enchantingmonkey

Sandra's ability to make it to FTC was the one of the main reasons I stayed interested in the show post-merge. She couldn't get the Heroes to work with her to save her life, and she didn't have any real allies once Courtney was booted. I knew she was was going to win but I was still curious how she'd survive each Tribal. I think Russell had convinced himself that no one would award her the million for a second time, and didn't view her as a real threat. That jury was brutal on Russell. I'm sure I was loving it when it originally aired but I felt a little bad for him on re-watch. Russell is an ass but I didn't think his game play was that outrageous. He was so annoying trying to explain why he should have won during the Reunion show, though.

This season has been more challenging to watch than usual, perhaps because there hasn't been much fun amidst the madness. I know the editing monkeys were pointing out LuAnn's hypocrisy by showing her falling in the bushes but that was hilarious, one of the funniest moments of the series, and there wasn't anything funny about how Leah behaved at that dinner.

After this episode, I'm leaning towards Denise setting up the other housewives by having her kids at the party with them. She knows these dinner parties involve some kind of sex talk or screaming fights, so I find it hard to believe she thought there would only be PG-rated conversations and that they'd all be on their best behavior. It's funny that the editing monkeys showed how Denise was being disingenuous about how the sex talk impacted her daughter. How would all of this be playing out if Denise admitted to them that her daughter laughed about the sex talk? Denise is officially playing the Housewives' game. It's curious that the producers are allowing Garcelle to have such a clean edit on what seems like her own show while the other ladies are clearing all getting down and dirty with each other.

The scene with Thomas made me daydream about how much more fun the show could be if all of the characters were recast with capable child actors. Maybe that could be a good idea for one of Ron's silly theme episodes. Whatever they're doing with this Is-He-Stefan story, I'm enjoying how Brandon Barash is playing around with it.

What was the audience's impression of Tony during Cagayan? Good, bad? I'm re-watching that season now.

Valyrian steel. Rafe can use his badge to kill White Walkers as soon as the Show decides introducing them to Salem USA will be a super exciting plot point. Orpheus taunting Justin was fun. George delHoyo's line delivery and indifferent facial expression was the only reason I was able to watch the rest of that nonsense.

Allstate Insurance for Orpheus. With Accident Forgiveness your rates won't go up in case of vehicular manslaughter.

It was fun re-watching Russell Hantz self-sabotage during HvV. I'd forgotten how hard the jury was on him, basically telling him he had no chance of winning. I'm sure I was overjoyed with how the jury treated him when the season aired but I was more forgiving of how he played his game this time around. It made me wonder if there have been players post-Russell that used his cutthroat tactics and won the game. Any good examples of this?

Theresa is having too much fun being wooed by handsome men on the Hallmark channel to come back to this morally-bankrupt wasteland. David throwing a toy at John's head was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen during a kidnapping scene.

Watching Russell Hantz in HvV is more amusing on this re-watch. I really hated him when this season originally aired to the point that I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I had FF through his confessionals. But I'm intrigued by his crush on Parvati, and I enjoyed his rivalry with Boston Rob in the early episodes. And speaking of Boston Rob, I'm not a fan but I didn't mind him on this re-watch, which surprised me a little.

In my HvVs' re-watch, Probst asks Jerri the biggest difference between now (S20) and her first season. She says something about how it's Game-On right from the start, which made me think of the many times we heard that from old-school players on season 40. Perhaps it always feels like the game has passed you by when you've been gone for awhile? Does anyone know why Danielle was on HvV? She's almost pointless. Sandra makes for great comedy relief.

In my mind, Salem USA exists in its own unique reality. With all of the talking zombies and questionable justice system, I don't know how else to look at it. So sitting on the ground with a noose that isn't even tight around your neck looks more like a prank than a suicide attempt. But Xander's reaction suggests that a new layer has been added to this mysterious place. A little disappointed Orpheus has resorted to mustache-twirling so quickly. I was enjoying the awkward family dynamic with his little family.

After reading the last few posts, I decided I could use some of Sandra's snark in my life and started watching HvV again. Her first line is, "Last time I was mean, and this time I'm meaner." Ok, that's what I was looking for. I've not re-watched a season before, and episode 1 didn't hook me but episode 2 got my attention with Rob passing out, Heroes losing the Immunity challenge again, and James being pissed at Stephenie. When did they introduce Hidden Immunity Idols into the game? Someone was asking where another tribe member had gone and there was no discussion of off looking for an idol, which is usually always what that scene is about nowadays.

