[S04.E04 Episode 4 2018.07.08]

On 7/11/2018 at 6:29 AM, attica said:

On the other hand, I'm fanwanking that Cherry knows all about walkabouting because of her time in Australia when she was the daughter of that woman who was banging that priest. Before she ran off to Europe to marry Ken Howard.

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

[S08.E05: Champagne Wishes and Caviar Screams]

On 12/1/2020 at 10:48 AM, NannyBails said:

Also, is Sunshine really as stupid as he portrays himself to be?  The reason I ask is because I thought Cal was a hard school to get into.  Maybe he's just book smart?

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.

[S04.E02: The Balmoral Test]

24 minutes ago, Trillian said:

No way on earth would the British PM not have the benefit of a protocol officer, either in the PMO or HM’s, to let her know what was expected from a whole weekend. 

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.

[S04.E02: The Balmoral Test]

54 minutes ago, Neurochick said:

I think Gillian Anderson looks less like Maggie Thatcher and more like Nancy Reagan.  Was Thatcher that thin? 

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!"

[S04.E02: The Balmoral Test]

On 11/15/2020 at 10:16 AM, Roseanna said:

Thatcher was a daughter of a shopkeeper, so she had perhaps never been in the country. However, she could have asked advice beforehand but perhaps she was too proud to do that.  

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.

[S04.E03: Fairytale]

2 hours ago, Roseanna said:

Actually, we don't see her with her family even before. We see only her elder sister with Charles, not with Diana, and she evidently doesn't value her (works part-time in a kindergarten and a cleaner, is called "Dutch" because think there will be a splendid future for her). And we see her with her grandmother Lady Fermoy who was Queen Mother's lady-in-waiting who is keen that she succeeds in Balmoral and teaches her etiquette (irl the teachet was some other lady-in-waiting).

It's clear that characters must be fewer than in the reality, but irl also Diana's family was dysfunctional: her mother left her father for other man and she was denied the custody of her children because of the testimony of her own own mother Lady Fermoy. Then his father married Raine, the daughter of Barbara Cartland whom Diana detested. When Charles courted Diana, her father was ill and her mother lived abroad. 

All in all, she had no adult relative to advice her when Charles courted her. She wasn't evidently close to her elder sisters who were married and knew about Camilla and the royal life.   

 

2 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

I agree that the Royal Family, as depicted, did not offer sufficient support to Diana during her engagement.  But what about her own family?  Lady Fermoy was her grandmother, right?  She was brought into help Diana with the protocol issues but she was portrayed as being unkind and very much #TeamRoyalty instead of #TeamDiana.  

And where were her sisters?  It sure seems like one of them could have stayed with her at Buckingham Palace for at least part of that time.  Remember that she had THREE flat-mates before moving into the Palace.  She was NOT used to being alone so much.  It seems really weird that she was depicted as being on her own for huge swaths of time.

I suppose it's possible that the show is exaggerating her pre-wedding isolation for effect.  It may well be that Diana's life was a buzz of activity during most of the run-up to the wedding, what with clothing fittings and like.  And I presume any friend she chose to call during that time would have been only too delighted to take the call and hear about those plans (even if the Queen was too busy to take her calls.)  So I'm taking stories of lonely Diana roller-skating around the Palace with a grain of salt.  (Seriously, who packs roller skates when moving into a Palace?)  But the lack of contact between Charles and Diana prior to the wedding really WAS odd.

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?

[S04.E03: Fairytale]

6 hours ago, Jeeves said:

What strikes me about the whole "Charles has to marry a virgin" thing and the huge influence on his marriage prospects that was exerted? Was that two of the most important influencers were his grandmother the Queen Mum, and Uncle Dickie. We know that HM was greatly influenced by her mother (I've heard on documentaries that her constant refrain well into her long life was "we mustn't upset Mummy". Wow.) And of course Uncle Dickie had a huge influence on Charles - and was also a father figure to Philip.

Both the Queen Mum and Uncle Dickie were born in: 1900.

Yep. In the late 1970's, those two products of the Victorian/Edwardian eras, were if not calling the shots on Charles' marriage prospects, wielding big sticks in the family's (HM's) decisions. 

And, honestly. I don't dislike Charles. I don't think he proposed to Diana in bad faith, and I think he had intentions to call it off with Camilla (more than once). But, holy hell, he was such a fecking MESS. IMO, there was some bit of spark there between Charles and Diana at first, but it was fragile, and the differences between them were so vast, that the poor little spark barely survived for a few years, wavered and flickered, and never got to burst into any kind of real flame.

 

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.

