Enginerd

Well...they're doing a good job making me loathe all these characters so that I won't be sad that the show is cancelled. And the show had such a promising premise and beautiful setting, too! Aiden is the worst. The very worst. And he seems to think he is somehow charming so it's all fine, which is EVEN WORSE. That said, however, Wes has made a spectacular string of bad decisions. He should NEVER have gone into business with Aiden. Have I mentioned that Aiden is the worst? Oh, he's always dreamed of owning a bar? Since when? More like he's always dreamed of hanging out in a bar and drinking for "free". If he'd really wanted to be a bar owner, why wasn't he working as a bartender all this time, working up to management and learning the business? Oh, because he's a lazy useless ass who doesn't actually want to do anything other than be a leech. But back to Wes. He gets angry at Stella for being self-absorbed, which is completely justified, but he also seems kind of determined to be a martyr and self-destruct. Every time Stella even tries to listen to him and do something to make his life better, like encourage his furniture building or taking the better job in San Francisco, he ends up going with something he hates to be the hero, without even really looking into other options or trusting her at all to contribute more. And then revenge-kissing Pippa? BAD move. He's right to be angry, but that was stupid. That sort of reactionary move kind of makes his whole marriage to Stella look like a revenge middle-finger to Pippa for leaving him at the altar. Maybe he should stop rebounding and go be alone for awhile. Ending their marriage would probably be the best thing at this point. Then Stella could date Dr. Creep and suffer the consequences and realize what a fool she was.

I loved the dancing, though. Too bad that guy turned out to be a slimeball.

Didn't you know that nerds are ALL antisocial and hate being touched and never look up from their devices? And never have the slightest romantic life or sexual interest until some non-nerd talks them into it? And are basically robots? This show seems to be really big into gross stereotypes. It might think it's progressively addressing it all, but it sure seems to spend a LOOOOOT of time doubling down on the stereotype and playing it for the same stupid laughs whichever stereotype has always been played for, and only a tiny token bit of the "but wait, there's more. We're not really bigots or appropriating or whatever. Really!" Which...if you're not, maybe your comedy needs to swerve in a different direction? I don't know. They try to walk a fine line and I don't think they always land on the correct side. I hated that after Kimmy's speech, the one nerd just grabbed that woman, swooped her over, and kissed her. Assault; hello.

This episode was even more bizarre than this show usually is, due to the tonal shift and focus on rando side characters, but I thought it was really funny. Especially mocking how documentaries always show people driving somewhere. And despite all the driving around, the DJ still didn't have the answers!

Al Gore Rhythm to explain how Netflix (or whatever almost-Netflix they were using) decides what to recommend was pretty funny.

This episode was painful. Kimmy has been out of the bunker too long now to be THAT naive about sexual harassment. It also came off a bit like downplaying all the sexual harassment issues that have been in the news, like maybe those creeps also had no clue how their yucky behavior affected others. It was just a joke! He had no idea everyone didn't like that sort of thing! Which can't possibly be the intended message, but the attempt at a comedy based around harassment was clunky at best. But I don't know how Kimmy was expected to be any good at HR. Not only has she not had the slightest training, her name isn't even Linda!

I absolutely LOVE the original Spanish "Gran Hotel", so much that I've seen it three times. It's so gorgeously shot and the early 1900s settings really work for the plot. Electric lighting was new. Transportation and communication were slow. Women were so limited in the lives they could choose. Divorce was nearly impossible in Spain. DNA analysis wasn't a thing; even fingerprinting was a technique known only to the well-informed. Plus the lead actor is soooo attractive. I'm not sure how that's going to translate to a contemporary show. It seems like it will have to be changed so much as to be a significantly different story, in which case why not give it a different name? But I like an intriguing drama in any era so I'm going to try it and see if it's good. You're missing out if you only watched the first season! The other two seasons are so good!

