Rapunzel

I think Smurf "agreed: to give him the extra $50K (he now gets ($150k) just to get the shipment released. Paul knew as soon as it was released, so he likely finally authorized it as he immediately went to Smurf's to get his share as soon as the shipment left the base. In any case, I have a feeling Paul will never see one dime of that money.

I do love this show and will be back next season. Loved the Smurf/Pope showdown and curious as to how that will play out. Somehow I can't see him actually leaving. I think, though he won't admit it, that he really does need the family and Smurf in particular too much. If he does leave, I think it would be short term. He also appeared to have dropped Vin off at the hospital. There was an ambulance there, and I wonder if he will end up living and what problems he may cause. He looked near dead, but we never saw him actually kill him, so there's a chance he may survive. Pope may not have been able to kill him given that Vin protected him in prison and that he knows Vin isn't guilty of killing Catherine. Also, if the truck driver lives, he may be able to ID Craig and Darren - they weren't wearing any masks. He may end up being too scared to say a word though, but they didn't pull a gun on him nor did he know what they took out of those barrels. I think they already had most of it in the bags and shoved him in one of the drums before they took out the rest. He probably assumes, however, that it was drugs/money/guns because, after all, who would hijack a truck full of used cooking oil? I live in San Diego, and in this area, practically every other house has a pool and, as we're about an hour or so from the boarder, there is a lot of drug/contraband trafficking going on. Experienced law enforcement teams definitely would have checked that pool out for drugs/money/guns. They would have drained it if they had to and looked in every vent and every nook and cranny. It's actually been done in real life, in addition to tearing apart houses as we see in other shows. Here, however, all they said was "J said the money was in the kitchen" and didn't seem to look too hard for it. Smurf's house still looked pretty much as good as it usually does, so this was a bit of plot contrivance for me. However, I can give them a pass since it's possible they thought that they may not have had enough time to really hide it too well (though making an assumption like this is not very good police work). In addition, given that the lady cop is so incompetent, stupid, and arrogant enough to believe she had J wrapped around her little finger and that he wouldn't dare lie to her or set her up, maybe she could only pull together an inexperienced team and they appeared to being taking orders from her. Also, perhaps none of them had to check out a pool before so the thought never occurred to them - wouldn't surprise me, though I would have thought her partner was a bit smarter. If he had been though, he would have tried harder to stop her pimping out J and would have been more concerned for his well being and not covering her corrupt ass - he should have been looking out for himself. If that recording J made ever gets out, he's going to be going to jail right along with his horrid partner. Nikki mentioned in one of the early episodes that she was just about to turn 17, if I remember right. That definitely makes her and Craig illegal, but she's high as a kite all the time, trying to get back at J and has Daddy issues, plus Craig isn't bad looking, so of course she's going to stay around him even though I think she would definitely prefer to get back together with J. I'm honestly kind of surprised that Smurf hasn't shown her stupid little ass to the door, though maybe she is keeping her around (and perhaps has even told Craig to help keep her pacified) for the moment just to help keep her Daddy under control (as evidenced by that scene where she made Paul go out the back so he would see his daughter snorting coke with Craig) and then will have Craig very rudely kick her to the curb. I have a feeling that there could be a chance Nikki may end up catching Craig with someone else, given his habits, before he intends to get rid of her because she is no longer useful, which may throw a wrench in their plans. I also wonder if Paul will ever actually get paid or if they will kill him or just threaten to kill Nikki and/or the rest of his family if he doesn't back off. This has taken so many turns from the movie (which I just re-watched over the weekend) and, at first I didn't think it had a chance to live up to the film and didn't think it could work outside Australia, but I love that it is set right in my back yard here in San Diego (Oceanside). I think it clearly works quite well here, and glad they chose here instead of some other US cities. Picking a city where they can also factor in the Mexico boarder to help with story lines as needed is a good choice as well, I think. I can't wait until next season and see where they take things and how the characters continue to develop. Oh, also forgot to mention that I loved the last scene where J is watching corrupt lady cop arrest scumbag teacher. Wonder how much jail time she'll get, especially as the cops are not likely to put in a good word for her at all. At a minimum, she can kiss her job goodbye even if a good lawyer can get her sentenced reduced and possibly keep her out of jail (especially if it's her first offence). However, as she is a teacher, they can tend to be a bit harsher on them with sentences since they are supposed to be role models for the kids.

