Wilson Cat

When the new (to us) Boss Lady walked into the room in this ep I was like....WHO IS she? I know her so well, and it took me awhile to remember that she was Mitch Larsen, the mother of the murdered high school girl, in S1 of The Killing. She played a truly infuriating character, and did it wonderfully. That show had some awesome acting.....Joel Kinnaman is beyond beyond he's so awesome. So this is going to be fun, watching Michelle Forbes do her scary stuff from here on out. I love this show so much, and have a new fave character every week. This week was boys' week for me. I thought Donnie, Vic, and Felix all rocked (you go Donnie!!) Someone else already pointed out an aspect of OB that I absolutely cherish. And that is the total LACK of the 'fade to black' shit that most shows do in place of telling the viewers a damn thing, and this show tells us, and STILL leaves us hanging for the next episode. Take a lesson show runners. Crap, they are doing it on the local weather forecast now, it's all 'Well, it was 80 degrees today, but WHEN IS IT GOING TO.......(gasp) CHANGE'. And I'm going like, it's the friggin' weather forecast you bozos. It isn't Mystery Theatre. So I particularly loved that they showed us the contents of that ratty old red box, and that we saw the demise of beloved Dr Leekie right in front of our eyes and not 10 minutes after he walked out of his sad little meeting with Rachel. I did kind of miss Helena this week, but she's off to her 'babies' so there's that. I hope that goes well........

Here's another rave review of Megan at Cafe Carlyle. This is obviously a very special show that she's doing, and it just kills me not to be there. Who was it that put Seattle and New York City so damned far apart?!? http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/05-2014/megan-hilty-at-caf-carlyle_68693.html

I did everything I could to make it to NYC (and meet up with a friend from TWoP!) to see Megan at the Cafe Carlyle. Damn. This review in the NYT (and boy are they stingy with their raves....) makes me all the sadder that I am missing this. I just talked to her dad the other night and reminded him to keep me in the loop for all of her upcoming small venue concerts. Considering the September event that she is carrying so darlingly, it may be awhile. But I am a very patient Team Ivy member and will be here. There was also a really nice write up in Playbill about her Carlyle gig. But here's the Times review.... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/arts/music/megan-hilty-covers-older-and-newer-at-the-cafe-carlyle.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Aw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DSectionFront%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3Darts%26t%3Dqry68%23%2Fmegan%2Bhilty%2F&_r=1

Oh boy does this quote ever remind me of a once-promising turned into magnificent train wreck of a show called SMASH. "Introducing Katharine McPHEE!!!", who, oops, they forgot to mention has the charisma of a dish rag. Sorry dish rags. I couldn't come up with anything duller. I thought this episode of OB was excellent. Does anyone doubt for an eye blink that Helena will end up way better than the Prolethians?

Article in last week's NYT told about crime victims, including victims of assault, even rape, are routinely shackled in their hospital beds if they are found to be undocumented. Simply undocumented! Not perpetrators of violent crime nor property crimes, just people who are undocumented who had the bad manners of being mugged, raped or robbed. So I guess Bemidji is not NYC, eh?

But what about the cop sitting outside the room. They are going to have to walk us back as to how Lester managed to return to the hospital room or leave a big gaping hole in the 'brilliance' of this show. I'm getting put off by the insane amount of gratuitous violence, however, and it is bothering me a lot more than the incredulous plot devices. Sadly this show is slipping into silly stupid. Which is too bad, because it started off with promise, and the original Fargo was great. This series is turning into a mess.

Oh, and a million thank you's to Electric Boogaloo for the translation from Carltonese to the English language because I couldn't understand a word Carlton said in his first three or four lines to Mrs. S. It was like Hshhhmockarum benabble. Schimpferan. Oojookaram frish.

Having binge watched S1, I may have missed something in the blur of episodes. Help me out here. The bad guy who pretended to be FBI, who grabbed Kira and then took Sarah....who is he with? Is he part of Dyad? Or is there yet a 3rd group of baddies out there threatening the clones?

There is an iTunes version of Megan singing 'Don't Forget Me'. That's one more thing I learned recently.....they weren't going to release Megan's version on iTunes because they'd already done McPhee's. Then without any real notice it quietly turned up. I will not get into where I learned about THIS...... (smiley face.) But don't know about a solo version of LMBYS. And wow...not only slurred, but Kat sang that entire song slightly under the pitch. I guess they didn't have auto tune at Carnegie.