I'm starting to think the grand finale will be that we find out the reason Stella and only Stella was miraculously cured is that her cancer was actually an elaborate case of Munchausen by Proxy on Ida's part, and she was never really sick other than however Ida was inducing symptoms. Ida, obviously, did this to gain sympathy and to divert attention from whatever other problems she was having/causing. But then she got tired of the whole sick child routine and decided to give it up and move on with her life. Aside from the not-realistic cure, how else did Stella perk up enough to go jaunting off to Paris alone when she'd supposedly had cancer for 8 years and was near death?

Getting away from her family and their dysfunctions and lying and enabling of bad behavior for a couple years is probably the best thing Stella could do. Not cut off contact or anything, just not be around it all the time and go somewhere else and cultivate healthier relationships and learn from better role models. And with Wes in a better job and not staying up all night, maybe she could focus more on school and get onto a real career path so then he could step back from his job and pursue the furniture thing. Plus, getting away from Dr. Creepy would be a huge bonus. Maybe Sadie could go with them and get into a trial there. This show has been pretty good at showing the aftermath of a crisis, how it isn't just happily ever after once the threat is gone. There isn't just the decisions Stella made based on thinking she wouldn't live, but all the fallout from the family focusing so much on the crisis that they neglected and mismanaged so many other things. That part seems pretty realistic.

This show had so much potential. It coulda been a contender! But...no. They didn't seem to know what to do with it. It also wasn't promoted much, was it? I'd never have known it existed if I didn't get ads for it while watching Riverdale.

My comments have been fairly negative, but I actually really enjoy this show. I love a not-too-serious drama with pretty people in a beautiful little town, like Gilmore Girls or Hart of Dixie, even if the plots and characters are sometimes a little aggravating. It's like living in a lifestyle magazine for an hour a week. They could amp up the Pinteresty nature of this show more, though. Remember on Hart of Dixie how awesome Lavon's kitchen was, sort of the heart of the place with its neverending lavish pastry displays? Or the town square or the Rammer Jammer or Zoe's garden cottage; these places that varied from aspirationally stylish to familiar and comfortable but really gave you a sense of place? I like more of that. Stella's and Wes's apartment is a really cool studio. The hospital I could do with less of, mostly because I don't like Dr. Creep. The rest of the family seems to drift around, although we finally got more of a look at Diego's and Lizzie's place. I like when they have scenes at the marina or wherever; it sort of fills in the color and detail of where these people live. The coffee shop could turn into another anchor place, but it's usually full of Finley being needlessly hostile or inappropriate. Anyway. More aspirational real estate ogling and more scenes of Wes being handsome, please. More furniture building would not be unwelcome.

He was pedal-to-the-metal wanting to get married ASAP, and she hadn't yet really adjusted to her new reality, nor had she even finished high school. Plus in all her adventures maybe she'd never dallied in hipster barn hookups?

Diego said he didn't know where stuff in the kitchen was in the first place before Ida messed with it, so I'm guessing he doesn't use all those. Maybe Lizie would really like to be a chef or a food writer or something, not novelist or whatever Stella was claiming was her dream and pushing her back into?