The original is better, at least so far. The production values are a bit lower, of course, and it definitely isn't quite an exact copy, but I like the way the original was set up better. Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, with more episodes they have more time to fully develop the characters, the story, introduce more characters, etc. I'll put a couple things in spoilers - nothing too major, but just some of the differences so far. It's still too early to tell where the new version is going, though. In any case, I'll let others decide if they want to know anything about the original series. I also heard that at one point, probably nearly at least 6 years ago now, they were going to make a movie based on the book (this was before the original series was made). They had it pretty well casted (I can't remember who was going to play Teresa, but I know a lot of people thought it was a bad choice). Anyway, rumor was they stopped production due to threats (I think the book is based on a true story), though I have no idea how accurate that they stopped due any threats. Maybe it was purely financial or something. Wish this season had a few more episodes as I think they have some more set up they could do, but hopefully it at least gets renewed as I think it's decent summer viewing.

Yes, it seems we will have to agree to disagree as far as Kacey goes. I think Jessie, Megan, and the other much stronger females in the field this year speak for themselves and I hope they all do well. If Kacey ends up getting a Wild Card to Midoriyama, then I wish her the best as well. I have nothing personal against her all, it just bothers me that women who are just as good, or even better, keep getting overlooked and it's all about "the Mighty Kacey" and her and Brett being the King and Queen of ANW (though guess they can't do that anymore given their break up). That just isn't right - and I know it's not her that chooses how the network hypes it, but I do want more focus on Jessie, Megan, Michelle, etc. I wish everyone the best in the competition, especially having seen it live in Japan, with the exception of the overly arrogant competitors - it broke my heart that, although Geoff Britten was truly the first American Ninja Warrior, he didn't get the official title as Issac Caldiero beat him by seconds on the rope climb. That guy comes across as a complete ass. Maybe Geoff (or one of our superladies) will win it all this year. Of course, you can never rule out the Weatherman, Kevin Bull (did he end up qualifying? I can't remember. If not, I think he would be a candidate for a Wild Card), the flight attendant from Hawaii, Drew Dreschell (though haven't really cared for him much), Flip Rodriguez (didn't care for him in earlier seasons, but now have a better understanding of him since he revealed his horrible background), Travis the Stockbroker (can't remember his last name), etc. So many talented people, but the course is tough and we don't know yet if they changed it since two people managed to complete it last year. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Also very curious to see who the Wild Cards went to.

As far as ninja nicknames go, so many of them should be called "Arrogant Bastard" Ninja and "I Know I'm Better Than You" Ninja. And if you want to stick to the show's original language, "Baka no Ninja" (idiot/stupid ninja), "Gooman na Ninja" (arrogant ninja) "Bukiyoo na Ninja" (Clumsy ninja), etc. Clearly all those years of double majoring in undergrad with one of those majors being East Asian Languages as well as living and working in Japan, China and Korea have paid off.

I'm curious as to where some of my past favorite (and good) ninja's went. I finally found out what happened to Evan Dollard (not that his was a favorite of mine - he always seemed a bit arrogant) he's hosting that "Spartan" show. Does anyone know what happened to David Money? He was pretty good and I loved his last name. Also, his father was basically completely blind so one of his relatives would walk his father down the course as David did each obstacle and explain what was happening. David wasn't that old, if I recall, so I wonder why he isn't competing anymore?

My apologies if I've forgotten this. In any case, she still went out on the first or second obstacle on Stage 1 at Mt. Midoriyama. Again, she still plowed some ground for ladies out there, however as the courses have gotten harder and new obstacles added, she hasn't done so well (neither has brett, for that matter) but other women have thrived. I would so love to see Jessie, Megan, Michelle Warnkey, or any of the other ladies that qualified for the Mountain do well - especially given that that cockey bastard Caldiero won last year by beating Popeye (I think that's what they call Geoff Britten) by just seconds. At least Jessie (and I believe Megan as well) have experience on certain parts of Mt. Midoriyama due to the team competition, so hopefully that helps them, unless they totally switch it up this year but they've kept it pretty much the same year after year since no one finished. Now that two have finished, maybe they have decided to change it up?

I completely forgot about this, but you're right. He didn't finish the course but went far enough fast enough to qualify for Mt. Midoriyama (so he made the top 15). After all of his early flame outs lately, let's hope he really does some major training and makes it past Stage 1 at least. Far better competitors than he didn't make it in their respective cities due to the difference in courses or whatever reason, so hopefully he can prove his worth again here. Also, we won't know who they gave the Wild Cards to until Mt. Midoriyama, so Kacey may still get one. I think it's unlikely this year, even though she almost always gets one, but as the female field is so strong this season, I can't see how they would justify giving it to her when she went out on the third obstacle in the first round (balancing logs or whatever it is called).

