Glade

I'm obsessed with Christian's crescent moon printed trucker jacket; I want one! This runway was painful to watch, the way the lighting washed out most of the looks that featured subtle colors/details and the clearly uncomfortable cold/wet/dark/glare conditions are just inexcusable. They should have canceled this and filmed in the damn studio where we could actually see the looks properly without them getting wet! I didn't realize that Damballa, the god invoked in Chucky/Child's Play was real, but I would have sent Praije home, not Kara; it's really heartbreaking to see her go. And I wouldn't have given Bishme two wins in a row either; Raimi's was the more stunning look. I didn't get the praise for Laurences long too skinny skirt that looked like it was only staying up over the panty because of how tight it was. Ugh.

I thought last episode was the midseason finale, which would have made more sense given it's cliffhangers while this episode just dragged along until we finally saw Scotland again. I think the Abernathy plot is ridiculous, I don't buy that he just randomly runs across Ian's dog in the woods and knows who it is, and I find the idea that he has the time/energy/ability to stalk Ian equally implausible. Maybe Roger/Buck should have split up? Buck runs to Inverness to see if they're still awaiting passage, while Roger flies to North Carolina before going back in time and like, waiting in the general region of the caves? I guess communication would be extremely difficult if not impossible between the two afterwards, but still... Maybe it will make sense next year if Roger is supposed to run into J/C/I in Scotland or something.

It was really inconsiderate of the boys to just claim opposite beds without even asking if Nick and Charlie would obviously want to share one.

Big was a mistake. Personally, at the end of season 1 I hoped we would never see that stereotypically emotionally unavailable, older rich guy again and Carrie would move on to be with someone better. I resented the fact that he kept coming back. But even if you leave aside whether dating/marrying Big at all was a mistake, cheating on Aidan with a married Big (after the ahole told her he wasn't the marrying type) was obviously a mistake.

I loved how the on-screen text told us the scenes are January 2000, and then the words 'WINTER 1999' flashed, followed by a timestamp saying it was January 1st... This was just boring and ridiculous, those scenes of Megan and Isabella arguing right after leaving the cabin were so pointless, just restating things we've already heard. Why did Megan the superhacker just HAVE to get to the video footage first, before the police? And then she HAD to stupidly confront Steve in person and then talked of telling the police about the footage they already had. It made no sense, like most of the character's actions here, they are just empty puppets for bad writers. Also, I'm pretty sure there would be records about the lake camera existing. Megan's mother was in remission from....SOMETHING? I don't care, but the writer's should have; I wonder if Tommy Wiseau was part of the writer's room this season? Tuition at UW would have been $3,858 for Megan's freshman year, and since her mother was low-income, she would have been eligible for a pell grant and subsidized loans...after annoying us with the scholarship plotline for so many episodes, maybe they could have showed Megan realizing that she could still go. Please cancel this trash! But I wish the S1 showrunner/writer got a multi-million dollar deal at Netflix or something so we could get something as good as S1.

Open, free dialogue (truth and reconciliation) is what will heal rifts, not dinners where people are supposed to stay silent and ball their fists under the tables. I didn't care for this episode, but I also absolutely hated 'In The Pale Moonlight,' which was just a celebration of American imperialism, a country where people are encouraged to think they have a right to wage illegal wars and then say 'oops,' and now we also have a self-righteous, uniquely American narrative in favor of the death penalty as "justice" with no genuine rehabilitation or reform possible. I don't think it's a powerful exploration of gray areas, it's just a nod to the audience that no one really takes the Trek utopian ideals seriously.

That was a really sweet ending, Tom Holland was brilliant throughout this series. Perhaps the prosecutor felt that cross-examining Danny would only help the defense's case in the end. I'm glad this episode didn't end in full-scale preaching of 'you have to forgive no matter what,' because it is not necessary for healing to forgive your abusers or their enablers, whether they're your parents or not.

I wasn't really very moved by anything here, there was just so much plot that the characters were drowned in each successive trauma, barely even remembering that they sent their son to a cabin in the woods with some guy. Full circle from meh to meh.

I really wasn't expecting Buck to be given such a sympathetic arc, or for Rob to wind up a kidnapping time traveler. I wonder what his motive is; I can understand just wanting to time travel, but taking Jemmy is bizzare. I don't buy that it's to find the gold; the entire point of J/C writing to Roger and Bri about it in the letters is that the gold is as far as we know still hidden in the cave in present time, so all you have to do is fly to NC and hike in the woods to look for it, going back in time and sailing for a war zone to do that is ludicrous. But hopefully we will learn more about who Rob is and what he is after. I'd say it involves something in Scotland, not America. It's interesting that Bri didn't point out, that she is also related to Buck via Jaimie, since Dougal is his uncle and Buck is Dougal's son or grandson or something? But maybe Buck doesn't know that, since he didn't react to hearing Geillis's name either. It's probably best to avoid that subject, given that her parents killed both Dougal and Geillis, anyway.