Are we supposed to feel sympathy for Aiden? His sob stories aren't working on me. Yes, it's sad that he was worried about his sick sister and struggling in school. But going from seeing a doctor and getting meds to help to selling those drugs to moms for frivolous use and continuing for YEARS to do this and nothing else with his life is a huge leap. He could have gotten a job as a janitor or security guard or something else that doesn't require a high level of mental focus all the time, or gone to a trade school if he's just not academically inclined. How much money can you make selling off one person's Ritalin prescription, anyway? I have no clue about these things. And those moms were kind of the worst. I'd have more sympathy for them if they seemed like they were struggling more...working long hours out of necessity, felt they had no energy or focus left to spend any time with their kids or keep up on anything else. But they seemed like pampered helicopter moms with cushy lives. Drugging yourself to help your kid win the spelling bee? How does that even work? The kid is the one who actually has to know how to spell when they're up on that stage, and they have to go to bed and get plenty of sleep. Is mom spending hours a day helping the kid study and then staying up late to get all her other work done? I don't know, but I have general disdain for parents who do their kids' school work for them. It's so unhelpful in the long run, in so many ways. Stella is so naive. It's very realistic, since she's young and has been so sheltered, but it's painful to watch sometimes, especially the way she's flattered by Dr. Boundary Issues's attention rather than seeing him as the invasive smarmy creep he is. But she also didn't seem bothered by the way Finley was sexually harassing her brother. Glad Lizzie survived the incredibly long writers' retreat and made it home alive. I love the premise of this show and the pretty settings, and the characters have a lot of potential, but if it wants to survive, I think it needs to feel a little more developed and detailed. Like do these people have friends, or just spouses/dates/hookups? If people like Finley and the miracle cure doctor are going to be recurring characters, they need to be less one-note. You should have more of a sense of what these people's lives are like when they aren't standing there talking at one another. Like does Lizzie still have a job? What does Diego do that involves going to a dinner with doctors and needing childcare but being terrible at arranging it in advance? Why do Diego and Lizzie have so many spices? Do they love to cook? Does Peter ever play with his grandchildren? What happened with Ida and the godmother?

Ida is kind of the worst. She's petty and self-absorbed and stirs up drama for no good reason. Calling Lauren a hooker, repeatedly, was incredibly juvenile and mean. She's apparently been mostly ignoring her son for years. She's peeved at Peter for not being enough fun all these years he was worrying about his daughter's impending death and working full-time and stressing about finances to try to give them a good life. She bullied the family into selling the house to the first people who made a (low) offer instead of waiting for a better offer or renting it out, which would probably have worked out better for them financially. She had an affair with her daughter's godmother and didn't even have the grace to first inform the family she was moving on so Stella wouldn't have been shocked by just walking in on it. She threw a tantrum and made a huge hole in the wall (which apparently didn't have any wall studs, or if it did they were very widely spaced, which bothers me...fake it better!). It doesn't bother me that Stella is married...it ups the stakes for sure. It does bother me that this stupid triangle with the stupid doctor is being presented as any sort of actual threat. Wes is awesome, however hastily they married, and he is very reasonable and they always work things out. He is seven million times as appealing as the doc, at least. No matter how attractive the characters keep insisting Dr. Creep is, I just don't see it. Looks-wise, he isn't ugly, but he's very...not to my taste. Although his looks would improve immensely if he got rid of that mangy facescaping. But his behavior is far more troubling. Yes, dude, you are crossing lines! He pings all my sensors as the sort of guy who trades on his charisma quite deliberately in order to get away with a little too much, who keeps pushing boundaries a little at a time, holding it just to a level of plausible deniability that he intended anything creepy, an emotional loan shark who pushes his target to trust him and feel bonded to him at an unnaturally fast rate, who will eventually turn out to be an abusive skeezebag. Funniest thing in this episode was the very phallic tower in the hotel art behind Wes when he was talking to Pippa. Subtle, show. I like this show because things turn out all right and the settings are pretty. Even poor Sadie seems awfully perky and robust for a cancer inpatient. It's a nice respite from actual life. So of course it isn't doing well and will probably get cancelled. :(

That was weird. There was a scene where they were in the backyard and the new owners were inside the house and they waved, so I assumed they must have already moved in. But then Stella and Aiden were wandering through the house picking up boxes left behind? Huh? Maybe they hadn't closed on the house yet and the new people were there getting an inspection done or something? Even if the new owners wanted to rent out the guesthouse, it seems super weird and awkward to have the former owners there feeling right at home in your yard and being able to see everything you're doing to their old place. Not to mention the weirdness of living in the guesthouse at your old home and seeing new owners there making changes and living in your old home. It would be much better to make a clean break and rent a new place somewhere else. It made a lot more sense to rent out the house for awhile for extra income...then it would make sense that they were still living there in the guesthouse. Or at least hold out for a better offer.