From Thursday's show, I would have loved to have seen the episode where Mackenzie arrives at the Chancellor Estate and meets that Jill woman for the first time. The other day I found an episode of Jill ranting at Mac like a lunatic after Brittany lost the Prom Queen title to Mac. I don't know if it was much of a rivalry but they both hated each other from the start. Maybe they still do? Eric Braeden is really good at that barking/yelling thing he does when Victor is furious. It used to always give me chills. Smashing the picture of Jack and Brad was unsettling but breaking the pencil in half afterwards was laughable. That was a pretty good day for Mary Williams. I remember loving how insufferable she could be when Paul was married to Lauren. Seems like she hated another one of his wives, too. I think she was mostly happy with bland Christine.

He must of shaved it off before the time jump was over but I don't see why it needed to be there. It was as bad as Abigail's hair and those ridiculous outfits they make Ciara wear.

It was odd to me that they were going to keep Maggie in jail for an extended period of time. I should have known that the vehicular-homicide-baby-dying-baby-swapping-baby-napping-attempted-murder storyline was going to get even more convoluted. What was up with that giant caterpillar living on Christian's upper lip? Funny that they wouldn't let the prison guard deliver any lines so they could save a few bucks.

Do you think any of the franchises has produced this love-to-hate villain?

Thank you for your insight. It gives some much needed perspective on Dorinda's behavior this season. It's pretty rare that I reach for the FF button during an argument but I couldn't get through the fight between Dorinda and Tinsley tonight. It made me appreciate the petty squabbles of Beverly Hills a little more.

Dorit landed a spot on the show because her husband was a long-time friend of Ken and LVP. That's pretty much the only reason. Although the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction over cable, my understanding is that it has something to do with advertisers preferring the FCC's rules be followed and Bravo plays along. FX lets the f-bombs fly, and I feel like I was surprised by hearing them on another cable network.

Gabi really set herself up for Dr Rolf to lie to her if Jake isn't actually Stefan. Why would he tell her anything else than what she wanted to hear after she threatened to have him killed in jail? It would have been a lot more fun if Princess Gina had taken Ciara and Ben to lunch for their engagement. I can only imagine the snark!

Really enjoying Denise vs. Kyle. For as much as I dislike Dorit, she played Sutton like a fiddle at that dinner. Dorit remained stone cold while Sutton went to tears. I liked that the editing monkeys showed us Sutton saying something like "you had your fun" because I think in that moment Sutton realized she had been played Real-Housewife-style. I'm appreciating the little glimpses of the women acknowledging this is how the show works, yet still getting caught up in the moment. Whoever suggested that Rinna and Dorit are working as some kind of tag-team, that makes sense after the way we saw Rinna turn on Sutton tonight. So far, all we've seen is Rinna drool over Sutton's wealth and tonight it was like the gloves were coming off. I think this is part of where Kyle's "fake ass bitches" comment comes from, where they can be friendly with each other when the cameras are off but come for the jugular when they're filming. The biggest laugh of the night was when Dorit claimed that no one has declined to go into business with her and her slimy husband.

Michele seemed to have made peace with losing. She smiled throughout the reading of the votes and clapped when Tony was declared the winner. Perhaps Natalie believed she had a chance to win? She looked kinda pissed.

Michele looks great. She just has to sit there and smile while time seems to stop.

This spoiler in which someone from KC is believed that there was a 99.99% chance that Danni was coming back from Extinction is rather curious at this point. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall when this person saw Natalie win her way back.

Michael Tylo and his wife Hunter. I had to look him up to see if they were still married when this episode aired, and they were. From all of the rumors I've read, she may have a screw loose. Michael Tylo gets to play a dual roll further into this storyline, which I don't know had been done on the show before. I have this weird thing for voices. While Epperson physically resembled Davidson, she had a softer speaking voice than Davidson. Plus, Eileen Davidson gave Ashley this kind of neurotic charisma that made me love the character. I think by the time I finally appreciated Epperson in the role, Shari Shattuck shows up.