secnarf

I first saw Alicia Coppola on an episode of CSI ages ago, and she left such an impression that I've never been able to picture her as anything else. Every time she shows up anywhere (and she has been on many shows that I've watched over the years), I always picture her drinking that "protein shake". So really, it made no difference to me that she played a different character on the mothership, because no matter what I'll see her as her CSI character :P

This is off-topic, but that is one of the things that I find so compelling about X Company - despite it taking place during WWII, they have a woman leading the team and she is shown as strong and capable and not needing the men to save her - at least, not any more than the men need her to save them :P I don't watch the Good Wife so I can't really comment on that. I didn't get the sense that Bess was the carrier pidgeon in this episode - moreso that Henry was. It was Bess' plan and she used Henry to pass the message along to the Russian president.

I really appreciated that Bishop stood up to Gibbs. It was nice to see, particularly in this situation because she had a completely valid point and has the right to refuse unsafe work and work that she's not adequately trained for. I'm assuming (although this could be totally wrong) that Gibbs told her the plan before she agreed to it, though we didn't see it directly. The April Fools day joke was annoying - the entire storyline was annoying, actually. I usually have a high tolerance for Abby, but "I don't like to be kept waiting when I have news" made me want to slap her. Pick up the phone since the news did not need to be delivered in person, and perhaps remember that Gibbs is busy too and can't apparate to your side whenever you find something. Also, in general just don't talk to your boss like that. It was a badly written line.

I wikipedia'd both presidents after the game lol. Yeah Clinton changed his name to his stepfather's, but apparently his stepfather was also abusive. Ford never really knew his biological father until he was older; his mother changed his whole name (first, middle and last) to match his stepfather's.

I'm enjoying watching Alex more and more as he goes on. I really like watching contestants end up with big pay days, and I totally agree - I love that he never says "let's make it a true daily double". I burst out laughing when he said he'd bet $100 - though imo that was a really easy DD, he missed it, so it ended up being a wise move.

It wouldn't have taken much to actually do this well - little hints that JJ was having trouble and ignoring it, having it build up, Reid noticing but not saying anything, etc. And then I guess they could stick with the whole "anniversary" trigger or whatever. And then had it actually have an impact on her, both in the episode (e.g. when she was driving) and beyond the end of the episode. I think that's what frustrates me the most about the storyline, is that it could have been written so much better than it was, especially the exchange between JJ and Reid. At least on Buffy, her issues (and ignoring them) didn't come out of nowhere and then promptly vanish. I would also like to thank you for the mental image of JJ singing about this to everyone :P

Contestants have a certain amount of time to answer, but that doesn't include the bid. That doesn't mean they can stand there for >30 seconds figuring it out though, because there's still only a certain amount of time for the round. I can't for the life of me remember when, but I remember seeing a whole category left up there once - I was annoyed because I had been looking forward to the category. Sometimes even when Alex (Trebek) is reading out clues really slowly, I get annoyed because it eats into the time they've got for the round. I hate when there are still clues left on the board.

I kind of like that both Henry and Bess are capable, and equal partners in their marriage - they're used to working together, and reducing Henry to someone who stays home and does laundry seems like a disservice to both of them. However, Dr Arm Candy is definitely venturing into Mary Sue territory. It hasn't yet ruined the character for me, so I'm quite willing to forgive at this point. I really don't like the idea of having to dumb him down to make Bess look good. I think they both come off stronger this way.

I can see that "Blac" is considered to sound the same as "Black", but it's not the same as "Black Sea". What if she was going to write "Black Lake" or something? Which is pretty unlikely, which is why I said it was obvious what she was going for, but the name of the body of water is the Black Sea, not Black.

I'm pretty sure they de-aged her with make-up/computers.

It's probably the worst part of being an actor - having to do things that they find morally repugnant. I remember reading an interview with James Marsters (who played Spike on Buffy) talking about the scene where he attempts to rape Buffy, and he had an absolutely awful time with it, went home in tears, and would refuse to do it ever again. I didn't think it was such an odd comment for Deeks to make, assuming he wants kids some day. Sean Harmon! I spent most of the episode trying to figure out why he looked so familiar :P

It can affect second vs third place though. I always feel bad for something like that because you obviously know they knew the right answer, but timing is part of it too. Even if she'd written "blac sea" or something I'd be fine with calling that a spelling error, but I think calling "blac" a spelling error for "black sea" is quite a stretch.

I'm not sure exactly how far in advance the games are recorded, but Alex's chess story seemed like a particularly poor choice given this recent event: http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2015/04/dumont_boy_jumped_out_window_after_chess_game_poli.html. My guess is that it was filmed before this happened, though. Also really surprised that Carlos missed "diplomatic immunity". Alex was much less annoying today, though watching him still made me want to scratch my back a lot :P

It was actually because of the Masters tournament running over :( Pushed everything back. Basically Dr Arm Candy presented a deal to the Russian president and convinced him to accept - we weren't told the specifics, but it involved pretending the remaining crew of the sub all died after an accidental crash, and instead those 20 crewmembers will be given new identities to live in the US, and the Americans got a look at the new fancy Russian technology. The SoS staff still don't realize what happened and just watch the fake story on the news, and Ezra tells them it's a story. There's a nice scene with Bess giving him his present (a photograph) and some reminiscing and she mentions that they should stay in touch or something like that. Kind of left the door open for him to return from time to time, although he did mention he's planning on going to Europe. Elizabeth and Henry are thrilled that Stevie broke up with her bf, but rather transparently pretend not to be.