First and foremost, I never said that Kacey only did well because of Brett. I even acknowledged her accomplishments, regardless of what went on in their relationship. In addition, Brett was at this far longer than Kacey - she came on board after she got involved with him. What I meant by "riding his coattails" is that is was purely to help her get on the show since Brett had been at it for quite some time (even outside the US, I believe) prior to hooking up with Kacey. She didn't have to stand for days and weeks in a walk-on line and the show was all too eager to hype their relationship. I think that did a disservice to every other female competitor at the time because it was clear she was already favored since Brett was King at the time and one of the best competitors. Just because Kacey was shown first, does not mean she actually went first. This show is not live and is filmed quite a bit in advance of it airing - as is evidenced by people wearing winter coats and things when it starts airing in June. In addition, the courses, while they appear to try to make them equal in difficulty, aren't necessarily. Kacey gets her course selected for her and does not have to go to where ever is closer or where ever she can make it to given her schedule. The Show picks it for her, and I think that's kind of cheating. They do it for other contestants as well, and it appears as though the show is trying to set certain competitors up for an advantage. I also think they have intentionally hyped Kacey, largely due to Brett in the beginning, and now stronger women have entered the field and are doing far better than Kacey. Kacey went out on the 3rd obstacle (the log roller) in the first round. There were several other ladies that completed the entire course. In addition, every time she went to Mt. Midoriyama, she went on a Wild Card. She also always went out on (and possibly before) the second obstacle of the first stage. Jessie has made it farther than her in the recent team competition and is far more versatile and athletic - I just want her to get the props she deserves. Kacey has had her time, and she did help plow a lot of ground, but now she is just not the top woman out there - just like Brett is no longer the top male out there. The other women, like Megan and Jessie, need to be given credit for their accomplishments as they've now surpassed Kacey. They have no problem acknowledging the top newer men, it would just be nice to see them give the newer women on the scene their props as well. I lived in Japan for sometime, and I have seen the original version live, and they do not manipulate things the way they see to be on this show. In addition, nearly all of the competitors are right around 5 feet or so, so the height argument goes out the window for me. There were those in Japan that completed Mt. Midoriyama long before anyone in the US did and they were far shorter and didn't have quite the same athletic background either.

This is the same issue though - she was only first by default. Other women finished that season as well, she just happened to go, or be shown, first. In any case, they keep hyping her and the warped wall thing, which just isn't fair to the other women who made it past that in the same season.

I think it's the other way around and that Brett could do far better than Kacey. Kacey looks like a 12 year old boy. For those who like women with no womanly features whatsoever, go for it. At least Jessie, Megan and most of the other female contestants have nice, athletic, strong, yet still feminine bodies. They also don't parade around in what amount to underpants (see the yellow things Kacey wore when they repeatedly show her run to be "the first woman to top the warped wall") to run the course and they don't sound like minnie mouse either. Nor did they stalk a hot ANW commodity to get on the show to begin with. Though Kacey has definitely done her best in all the years she's been competing - I just think her chance passed her by and there are many more stronger females in the field now. I think that Brett is fairly attractive (though maybe a bit too short for my taste), has clearly spent a lot of time on his physique, doesn't brag about it, and looks like a man and not a boy. Brett can do far better and hopefully, this time, the next girl he is serious about won't just be using him.

I am getting more and more tired of Barry/Bassam as this season goes on. He is a moron and I have no idea how he made it through med school. He is responsible for Rashid's actions since he let him go. Barry seems to think that the whole "I'd like to buy the World a Coke" commercial applies here and, if he lets even the most vile person off the hook thinking that his "good will" will make them think twice about further attacks and attempts to take over the Country, he is terribly mistaken. I am glad that Molly is away - at least for a while. I don't like the actress, and I really don't think the character adds anything to the show. She looked so heartbroken when Barry said he wasn't goint to run for President - seemed like she really wanted to remain First Lady. Emma served no purpose at all, so her dying was inevitable. The only alternative was to keep her in CA, perhaps going to college there, and have her show up occasionally on Skype or something. Sammy seems to be the only one in the family with any brain cells, though that's not saying much. He and Ahmed are the only two characters I can really support as they seem to at least have some kind of idea as to what is going on with the family as well as, to a lesser extent, the Country. I also can't stand Lelia - she looks down on everyone yet she came from a poor/working class/servant family herself. In addition, she talked Jamal and/or his staff/military into many of his most devious acts. She now acts like she is entitled to everything and anything. If I were Bassam, I would have thrown her ass out of the Palace as soon as he became President, even if interim. Let her fend for herself for a while, The people are not behind her so I doubt they would have objected to this - they weren't behind Jamal either, so they probably wouldn't care at all how his widow was treated. She stood by and either encouraged the destructive behavior or said nothing at all while Jamal held office. She has no business holding any cabinet position, let alone being President.

