular charter season...well, I'll be giving some major side-eye to Sandy and Malia, our Mavens of Safety, who have basically said, "Welp, yachties gonna yacht," when stuff like major binge-drinking is involved.

Except Hannah did disclose her medical condition - and usage of meds, I believe - to Sandy during season 3, which at the very least mitigates the whole Captai-needs-to-know angle. So apparently Malia needs a reminder about what happens when you ASS-U-ME.