ElectricBoogaloo

S1.E6 Original air date: 6/5/21

If I could be in charge, I would have cut both Marie and Gib because their mini golf topiaries were SO BAD. Even after Gibson explained that his was supposed to be a dollhouse with PAISLEY written down the side, I couldn't see it because it was so poorly executed. It looked like a big green lump with with pink fluff on the back. The whole thing was bad but I really wish he had abandoned the idea of putting his daughter's name down one side. The P that he spent so much time working on did not look like a P. He said he finished the Y at the bottom but I couldn't see it. What he ended up with after spray painting all that sisal was a giant AISLE. I also hated when he said he wanted the L to be taller because that just made it even harder to read. The Marie/Gib battle of wills over the pink flowers was so weird that I didn't know whose side to take. On the one hand, it's first come first served so you best get your ass out there to pick out your flowers. Even if you aren't done fabricating, you can still go put the plants you want in your cart. Going with that logic, it's Gib's fault for waiting so long to get his flowers. But on the other hand, they were each assigned a specific color to use and it was shitty of Marie to take all of the pink lilies. The whole conversation between them ("If you want anything, tell me" vs "I need pink flowers") was so passive aggressive. If Martha was THAT pissed about Meghan's octopus being unplayable, then I can't understand why she gave Marie a pass on her terribly conceived and designed gnome princess. That ramp was WAY too steep to be played and even after Martha managed to get her golf ball up there, Marie didn't design the top properly so the ball just sat there instead of being sloped down to the second ramp/hole. Marie's was a complete failure because it was not playable at all. I really liked Meghan's blue and purple octopus. Despite Martha's complaints about how difficult it was to play, I've been to mini golf places with a similar obstacle. You have to hit the ball harder to get it past that part. And really, if they'd had more time to execute this challenge, Meghan could have easily just created more structure at the bottom so that the octopus would be higher, which would make it easier to hit your ball if it somehow got stuck under the octopus. I thought she designed a very creative and pretty course. I wasn't crazy about Ryan's teddy bear. It was big but that was about it. I didn't mind the front (although I didn't like the white on the stomach - it would have looked better if he had made it a solid white to resemble a stuffed teddy bear) but the back with all the yellow flowers was ridiculous. I get that he was trying to incorporate the yellow color he was assigned but I think there was a better way to do it.

My favorite part about the family drama regarding Nicky's mom keeping the whole "we are descended from the first female warrior and are the rightful owners of this magical sword" is that not a single person even questioned that it was true. As soon as each of them heard about this, they immediately accepted it and never once questioned if it could possibly be just an old story that one of their relatives made up (I say this partly because Mr. EB has a relative who loves to make all kinds of claims about their family history and who they're related to). It's totally hypocritical that Nicky has been keeping all kinds of secrets from her mom but is mad that her mom kept this ONE THING from her. I mean, I'm not going to even get into the fact that Nicky stayed in China for three years and apparently felt no need to contact anyone in her family aside from when she told them that she was not coming home. Since she came home, she has kept almost everything a secret from her mom: why she really came back, what happened to Pei-ling, the fact that she's hunting down various weapons and trying to outfox Zhilan who almost killed her, plus all the random stuff she's been doing when she leaves the house at all hours like, I don't know, going to a secret fight club. All she has done since coming back is lie to her mom and keep secrets, yet she's furious that her mom kept one part of their family history from her. On a side note, I can't wait for auntie Mei-Xue to show up! I was trying to figure out how old Chloe is supposed to be and why Nicky had never met her before. Since Nicky already knew who Althea's fiance was and that he was a mathlete, they obviously all went to high school together, and Althea knows who Chloe is (and said that she missed her which I took to mean that they knew each other in real life before she got shipped off to Hong Kong) but Althea is supposed to be older than Nicky. I love that Althea had a notebook entitled "Althea's amazing ideas." How long before Dennis makes Nosh Ninja into a real app? Other things I loved: cardboard Dennis and the Dungeons and Dragons bachelor party (complete with costumes). I had to laugh when Diana asked Nicky to keep an eye on Chloe because she didn't want to hover. Oh, so inviting yourself to your future daughter in law's bachelorette party ISN'T hovering but being in physical proximity to your daughter at said party is? To be fair, since they've been focusing on breaking into their parents'/families' homes, they know they don't need any weapons since they have the security codes and only steal when they know that no one is home.