Not my favorite episode. Hated Klair, found the singles game tedious, never like baby showers. This episode was chock full of things I was bound to dislike. I'm glad David, despite not liking babies, had enough sense to immediately reject a game of hitting a (fake) baby with a stick. Yikes. Although I didn't like the game he did come up with. It was fun for Johnny and Roland, but is it really enjoyable for Jocelyn to sit there with her mouth open having things thrown at her face repeatedly? She was probably wishing she'd just put out numerous cheese platters and pots of cheese fondue and nachos herself. Why can't a baby shower just be a party with socializing and cute gifts? WHY MUST THERE BE GAMES?! I hate baby shower games. At least they didn't do the horrible diaper one. If those were the sort of people Alexis was hanging out with before, no wonder she was always having to escape sticky situations. I'm glad she realized she's grown beyond that and had a place where she belonged. Didn't the new-agey matchmaker ask them to give her their most intimate NOISES? That's what I heard. EW.

Elizabeth has been gone so long I'm wondering if she isn't coming back and they're going to kill her off in a traffic accident on the way home from the writers' retreat or something. Surprise! You though Stella was going to die and spoiled her, but it was really her sister who didn't have much time left! I hope not, though. That would be a serious downer in my happy pleasant nothing-too-terrible-happens stress-relief show. Diego really needs to get it together, though. Hire a nanny! Compile a list of sitters to call! Organize your schedule in advance! Elizabeth was also working before Stella pushed her into taking up writing again. What did they do for child care then? I like Stella's youthful energy (not quite believable for someone who was sick for so long and expected to die soon, but whatever), but she really needs to get a grip. She isn't qualified to be a manager. She hasn't even gotten the hang of being a barista yet. She needs to get more work experience, just learning to be responsible and take care of everything. Also, why is she so dire and fatalistic about Wes's career path? It isn't a forever choice. He could work in finance for another year or two to pay the bills and save up more money while Stella works on actually getting that GED and working her way up to a better job. THEN go back to furniture. Although it would be a real shame if he didn't keep making furniture on the weekends. Meanwhile they could be figuring out ways to sell the furniture, like commissions or shops in other towns or online or something. Or figure out a style that would sell that the other furniture makers in town aren't doing. Also, if Stella didn't get sick until she was 15, didn't she have an idea before then of whether she was good at school? How she did on assignments and tests when no one was faking results to make her feel good?

I wish it were a TV series rather than a movie. She could be in different locations every episode! We'd have more drama AND learn more geography, and get to know the VILE henchmen!

Shouldn't the town council have spent at least several minutes discussing what their singles event would offer, how they would lure people, how much it might cost to put it on, and what the people would spend money on and add to the town? If there are so few singles in the area, then they'd have to draw from further away and not a lot of locals would directly benefit, so what is the town getting out of it? A few motel rooms rented and a little income for the cafe and the apothecary? Is Jocelyn going to offer classes in assorted cheese-based cuisines (sure to get the singles hooking up)? Makeup tutorials by Stevie? Acting workshops with Moira? Can they spend an entire week having barbecues at the motel? Shouldn't they have done the motel refreshing BEFORE trying to create an event that will put the town on the map? When is Alexis going to get on that project? I am eagerly waiting. Either this thing is going to go as well as the Fyre Festival, or Ted will show up, newly single, and nothing else will matter. To Alexis, at least, if not to the town's culture budget. It's about time David made an effort to do something for Patrick.