If they end up giving Brett or Kacey Wild Card this year, I'll be upset. Neither one of them made it nearly far enough into the course to even remotely qualify for one - and it has nothing to do with age or gender as other competitors have proven. The course does keep getting more difficult, and they simply cannot keep up. If I hear the term "Mighty Kacey" one more time I will vomit on my keyboard. It should now be "Mighty Megan" or "Mighty Jessie." They have done far better than Kacey ever did - the only reason Kacey ended up with the recognition she did is because she was the first woman to make it up the warped wall. Well, she was only first because the city they placed her to run in (and they definitely pick the courses for her, not just use the course closest to her home town as she's run in multiple cities) was first that season (or at least aired first). A few other women made it up the wall as well that same season, but because they weren't shown doing it "first" Kacey got this title and was deemed Queen of ANW along with her King, Brett (who she basically stalked when he became famous and then got into a relationship with him and started competing). I have a friend who knows them both (belongs to their gym) and apparently she followed him from town to town when he was doing his motivational speaking (after his early ANW appearances) and then she moved to Utah, where he is originally from, joined his gym and then struck up a relationship with him. She road his coattails as far as they would take her, and with his demise in the last couple of seasons, now they are split up. I think the whole thing of having her there to cheer him on is requested/required by ANW more than anything else as, according to my friend, they try to never be at the gym at the same time and when they are, they do not talk much. In any case, Jessie, Megan, and several of the other females are far superior than Kacey ever was or will be. Glad it seems they are starting to get more recognition. Also, I cannot stand Daniel Gill and his Kenny G hair. You would think he would want to pull it back in case it gets in his face and causes him issues, especially if it is windy when he has to run the course. I'm a female with hair down beyond my waist and it gets in my way on a daily basis just doing normal tasks. I also think he's arrogant and can't stop talking about how great he and his hair are. He may be talented, but this is only his second season - he needs to dial back the cockiness a bit.

I work from home, and I'm the same. Even though the Spanish shows aren't an issue for me, I did have to sit down and concentrate on subtitles when I watched the original The Bridge, The Killing, and other Scandinavian shows, as I definitely don't speak any of those languages. It was worth it though - especially when comparing some of them to the American versions. If you do decide to watch La Reina del Sur, I hope you enjoy it and that it hooks you in just as much as it did me and many of my friends. It may take a few episodes to really get into it, given that is such a long series, but it is worth it (and there is good eye candy in the first episode as well - Also, I live in San Diego and a part of it was actually shot here, so that was interesting to me as well. The time they give to develop the characters and their relationships since they have so many episodes is the best part though. I think it is something so often overlooked in American TV shows, and here they do a good job with it so you can better understand their motivations for some of their actions. I've also read the book, by the way, and it's a decent read, especially for a long flight or if you're on vacation, but I think the original series is still better.

Aiden is Tommy's father and TJ's grandfather. I don't think it's likely that he is the culprit either. As I mentioned in my post above, yes, he is having money issues, but he is also dying so the only motive he would have had would have been to try to keep the Toothfairy and/or Dion away from TJ, though he could do that through other means and not risk the chance that TJ would be in the building when it went up. I also don't think it was Dion. Given his background, he knows he would be the first person looked at. There is a chance it could have been Pilar. I don't think she would have done it purposely unless there is darker side to her other than lying about a dead husband to pick up a guy Grief Group, but given that she has been shown to be a bit ditzy, maybe she did it accidentally. Another outside possibility is Dion's lawyer. She may have assumed he played a part in her father being murdered by Patrick, however I don't think she would have done it if she knew people were in the building, though grief can affect people in strange ways. Maybe it was Tommy, though he and TJ were both in the building when it happened and I can't see him putting TJ at risk unless he was so angry at Rie for cheating and the chance TJ might not be his that he just wasn't thinking right. The Toothfairy may have done it as some kind of revenge for Dion torching his restaurant, and, even though he is in love with Dion, that may have motivated him even more as he knows he could never be with Dion. This is not just because Dion doesn't return his feelings but also because of his lifestyle and how it would look to his crew/family (I don't think they are aware of his sexual orientation - if they are, they haven't shown it and his Father most definitely is not likely to be aware of it other than, perhaps, subconsciously). If Patrick were found out, he would likely worry that they would lose even more respect for him as "boss" or possibly be usurped altogether - his Father is already trying to bring someone else on as his "right hand man." However, Patrick (Toothfairy) has to know he would be high on the suspect list as well, though I'm sure he has no shortage of "associates" that would do it for him and then he could later have said "associate" killed to ensure he didn't talk. The explosion definitely could have been set by someone we haven't been introduced to yet as well, which is another reason I hope the show gets a second season. There are too many unanswered questions, even if they just expect us to think everyone died in the explosion, we still don't know what caused it. We also still don't know what TJ saw when his Mom was killed and now that he just started talking, it seems like a bad series finale - though of course there have been far worse out there.