And the problem is, they came up with that simply because they wanted a shocking, jaw-dropping twist for the last scene of the final episode; not a natural development of Jeanette's character over the following six episodes, but a gimmicky, tacked-on ending simply for shock value. The finale would have been so much better without it, the scene negated the emotional growth we'd seen from the character in favor of a pointless wink to the audience.

I feel confused as to the order in which many of these scenes occurred; was the winter party where the sex tape was played after Luke already got accepted into the Coast Guard Academy (which according to google, has no costs for tuition/room/board...so all Luke's father could withhold is pocket money, or I guess he could cancel his trust fund or something but the writing on this show about college costs is so shallow and brain-dead it's not even funny)? Was that scene meant to imply that he had given up on the Coast Guard? Honestly that is a very tame sex tape, there's no actual nudity in it but are we to believe that Luke played it in order to piss off his father? When its the middle of the night and you've just tied up, drugged, interrogated, blackmailed and your best friend shot your already very drunk boyfriend is of course the best time to reveal your pregnancy. I do think that Brent's overt actions make him much worse than Luke. I'm glad this cliche teen murder mystery will finally end next week.

The trailer is interesting (the 1940's version of Theater Des Vampires!) and Madeline (if she is the woman lying in front of Claudia and nodding) looks just like she did in the books.

I passionately hated Praijie's top, it looked so cheap and out of place, he shouldn't have been in the top. Even though Fabio made that terrible decision to hide his shorts, I still thought his look was better than Korto's; she couldn't rip off a piece of fabric from hers to have a successful look. Laurence's mauve suit was also incredibly dull and didn't fit the challenge at all; so I don't see why Fabio had to go, I'll miss him. Kara Saun absolutely deserved the win her look was flawless, while Raimi's top was uninspired.

Of course Jaimie and Claire had to have their regular dramatic separation and reunion. If Roger and Bree ever go back in time, they can tell their parents about Margaret Thatcher. But Claire did get my hopes up that they would actually depart for Scotland soon. Ian and Rachel continue to be sweet together, and I absolutely approve of their bonding over a dog, even if the blackberries in that scene were very obviously potted plants with tiny, well-pruned bushes, not the sprawling thickets of blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries...that would be prevalent in the wild in that region. Seeing Roger give his class was great, I hope he can turn it into a more permanent position. Honestly for a moment I thought Rob Cameron must be the knucklevalee/a fellow traveler after that interesting interaction. If that's who I think it is, it must be horrifying for Roger to see him show up like this after what he did; I'm glad he got a good punch in.

This was an afterthought. Jimbo's story was inspiring, despite how uncomfortable it made Ru, who couldn't wait to get back to the script. My jaw dropped when Kahana came out in her finale look; she is so gorg and her looks are to die for. Jimbo also looked incredible and Jessica Wild brought her elegant beauty, as always. It makes sense that Lala Ri would win what has turned out to be just Miss Congeniality, a prize that doesn't reflect the drag looks she brought with her this season which tended to be very lackluster. I guess the producers put in that wheel of fortune twist because they knew who they wanted to win and didn't bother filming a separate winning moment for every single queen. Jessica still deserved to be in the top 2 if not win this prize, but I guess she already won by coming back and proving/boosting herself. I'm so glad, and so relieved that Jimbo won her place in the hall of fame! The third time definitely was the charm, and I loved that they showed us that clip of her snatch game performance, which was beyond hilarious. I am officially sick of her gigantic breasts, though, and very glad I won't have to tune in to see them next week. Now please put Pangina in the hall of fame too and let her reign launch Drag Race Thailand season 3 out of the development hell it's been stuck in for years.

I wish the sheriff had thrown shade at Megan's ridiculous notion of losing the scholarship over the sex tape when at the same time she's hacking people, making fake ids, and tying up and drugging people against their will. Luke very, very conveniently confessed at length, but he could have just as easily vomited all over himself and passed out, or said random incoherent stuff that made no sense. I really hope Brent will wind up being prosecuted for those tapes at the end of this. I hoped last episode that we had seen the last of Megan's ex-boyfriend but here he is again for the hundredth time standing around noticing from a distance how Megan's more interested in Luke than him. Either develop the character in some meaningful way, or retire them! And inserting a shocking twist out of nowhere in the last five minutes of the season finale to show he's been the villain all along doesn't count as character development either!

The opening/ending scenes at the Lallybroch cemetery were so powerful. They have no way of knowing, outside of finding some further historical record, what the ultimate fates of Jaimie and Claire may be, but there are other ghosts there, Bri met old Ian for instance... It was interesting that Bri discovered a cave portal like the one Geillis tried to use to travel in order to kill her...but we already know Geillis didn't even think it was possible to go back until she saw Claire return, so a younger Geillis can't be the knucklevalee, and eating potato chips in the woods isn't St. Germain's style either. I hope Jemmy gets pulled out of that horrible school...Roger has the qualifications to tutor him at home. I saw that trap coming a mile away, and William is much, much less savvy than he thinks for not spotting it. I can imagine what the stew smelled like...and they had a cabinet full of stolen jewels but stayed there boiling rats? Ugh. But I loved seeing Ian happy, his son survived and I feel more certain that he and Rachel will be together, not Rachel and William. Claire saying goodbye to her amputee patient gave me a flashback to Charity Hospital...that stupid general should be the one paying the price for his own arrogance.