[S04.E04: Favourites]

23 hours ago, Brn2bwild said:

My question coming out of this one is: Anne is so obviously the best of the four children, how can she not be the favorite?

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.

[S05.E21: Reunion Part 1]

On 10/19/2020 at 8:41 PM, Koalagirl said:

When Sandy was lecturing about how a chef has to keep their emotions in check and act professionally I was waiting for somebody to ask “ what about Tom’s tantrums”!

"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

[S05.E21: Reunion Part 1]

21 minutes ago, Koalagirl said:

When Sandy was lecturing about how a chef has to keep their emotions in check and act professionally I was waiting for somebody to ask “ what about Tom’s tantrums”!

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."

[S05.E21: Reunion Part 1]

22 minutes ago, esco1822 said:

Why is nobody calling Sandy out on her comment about how the boat could be incarcerated??? How do you arrest a boat? Is there some enormous maritime jail for incarcerated boats as they await trial? Do you have to read the boat it’s rights? What ARE the boat’s rights? Are there yacht cuffs? Sooooo many questions!!

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.

[S09.00: Christmas Special 2019]

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"

[S05.E19: The Bali Is in Your Court]

2 hours ago, Uncle JUICE said:

I can't imagine how much MORE of an asswipe Tom would be if he didn't benefit from his posh British accent. I told my wife to imagine him saying the stuff he says with the Boston guy's accent, and she was like, wow, you are right. And you know that phrase doesn't pass my wife's mouth that easy! 🙂

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.

[S05.E16: Cool as a Cucumber]

2 minutes ago, ihartcoffee said:

Was Tom seriously trying to get laid on a 15 min break? 

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.

[S12.E22: Reunion Part 1]

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

[S12.E22: Reunion Part 1]

1 hour ago, RedDelicious said:

But *they didn’t break up. It wasn’t a mutual decision. He dumped her multiple times and went out with other people in between. 

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.

[S12.E22: Reunion Part 1]

5 hours ago, Silver Bells said:

My cardiologist prescribed them for me as my feet swell in the summer.  I don’t like them so I don’t take them.  They Cause anxiety in my chest, and I hate that feeling.  

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.

[S12.E22: Reunion Part 1]

19 hours ago, film noire said:

My devious-perhaps-not-likely-but-OMG-so-juicy-speculative backstory: In the last twenty-four months, Dorinda's been bleeding cash - spending too much money on high end free range roast chicken  - rare white birds from  Columbia - she was getting drunk and throwing cash at wings and breasts like a coke lord at Vegas, getting all Scarface at her local deli -"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"  -  and then the money ran out, and the chicken carcasses piled up, and she went to John for help, and he didn't have the cash to save her, so he went looking to make good on her chicken debts, and he ended up taking money from Tinsley's man, and Dorinda found out - in MIAMI! -  and called John ("You don't run game behind my back, ever. I don't want you to talk to Scott. He's not your friend. When I say to you don't do something, you better fucking well listen.") and like all emotional mobsters, she can't forgive the person who sees her for who she really is - a financial fraud, a drunk and a bully - and now Dorinda owes Tinsley all the chicken, but Medley ain't paying nobody no chicken money...

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???

 

[S05.E15: Shot Through the Heart, and Ibiza's to Blame]

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.

 

 

[S05.E13: Welcome Back]

9 hours ago, 65mickey said:

and manning the grill? All of them hovering around Tom apologizing to him every time one of the guests sent back food was so tiring. 

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.

[S05.E12: There's No Place Like Home]

"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."

[S05.E12: There's No Place Like Home]

1 hour ago, Chickabiddy said:

Chef Tom is a big fuckin cry baby over a basic chocolate cake in a springform.  That takes no fucking skill. It’s a step above a Betty Crocker box cake. 

And then cry me a river cuz oysters are hard to shuck.

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.

[S05.E11: Cabin Fever]

13 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

Hannah should be close to giving birth if there is a zoom reunion, and whether she attends or not, they are going to catch a world of shit if they go after her during it.

They've reached the Pete has revealed himself to be so awful that he's fully edited out of the show portion of the season. 

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.

[S05.E10: Closing Time]

16 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

There might be a rule you have to declare meds and relevant medical conditions before before each season. If someone brought Valium on board and didn’t disclose it before this year’s first charter then they should be fired. I feel bad for a Hannah, if she had a better captain she might not need meds, but if she broke protocol that’s on her. Creepy Pete should have been tossed a long time ago.

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.

[S05.E10: Closing Time]

8 hours ago, snarts said:

Malia is already out ahead of the story on Instagram trying to explain that she isn't a snake. Uh huh, snake. 

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.