That's right - I had forgotten about that. I wonder if they can talk without being inside a human host though?

You are correct - the original is in Spanish and called La Reina del Sur. I speak fluent Spanish, but have friends that don't and they have said it is worth dealing with the subtitles. As I mentioned, it is also considerably longer than this version is - unless this version runs for 6-7 seasons or so, assuming 10 to 12 episode seasons (the original was shown several times a week, I believe, and most shows out of Mexico and South an Central America run for at least that many episodes and run the same way - El Sexo Debil, El Senor de los Cielos, Rosario Tijeras, etc - all good and worth watching, but also all subtitled). The original also takes place in a different location than the American version, so "south" or "sur" means something different - at least so far. The new version also has some different characters, but even though the original is over 60 episodes, the story is solid and entertaining and you definitely want to keep going through the episodes to see what happens next. It isn't as predictable as many American TV shows - neither are the other shows I reference above. They refer La Reina del Sur fairly often as a Telenovela, but I think it really is a step above that - it isn't quite as campy and the acting is better than in a typical telenovela. In addition, many of the men are very good looking, so the eye candy alone made it worthwhile for some of my friends. :-)

So I just checked the CBS Website, and it looks like at least this Sunday, it will be new episode that airs based on the description I read. Of course, we all know things like this can change fairly suddenly, but I do hope this is correct as I can't wait to see what happens next on the show. :-) Sayla Vee, I agree with you about the pros, which is part of the reason I watch all the sports in the Olympics, and, as I mentioned, I do have a vested interest in things like rowing. :-) I don't want to know who is already going home with the gold, and this is just purely as an example, see Serena Williams wipe the floor with everyone (nothing at all against her - she is a tremendous athlete, and if the rules allow her to compete, she should give it her all). Though I admit that I was awfully excited when the first "Dream Team" for Men's Basketball was put together. However, I was just 8 at the time and a huge basketball fan and they had nearly all my favorite players in it. Olympics aside, the blurb on CBS says that the new episode has Gustav and the Doctor possibly finding a way to communicate with the aliants - or something along those lines. I'm very curious to see what they come up with to accomplish that - maybe the aliants spell things out with their bodies? Maybe they can actually talk? Maybe they walk on a computer keyboard to type things? Maybe if you feed them Salami and/or Bacon they will talk and maybe even agree to leave you alone (who can resist bacon, after all? It does seems to be Gustav's preferred choice to lure them out and we know he reads a lot, so he must know :-) )? Topping this most recent episode will be tough. I mean, sex with salami and chocolate? While two people are right outside the door? Gareth was clearly a bit weirded out, but not enough to prevent him from getting some. It will be interesting to see if he and Laurel continue with this physical relationship and progress it into something more (minus the salami and chocolate and two witnesses while sharing an intimate moment, though maybe that weirdness was half the fun for them). Though I guess the weird food sex could happen again if Gareth gets an aliant in his head. With this show, clearly pretty much anything is possible and that's one of the things I love most about it. It is so quirky and has done such a great job with casting. I hadn't heard of some of the cast prior to this, but they all appear to be doing a great job with their roles (just wish Margo Martindale's character had stayed around longer, though maybe she'll be back even though she's been "invaded"). Tony Shaloub's accent does bother me a bit though, especially when he says certain words. I thought originally he was supposed to be somewhere from the South (for some reason, I had it in my head that he was the Senator from Texas or maybe Alabama, but I could most definitely be wrong), but people here have been mentioning that he may be from Maryland and that's where his accent is coming from. Not having been around many native Marylanders, I have no idea what their accent sounds like, so I'll leave it to the experts here as far as where is actually from and how accurate his accent is.

Yes, I know they will be on NBC and that this show is on CBS. However, regardless of the network, often times other networks play reruns during a major event like this as they know a lot of people will be watching the Olympics in prime time.