I don't think the frosty relationship between the US and Iran is a secret...honestly I'd be surprised if anyone thought it would be safe for an American to travel there. Instead I think Cam could have offered to go and "take the risk" with Arastoo. There's no way he'd let her and it really wouldn't be smart of her to actually go. Her not offering to go with him bothered me a lot less than her seeming disregard for Arastoo's desire to see his brother one last time.

For anyone recording, it started 16 minutes late on the East coast.

I really don't think Cam going would be helpful and may in fact make things worse (though it might have been nice to see her suggest this and Arastoo shoot the idea down), but I definitely agree that she was very dismissive of Arastoo's concern over his brother (Hamid?). It bothered me a lot that she was trying to make it all about her. Really, she should be reasonably sure that if it was her dying in Iran instead of his brother, he'd react in pretty much the same way. It's not an issue of not caring about her and it's also not her decision to make. It sounds like the brother is dying though, so it's not like Arastoo really needs to make sure his brother is getting the best care possible. It's more just going to see him one last time, and I think it took both characters a while to finally cut the charade and say that out loud. Cam could find all the doctors in the world and it wouldn't make any difference. There were a lot of things about that storyline that I didn't like, but I did agree with Brennan though that Arastoo needs to acknowledge the danger he's putting himself in. Pretending everything will be fine isn't helpful for anyone.

I'd also like to add that while the other characters seemed so in awe of Monty, I really wasn't impressed. I didn't personally think he handled the family all that well and I thought Garcia had a very valid criticism that Monty did a poor job of addressing. For me, it seemed more like we were being told that Monty is super awesome but we weren't being shown anything that corroborated that, that would make us think there is even a valid reason why the other characters admire him so much. That irritates me even more than giving him all of these "amazing traits". I think if they knock him off of his pedestal they could make him an interesting character, and I understand the limitations of the backdoor pilot and how it has to be heavy on the exposition, but it shouldn't come across as the audience being told one thing and seeing another. I don't think I'd call him a Mary Sue, because to me that implies that the character actually can do no wrong, and that is what we actually see on the screen. In this case, I feel like we were told that he is essentially a Mary Sue, but that's not what I saw onscreen.

I meant that she may not have realized that it hasn't been officially stated - she may have thought that she was commenting on something that everybody already knew. She definitely should have thought about it more carefully, but if she was under the impression that an announcement had already been made, it's not necessarily something that she'd self-censor. I'm a bit surprised they haven't come out with a statement/comment on her interview though. Anyways, since we've all gotten so carried away with this, I thought I'd post this article: http://www.vcpost.com/articles/56082/20150408/criminal-minds-latest-spoilers-season-11-unlikely-happen-online-petition.htm Although I'd take everything in the article with a grain (or tablespoon) of salt, it seems to imply the opposite of what Kirsten said in her interview. Just a reminder that we don't actually know for sure that JLH is leaving.

It's also possible that Kirsten didn't realize she was "breaking the news" about anything. Sometimes people don't realize or forget that something isn't common knowledge. For example, my cousin's wife is pregnant, and they had only told immediate family and were waiting for the 3-month mark to tell the rest of the family, but then my other cousin didn't realize and she spilled the beans to everyone over Easter, only to be surprised that we didn't all already know. It happens, and one would hope that there was no malicious intent behind it. I doubt there was, but I tend to err on the side of optimism. I would be extremely surprised if there was any truth to the rumour abouty AJ being arrested for domestic violence. I guess people can surprise you and it's not like I know her personally, but again, optimism.

Also, when Alex (Trebek) explained the category at the very beginning, he said that the answer had to be in Roman numerals. I get that it's frustrating, but really it was Alex's own fault for not paying attention or forgetting, and for not starting at the beginning of the category. Stuff like that happens, and in a game like Jeopardy you just have to keep going, not stall the whole game while you process that fact.

Well Angel was on Buffy for three seasons and a main character for most of that time, with a significant storyline. I think that's a much more effective way of setting up a successful spin off :P

I also thought Alex had more to add to 2010. At one point, he was being so slow with everything that I just burst out laughing. He seems to know a decent amount, but I don't think the Jeopardy format works for him :P

I'm putting this in spoiler tags because some people might feel it's too much information given that I've seen the end of the series (and I can't recall when exactly this comes up again), but it pertains to Claire being photographed wearing the necklace:

I was shocked that bellatrix was a $2000 clue! Not sure how I feel about the new champ.