I thought Kahana and Jessica gave the best performances, aside from Jimbo. But the vote page apparently lets you vote as many times as you want, so I don't know that it necessarily matters. And we had to watch the mostly mediocre fashions be paraded on untucked week after week when it's really just vote for who you like best. Jessica it is...

These characters are so flat and one note, I can't bring myself to care about their mysteries. I don't find Megan and Isabella believable as best friends or enemies. I don't know who Isabella is and at this point I don't care, and I definitely don't care about Megan's scholarship, which is just another undeveloped character in the show (how much was the scholarship for, who awarded it, how much is uw tuition and what other financial aid is she getting?) There is nothing compelling here, just bad hair.

Anna is not responsible for the judges decisions, and in the end she was just safe; who cares? Raimi and Hester's looks were completely awful.

I wish I could say I didn't see this B.S. coming; and of course it would be in the super-arbitrary family resemblance challenges which I am so sick of seeing. Jessica should have won this, she gave the best family resemblance from the neck up, Kandy didn't, aside from the cheap matching dresses, there was no family resemblance. Other queens have been put in the bottom and eliminated solely because of different colored wigs; this challenge is basically a wild card for the producers. And Jessica absolutely deserved to go all the way; she's been a revelation from the first episode; I'm so glad we finally got to revisit her, and I hope both she and Tatiana will resurface in a future AS/Vs the World Season. Having the bottom queens pull lipsticks just shows how much of a joke having to eliminate anyone at this stage is. There should have been a top 3. Jessica will surely win the fame games now though?

This whole episode was a very unexpected diversion! The most unexpected part had to be that foray into horror film with the woman burned alive surrounded by cheering soldiers; I really hope there were actual consequences for that murder. I hadn't foreseen Ian/William making an interesting pairing out in the swamp, and Mary is very likeable and interesting, I agree! Rollo is so adorable, I'm glad we get a bit more of them. But it seems no one's inclined to tell Tom the truth about Allan, but maybe I would let it go as well, provided he didn't keep popping up every five minutes. I do hope we get the Scotland trip someday, though... I guess Roger lost his tenure at Oxford and sees no path to restarting his academic career? The commute from Midhope Castle to The University of Edinburgh wouldn't be that bad, but maybe the fictional Lallybroch is supposed to be much more remote. Roger and Bri are not inclined to imagine that the so-called Nucklevalee (or whatever) may have been a sketchy intruder on the estate somewhere, which is shortsighted.

I hated the top and back of Raimi/Bishme's gown, it looked unfinished and I don't get why the bra needed to be visible. Brittanys/Anna's just looked dumpy, flat, and heavy; I would definitely score it far lower than Kayne/Victor, who did some beautiful work even if the corset took it too far; and personally I'd much rather a fantasy costume than something that touches on the reality of monarchial rule today, which is profoundly ugly and outdated. I'm sorry Viktor went home, should have been Anna. Fabio/Hester's look was also really well done, and no one gets to gatekeep non-binary identities, Hester's identity and pronouns are valid no matter whether you like them as a person or not. Korto definitely deserved this win, her and Praijie's gown was really special.

Well, they could have used the gold to retire years ago instead of working for J&C and burying it beneath their house; why didn't they? Jaime believes the gold is cursed, and it is politically and emotionally loaded and traumatic for him, so I guess he and Arch are both not exactly rational about it.

I'm glad to see Fiona again! That opening flashback to Adso made me really nervous; when Jaimie was staring at the windows during the fire, I thought for a second he saw the kitty pawing at one of them trying to get out... I thought Jaimie's hair looked better than usual, softer, redder, though I didn't care for Bri's future bangs. If it makes them feel better to think that they did save J/C instead of stumbling through an infinite time loop, I'm happy for them. However I strongly disapprove of Claire trying to hand-wash the carcinogenic smoke out of clothes; just toss them! I loved that moment Ian and Jamie shared about Willie. I spent more than half of that scene between Jamie and Mr. Bug struggling to understand who he was supposed to be. It's sad that Ian's arrow struck the wrong person this time. But I don't think Arch will be around long enough to haunt Ian... Fergus, Marsali, and their eighteen kids should be included on this trip to Scotland; Fergus grew up at Lallybroch, and Marsali can visit with her all grown up sister! I'll be disappointed if they don't join... I wondered for a moment if the Spaniard was another time traveler, but apparently not. From my counting, 3 of the 5 Native American travellers are still at large somewhere though? Brianna and Roger using the Jacobite gold to buy/restore Lallybroch sounds promising, though!