I was hesitant about this show as well once I knew the Kings were behind it. Maybe when they started working on creating this show is when The Good Wife started to get so awful - they were putting all their energy into this. This is so not like The Good Wife and also fairly different from anything else on TV at the moment and I am really enjoying it. I've always thought Danny Pino was good looking (this show maybe explains his abrupt exit from Scandal - good choice for him to make the switch if he had anything to do with it), but never really thought he was a strong actor. He's still a bit weak here compared to the rest of the cast, but I think the quirky genre suits him better. Love how they found out how to kill the aliants (sex, food, music! All of them at once!) and also love all the relationships. both good and bad, infected and non-infected, between the characters on the show. My favorite is also Gustav and I like the female doctor quite a bit as well. A relationship with them, or even just some wacky, salami and chocolate eating sex if one of them happens to get an ant (or just for the hell of it), could be pretty entertaining. I really hope this show gets a second season. I think I read somewhere that the Kings originally wrote it to be just a one season mini-series, but, if I recall correctly, they left room for another season should it be picked up. I have no idea why the ratings are low other than I don't think it's been promoted too well. I also wonder how/if the Olympics will affect ratings as well. Are they taking a hiatus for the little over 2 weeks that the Olympics will be on or will they keep airing it? I know the Olympics isn't nearly as huge as the Super Bowl, but the Summer Games do only happen once every 4 years, this is their first time in Rio I think, and I know that I am always glued to the coverage (primetime especially as that's where they show all the really popular stuff), but I honestly don't care if it's just rowing or something that is on - I always watch just because they don't happen every year. I was a swimmer as well as a rower in high school and college, so for all of you rowing fans out there, don't think I'm downgrading the sport or anything - it is quite difficult but apparently not thought to be as exciting to watch on TV as some other things (or so I've been told).

I was surprised when I looked this up as well, and I live in CA (I had it stuck in my head that it was 17 for some reason). I did move here in my early 20's (and married), so it really wasn't something I had at the top of my list to check, but I've lived in other Countries and other cities in the US and have seen the age of consent as low as 15 or 16 (and in some places, the drinking age lower than that). In any case, J is definitely being manipulated and taken advantage of by people that we are generally told all of our lives that are there to help and protect us - teachers and the Police. To me, there is no way teacher and the vile lady cop shouldn't be punished in some way for what they are doing to this teenager, especially as he is currently in a fragile emotional state and has had his whole world turned upside down. Whatever the relationship he may have had with his mother and seeing/helping her dealing with her demons, she still died and he still injected her with the dose that killed her (unintentionally, hopefully). He then went off to Smurf land and was exposed to definite weirdness, including Smurf watching him undress. He was also exposed to danger and threats from his various "uncles," including being nearly drowned by one of them. In addition, he believes there is a chance Baz (or one of his other uncles, perhaps) could be his father and no one will really give him any straight answers and he is afraid to ask the questions he needs to in order to know more about who he is (probably more so now given Baz' reaction when he asked if he was his Father). He also has the added pressure of having to keep all of the Cody Family Secrets or risk endangering himself. Despite that, the horrid, corrupt, female cop is forcing him into a no win situation which could get him killed. This is especially negligent by the cop since, as far as they know, J has committed no crimes (we have seen otherwise, but the cop had no knowledge of any of it or it would be used to pressure/threaten him more). The teacher is also a scumbag and should never have become a teacher in the first place. She is still willing to set up J to help her avoid a charge that likely would be reduced and not result in jail time (though may cost her her job) in exchange for putting J in a position where he may likely be killed. J should have let her OD instead of saving her life - she doesn't deserve to live especially if she is going to put a traumatized teenager with no one to turn to at high risk over a stupid drug charge that may only end up with her having to find another line of work. She's too stupid to be a teacher - why hasn't she spoken to an attorney about the charges the cops keep holding over her head? Any attorney, hell, any law student, could get the charges against her reduced or maybe even thrown out, especially if she could use the brain she doesn't appear to have and record the conversations with the cops on her cell browbeating her into further breaking the law by sleeping with J, an innocent kid as far as anyone else knows.