My family did Santa (but not the Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy), but my parents never lied to us about it. When we were little they'd read us the story books about Santa, but never said it was more literal than any of the other children's books with talking animals and whatnot, and stockings appeared on Christmas morning. But once we were old enough to question the reality of a flying sleigh and making it to everyone's house on the same night, they were just like "play along with this game and you'll get presents." That was good enough! I'm glad they didn't insist Santa really did this, because even as a young child I was very concerned with logical analysis and things making sense. Trying to make sense of that would have been very distressing to me. Of course, they did insist on raising me in a religion which I do not believe and find obviously, demonstrably false, and still insist that it is fact, and that has been an ongoing source of annoyance and sense of betrayal in my life.

I thought part of the issue was that they were going to use cheap prisoner labor for...something. Something nefarious? Or be like that sheriff in Alabama who took the prison food budget and bought himself a vacation house and fed the prisoners the cheapest stuff he could get, like hot dogs every meal. How is it that none of these people who grew up in Riverdale knew that Clifford had a twin? None of the parents knew? Or their parents? No one ever talked about him? No one wondered where the other Blossom twin had gone, at only 14 years old? As conspicuous as the Blossoms are, you'd think this would have been hot gossip, and at least when Clifford died someone would be like "wait, didn't he have a brother? What happened to him?" I was thinking the reason Chic didn't pass the Blossom Blood Test was because Hal isn't his father, but maybe Betty should also get a test on the body they dumped in the culvert. Heck, test Jughead and Archie while you're at it. No saying how much the Blossoms have gotten around. We've got to have at least one surprise Blossom heir. Toni? Kevin? Moose?

I was Team Petra regarding the Tooth Fairy. Why lie to children? Maybe let them believe the stories they hear for awhile, but when they have been clued in or realized that the tradition is not exactly literal and ask you directly, lying seems like a bad move. Is it really a good idea to try to teach people to suppress their logical reasoning abilities and believe nonsense? And to teach your kids that you lie to them, since they're eventually going to figure that out? Why not tell them it's a fun tradition rather than insist that it's literal fact? It was interesting to see the story from Luisa's perspective. Her mother's mental illness and her fears of ending up like her, especially with people often comparing them and telling Luisa she's crazy like her mother and also gaslighting and framing her, would certainly be aggravating and disorienting and make her often question her own sanity. Which doesn't excuse the fact that she kept aiding and abetting Rose even knowing the stuff she'd done. It's telenovela tradition to have an antagonist redeemed; maybe that will be her. Or maybe she's just pulling another fast one on Rafael.

A lot of comedies rely on miscommunications and misunderstandings and people not managing to get out one sentence or not letting the other person talk and dragging this out as long and as far as possible to generate conflict and story. I like that SC doesn't do that much. Moira not wanting Johnny to join the Jazzagals might have been used as a reason for him to get mad and think she doesn't want him around, but she was able to clearly say that she has so few things she enjoys (Jazzagals, time with Johnny) that she doesn't want to efficiently bunch them together, she wants to have each separate thing to look forward to and enjoy. Although I do think Moira needs to start finding more to occupy herself and maybe contribute economically.

How many spa hotels and similar treat yoself businesses are there in the area that Stevie can develop a habit of using the honeymoon trick? Does she spread her visits to each one just far enough apart that they won't remember her or she can just be like "this is marriage #5!"? The host was so cringe-inducing. It was hilarious. And Stevie and David's sincere bonding was very sweet. I love that David and Patrick have actually been texting. I thought from the beginning that starting a new romance and a new business partnership with the same person at the same time was very risky, but they seem like they'll be fine. It seems to be slooooowly sinking in for David that Patrick isn't the same sort of awful person he's used to dating, and he can be more open and trusting. Because, really. They hadn't seen the need to discuss their histories in any detail, and Patrick and Rachel were very much not still together, her delusions of reconciliation notwithstanding. I wish Alexis would focus less on her love life and more on the improvements to the motel. I imagine they'll eventually turn it into a very chic, Rose-style black-and-white modern little boutique inn. Maybe with a spa, since Stevie loves them? The first thing I'd do is throw all the decor from the lobby into the dumpster.