Best episode in S1: Let's Be Bad. Shit head Derek walking out in a huff after Ivy performs the bejeebers out of LBB. Later she and Michael Swift and Sam sitting in the bar, Ivy getting drunk, and deciding to go over to Derek's to confront the bastard. And that scene at his door....priceless. It became obvious in that scene, and from that moment, that Derek was hooked. He could deal with Ivy mad. He could deal with Ivy determined. But by god he could not stand to see Ivy sad and hurt. He was in from then on, in spite of lots of bad behavior to come, the writing was on the wall. I hated Derek for Ivy, but knew then that he would be 'hers' for the life of Smash. Best episode in S2: The Tony's. Hands down. That acceptance speech by Ivy was everything that could be done to 'undo' the shit the went before. It wasn't enough, but it was a lovely gesture. Bravo writers. Stephen Spielberg.....I will never see a movie by you again. Jerk.

God I hope Megan's parents don't read this stuff because they are wonderful, and I am not sure how much I should say. Ha. All that being said, Megan's mom made it crystal clear that Megan could see Kat's weaknesses as an actor, that it was open conversation, but that Kat and Megan really are 'friends'. I don't know exactly what level of friends, but friends. Her mom also alluded to the 'KAREN IS AWESOME' meme becoming a huge problem with the critics and how 'they' tried to fix some of that in S2, but obviously it was too little too late. Mostly we just talked about Megan's craft, how she approaches singing (she first speaks the entire song, gets it in her head how she would say the words if she was talking to someone, then sings the song in that light.) And one last share....after S2 Jack Davenport personally told Megan's folks what a pleasure it had been to work with their daughter, and that she is an incredible talent. And with this, I am done sharing insights from inside.

Whew! I had to marathon all of Season 1 of O.B. when a friend from TWoP got a job recapping the show and, just wow. Tatiana Maslany was jobbed when she was overlooked for an Emmy last season. She is amazing. This latest episode was so tight that it was almost claustrophobic. In a good way. I was so creeped out by the birdwatcher woman, "Take it outside...", but still didn't expect her to be impaled to the table like a crucifixion, then later shot by Mrs. S. I wasn't as uncomfortable with bumbling Donnie as some posters, but must admit that I liked Kira better when she was just Sarah's beloved child, everything she lived for but couldn't quite care for, than the clone baby with super powers of observation. Indeed the creators hinted at that last season when she knew in a nanosecond that Alison wasn't her mother, and again when she came downstairs late at night and said she felt something bad was going to happen. But she seemed like a 7 year old then. When she called Sarah from the hotel room she just had such a blank stare on her face, it was all out of context with how frightened a kid would be in that situation. But it is a small nit to pick in a great show. Felix rocks. If he is a monitor I will personally off him.

Awesome, and thanks Cranberry! I live near the Hilty family and recently had a lovely visit with Megan's parents. Her mom told me her own idea for a Smash follow-up which would be titled 'SMASHED'. Ivy, pregnant and drinking sparkling apple juice, would sit in a bar and the other characters of Smash would come into the bar, themselves smashed, and would tell Ivy about their lives since Bombshell. Or since whatever. How cool would that be? (Of course Karen would be the Princess of Broadway, most likely also a Hollywood superstar, and the continuing Princess of all Princessdom, and probably too purely sweet to be smashed.)

To me the worst thing about Dance Moms is the blatant bullying by Abby. And it is the textbook definition of bullying. She finds the weakest spot in any girl (will leave the adults, the moms, out of this particular rant) and goes right for that soft spot. I don't care if it is 'just scripted' or not. The effect is an hour long tribute to bullying and the rewards this egregious bully reaps from her behavior. 9 wins in a row. 10 wins in a row. 11, 12. Nobody calls it what it is, but it is nothing deeper than a bully and her victims. As entertainment. And as for scripted.....nobody can script the kind of hiccuping sobbing that Payton was doing in that recent episode. She couldn't even complete a sentence she was crying so hard. I won't even get into my second big issue with Abby.....the favoritism of one child (Maddie) over the others (in particular, Chloe.) I actually don't have a problem with the 'f-bomb' stuff. To me, it comes off as an expression of unbearable exasperation, but isn't actually directed at someone the way the meaner, personal attacks are aimed right at the heart. In fact there are times when almost no other word will quite fit the moment.....but that could be me, and the fact that my dad used every obscene word he knew in French (his native language) on a regular basis. He had a bit of a temper. (But he wasn't a bully.)