EllisCarver

She's not suited for live action Trek because a "too cool for school" character would never work on the bridge. Which is what makes her perfect for the world of Lower Decks where that persona is perfectly acceptable.

Brian Tyree Henry is such an incredible actor. He did such a phenomenal job in the scene with Poet telling that story of the cop assaulting him. I don't know what to call what's bubbling underneath the surface of the character. Maybe rage, maybe determination, maybe angst.

Ahem, there's no way a Knicks fan like Mars should be praying to Michael Jordan. Charles Oakley, Bernard King, even John Starks would be acceptable. But Jordan ruined many a night for any diehard Knicks fan.

Yeah, like the other 2 CBS All-Access shows I've watched, No Activity is good. But I don't think it's good enough to recommend someone to pay 6 bucks to watch it. I love the interaction between Brammall and Meadows, and the Simmons' story about his affair was indeed the series highlight so far. After 4 episodes I'm kinda waiting for more actors to jump into the fray to try their hand at this.

I can get with Richie the Communist pimp being a running gag.

Both of these were in Show and Prove: I don't know why, but Vincent saying to his brother-in-law "You'd fuck me twice just to fuck [a waitress] once" has stuck with me. Also, a prostitute (off-screen) when the cops round them up the second time: "I ain’t working, I was just going to get an Orange Julius!" Too funny.

Season Grade: B-. A certain step down from the 1st two seasons. Pros: - The supporting cast is still for the most part tremendous and the biggest reason I'll keep coming back to OITNB. Black Cindy, Soso, Flaca, Leanne, and 'Tucky were excellent in their increased screen time - The pair ups this season worked for the most part, like Boo/Tucky, Leanne/Norma, Poussey/Soso, Sophia/Gloria, and even Red/Healy. - The guard and employee rotation (not counting the part-timers) is PERFECT as is. No need to bring back Bennett or Pornstache. I hope Berdie returns. - The best of the mini-arcs was Black Cindy's conversion to Judaism. It started out as just a (funny) running joke, but the writers did a great job weaving that into something special for a character that I mostly thought of as comic fodder for the 1st two seasons. - I could never get enough of hearing details from Suzanne's erotica. - Morello's arc was amusing for the most part. - More Soso everything. I thought Poussey/Soso was going to be an item, but I'm guessing they're holding onto that one for next season. - Favorite episodes of the bunch were the Mothers Day opener and the 4th episode, which involved the Boo flashback. Cons: - With the exception of the dirty panty stump speech, my goodness was Piper insufferable this season. She reminds me of Brenda from Six Feet Under; her problems always operate the same way and because of the same reason: she's a terrible person. She gets an idea, she pats herself on the back, someone throws a kink in the mix, she panics, she does something really shitty, someone calls her awful, she realizes she is, she makes a promise to adapt/change, she gets an idea. Rinse and repeat. - Piper/Alex has run its course. Adding Stella to the mix made it more unbearable. Permanently end it please. - The show suffered from the lack of a real antagonist inside the prison like a 'Tucky Season 1 or Vee this season. It's bloody prison. Where are the evil people? - The new characters just didn't add much to the mix. Stella's hot, but her character was a vacuous space and I don't think that actress is any good. Her idea of emotion for anything was just raising an eyebrow. Lori Petty was very off-putting. None of the new guards (aside from Berdie) added productivity or comedy to the mix. Even (beloved!) Mike Birbiglia wasn't that effective because his arc was all too predictable (and they certainly weren't going to turn him to a full-out baddie). The lack of interesting freshmen characters was really apparent considering the great characters we lost (Vee, Rosa, and Nicky). Weeds (same showrunner) had the same problem. - Daya should've probably had the baby earlier in the season. Stretching that drama out for a full season was completely unnecessary and it felt like Aleida and Daya were completely wasted. - The flashbacks have run their course for the most part. I don't think there was a single memorable one beside Flaca and perhaps Boo. - Having "redshirts" attack Sophia instead of characters we know really dulled the effectiveness of the hate-crime. Would it be really unbelievable for Gloria to order a hit on Sophia? She's a aggrieved mom in prison; I'd get it. I'm going to hold off criticizing the end of the Boo/Penn/Rapist guard since they hinted that Marisol would need to be saved the next season. But a boo-boo on the forehead of the rapist guard can't possibly be a satisfying conclusion to the story. In prison? Nah.

Ah cool. I agree, but I figured since you didn't mention it that you might've missed that tidbit for some reason.

Jessica Williams publicly rejected the DS hosting gig about 2 months ago, saying she was "extremely under-qualified". There was actually a mini-controversy about it when someone from the Billfold accused Williams of having symptoms of Imposter Syndrome in an article (http://thebillfold.com/2015/02/on-the-daily-shows-jessica-williams-the-latest-high-profile-victim-of-impostor-syndrome/) and that calling herself underqualified was nonsense. There was heavy blowback from Williams and much of Twitter, and an apology was immediately added to the end of the article.