Most states require you to have insurance - you can cannot operate, and definitely cannot get a liquor license, without it. I suspect Patrick's restaurant did have insurance, however if the fire was determined to be arson or deliberately set, most policies won't pay out. As Dion went to jail for burning the place down, they clearly determined it was not accidental and the insurance company most likely did not pay out due to this. I do hope there is another season of this show, especially now that TJ has finally started to talk. The actor did a decent job with just facial expressions and gestures, but it was getting a bit tiring. Dion also needs to get some sort of comeuppance. He has used everyone he has been in contact with. He manipulated Tommy into opening the restaurant in the first place by playing on the fact that it was Rie's dream and her design only to use the restaurant, in part, to steal from to pay the money he owed the mobster and also to give the mobster a place to launder his money. Keep in mind that Tommy also only agreed to this before he knew Dion slept with Rie. I don't think Tommy would have ever agreed to go into business with Dion if he had known this before. He basically said as much when, after he found out about the affair, he would agree to keep the restaurant open for a period of time, allow the staff to find other jobs, but then they would close it down and the two would go their separate ways. Dion is out for Dion and I don't think he is capable of having any genuine feelings towards anyone else. Even how he acts with TJ seems a bit staged. However, I think he has as many feelings for TJ as he is capable of having for another human being, but he only has to do it in small doses. He is not TJ's full time parent (he missed a huge chunk of his life while he was in prison as well) and he would never be capable of it. Dion would eventually start to treat TJ just like he treats everyone else and, more than likely, use him for his own purposes as TJ gets older. I also hate to think of what will happen if he is at all involved in his lawyer's child's life. His reaction when she told him that her Father (and the Grandfather of his child) had died wasn't all that comforting nor sympathetic. You could pretty much tell that he was just thinking about how it would affect him, which is all Dion ever does. I am definitely not saying that Tommy is at all perfect. The guy has his issues and flaws. To me, though, it seems at least Tommy knows he is flawed to a certain extent, is trying to get help (grief group), admitted he is drinking too much and said he was trying to cut back, trying to be there for TJ (not ratting him out on the gun thing, though that not may have been the best parental decision), trying to comfort him and let him know it was okay if he felt guilty about framing the bully, and generally trying to do the right thing. He did have TJ in therapy other than the school counselor as well but, as he stated in one of the first episodes, he couldn't continue given how expensive it was (he wasn't working then and is driving around in a beat up old Volvo with a mismatched door) but knew that TJ still needed help and was hoping the school could help. The school counselor idiot that has been assigned to TJ has done nothing but make things worse - even nearly accusing Tommy of hitting TJ when it was really the little bully. Dion, on the other hand, is a mob associate, a thief, a complete cokehead who won't admit it (we've never seen him even mention trying to go to an NA meeting or stopping the coke yet he badgers Tommy about his drinking - not that Tommy's drinking is a good thing either, but Dion should not be so hypocritical). Dion is also an arsonist who spent time in prision, slept with his best friend's wife, guilted his best friend into opening a restaurant that he is stealing from and is, in part, a front for a crimimal enterprise, etc. Amongst these two flawed people, Tommy is less so and is at least making an effort in certain areas. He is also doing this all while grieving his wife who died less than a year ago and then finding out that his best friend slept with her and that there may be a chance TJ isn't even his. Dion, on the other hand, can't seem to understand that he's gotten himself into his current situation and can't even fathom that abusing his friends, setting up the restaurant under false pretenses and using it for illegal acts which puts everyone that works there at risk, is wrong at all. As long as Dion saves his own ass, he doesn't care who or what gets destroyed in the process. Another example of Dion being just on team Dion is that when he torched the other restaurant, all of his friends lost their livelihood as well. We still don't know his exact motivations for doing it, but if it was just to get at Patrick then he could have found another way that wouldn't have put his friends out of work. I am amazed they came back to work for him, though maybe they thought that since Dion had "skin in the game" this time and that Tommy was also an owner, in addition to the job market being quite tough in that area for cooks/kitchen staff (I think many of them mentioned not having regular, full time work for some time), that taking the risk and earning some money was better than not getting a check at all. Also, no one seems to deny that Dion is a great a chef and he clearly has talent, so they were probably also hoping that he could really build a name for himself and bring them all up with him. No matter how talented he is, he needs to start thinking about people other than himself. If he burned down Thirio, then clearly he's learned nothing and, if he was hoping to use the money to pay off Patrick, he is likely out of luck and may very well go back to prison as they are definitely going to dig into this to see if the fire was deliberate given his history. However, something tells me Dion wasn't the culprit in this case. I'm leaning towards Patrick (though again, probably too likely) or Aiden. Aiden, we know, has money troubles. However, he is dying, so that makes me question whether or not he would do it unless he did it just to frame Dion and keep Patrick out of TJ's life. Or perhaps it was that half-wit, half-crazy Pilar. Who knows what she is capable of?

So of course Logan ends up being the mole. Of course Jamie is going to fall for him hard and that is going to compromise the group in some way, especially because Jamie can't keep her damn mouth shut, in addition to breaking Mitch's heart. It's also highly likely that others on the team are going to realize that something is off with Logan pretty quickly and Jamie will be pissed at anyone who dares mention it to her. I'm glad Daniella is going her separate way for the time being, however I'm sure she will still get screen time each episode (unfortunately) as she does her thing and tries to save the people from the Village. I just don't buy a bad ass Army Ranger having perfect hair with two little perfectly curled tendrils on each side of her face at all times, even while being strapped into a homemade electric chair. I also don't buy her and Abe as any kind of couple or even just "sex buddies" for a minute. That "love scene" they had in the loading bay a few episodes ago was beyond unbelievable and one of the most unsexy things I think I've ever seen. Thank god they didn't show much - what little we did see just seemed incredibly awkward and Abe just doesn't seem like the type for that kind of scene. He seems more like a long term, relationship kind of guy and the spontaneous, sex with a virtual stranger just didn't work - especially since I can't stand Daniella anyway and she's a crap actress. I generally like Abe as a character on this show, but I think his acting is awful, especially when he tries to be all technical and scientific, and I find it hard to believe how someone who barely knew how to turn on a computer not long ago can all of a sudden access data no one else can super quickly. When he tries to be scientific or technical, it comes across as totally unbelievable. He was originally there to basically be the muscle (and to have certain knowledge on African animals in particular), and now they seem to be trying to change things a bit so that Daniella (at least until she split off with the Village People) is the muscle and Abe is kind of a hybrid and is now technically savvy when he never appeared to have gone near anything more sophisticated than a ham radio before. Don't get me wrong, he's still, by far, one of the better characters here, it's just interesting to see how they are trying to seemingly reinvent him. Maybe he has the "Ghost Gene" as well. I can't believe the storyline with Jackson's Dad. Seems like the reunion between the two likely won't be so happy since Daddy is probably now more angry than ever that Jackson destroyed his lab. Maybe Mitch can invent some kind of serum or something to help make Daddy normal again and he and Jackson can make up. Interesting that Daddy won't help them make the Noah Project gas until he sees Jackson - maybe he wants to dose Jackson first if he's still mad about the lab.

I don't think Nicki's family treated J poorly. Nicki was heartbroken when he broke up with her, her Father, even when he caught J coming out of their house early in the morning after spending the night, was nice to J and believed (or at least pretended to believe) J's story about them falling asleep while doing homework. He even asked J how Nicki was doing and if he thought everything was alright with her. He also offered condolences" for the death of his mother, asked where he was staying and if he was okay, etc. When Nicki's whole family went to Smurf's for dinner, they were nice, respectful, didn't have one bad word to say about J and, of course, invited them over to theirs to return the favor of dinner at some point. Also, apart from the dinner and one very brief conversation J had with Nicki's Dad, we really didn't see him interact much with them, but he was welcome into their home at least. If anything, it's Nicki and her family that are being used - and were used to pull off the Pendleton job. J is isolated, but many kids with junkie parents are. They make this a choice, sometimes even subconsciously, as they don't want to take the chance that anyone finds out about their secret and either tries to interfere or decides to call social services. It is also an embarrassing situation for them and, if they keep to themselves, they help avoid any risk of being ridiculed which would only serve to further isolate them and make the situation worse. The fact that J had a girlfriend (and it seems like they were together for a while - in high school terms, anyway), was a big step for him and I think the only reason he broke it off was to keep her away from the family. He turned to the teacher (AFTER she sought him out) in part out of loneliness, but also because she was manipulating him - smoking pot with him at school, asking about his family, inviting him to the art show, kissing him and then later sleeping with him, etc. All evidence that she was chasing after him, not the other way around. She is the adult and his teacher - she has a duty to protect him, not the other way around. As smart as J is, he is still 16/17 and definitely subject to manipulation, especially given the major changes in his life at the moment. The cops should be more interested in bringing the teacher up on child abuse/endangerment/statutory rape charges even if they do end up cutting her lose on the drug charge - cops other than the corrupt ones encouraging the behavior, of course - and then charges should be brought against them as well.

Why on earth didn't Catherine leave right after stealing the money from Smurf's house? She had already packed up her and Lena's things and once she had money, she should have just started for the boarder - it's only a little over an hour away from there. If she wasn't planning to leave right after getting the money, then why pack? Or was she hanging around thinking she could convince Baz to go with her? If that's the case, why didn't she talk with him earlier and why did she start packing in such a rush as soon as he left for the job? I cannot stand the female cop. She is corrupt and using a teenage boy and insisting on putting his life in danger is just wrong. I don't care what his family has done - so far, the cops can't prove J has been part of any of it or done anything wrong. We know he has done some things, like helping with the one robbery, setting the fire on the base, the beating of the guy in the alley, etc., but the Police don't seem to be aware of any of this or they would use it as leverage against him. Also can't stand the teacher. She is homely and I hate her little kid voice. It just isn't believable to me that J would do anything for her, especially risk his life to save her from a drug charge. Any good lawyer could probably get it reduced, especially if it's her first offense, and she likely wouldn't even do jail time (though she would likely lose her job, but she clearly shouldn't be working with kids anyway). Also, the fact that she would put a teenager in danger to save her own ass is just wrong, not to mention sleeping with him. She is just as slimy as the female cop and the Cody family. I really hope something happens to her and she doesn't factor into the show next season - same thing with the female cop. I would love to see at least one, if not both, of them locked up or killed off.