I just watched Concrete Cowboys last month, so the fourth episode of this show was really interesting (different parts of the country, but still really cool to see more about Black cowboys).

Ha, yes, I would love to see both of those!

I agree - I don't mind if they have one or two but it's only the eighth week and they've had at least three transformation challenges where they were essentially just given flat pieces of fabric. At least this week they were told that they had to make a kid's playsuit. I think with the scarf and sarong challenges, they were just told to make something which made it even more open ended! I'm not saying that the transformation challenges should be impossible (like the unconventional materials challenges on Project Runway) but "here's a piece of fabric, please make any type of clothing out of it" seems too easy. I get that she keeps redeeming herself with the made to measure challenge and that the judges only look at what the contestants have done that particular week to decide who to eliminate, but there has to come a point where you consult a mental list and say, "Gee, Farie has not finished her garment in X amount of challenges - maybe she needs to go home." They tend to be stricter about fulfilling the challenge requirements on this show than on others, which I like, and finishing a garment is part of every challenge. I understand that sometimes the contestants get too ambitious or run into an unforeseen problem (like Raph and the overlocker this week), but when someone is consistently not finishing their garments, that's a problem. It's really not fair to everyone else who IS finishing their garments because they made better choices regarding patterns, material, being honest with themselves about what they can accomplish in a given amount of time, etc.

The dragons were better than everything else, and by quite a wide margin. If that's what they did for the first challenge, I can't wait to see what else they create! Twelve teams is way too many people for me to remember. The blonde ladies are lucky that this was not an elimination. They should have been cut for not having all four of their wheels working (and that's before you even get to their underwhelming design).

Awww, Dirty Dancing! Serena's was by far the best Baby dress. It was finished which was already a step up from most of the other contestants. Everything was very neatly sewn and her skirt was so nice and even at the bottom. She definitely deserved first place. Although Raph didn't finish, he was so close to being done and since part of it was an issue with the overlocker, I give him more of a pass tha nthe others. I disagreed with Esme - I HATED the lace that Rebecca chose for her waistband. It was just so ugly. Once again, Damien CHOSE not to follow the instructions in the pattern challenge. For me, that's a huge demerit and just as bad as not finishing. Maybe some of the other contestants would have finished if they had just done whatever they wanted instead of following the directions. I'm glad he got last place for that. Farie didn't finish again. While I admire her meticulousness, it definitely does not work in her favor on a show like this since every challenge has a time limit. I loved the color she chose though. Ha, I loved that the transformation challenge was straight out of The Sound of Music! Serena's was by far my favorite of the five. I don't know how practical those big sleeves are for a little kid's playsuit, but it was a really cute outfit. I liked the wine colored trim which was a really nice contrasting color. Farie's floral jumpsuit was cute. I liked all the pleating at the waist. The flutter detail at the shoulder looked much better on one side than the other (not sure if it was the camera angle or the construction). But not finishing the zipper knocked her out. And why was the zipper on the outside of the leg? Raph's lederhosen was a nice use of the gathered part of the curtain as the waistband. I wish the producers would throw away that godawful fringe trim. Damien used it more than once in earlier episodes and I still hate it. Damien's lederhosen was okay but I was so distracted by how crooked the waist was. I could tell it was really uneven. I don't know how much of that was due to the snaps being placed incorrectly and how much of that was due to his sewing of the waistband, but either way I noticed it immediately and couldn't stop looking at it. Rebecca made good use of her fabric and I liked that she used the lining as a contrast. I just wish she had paid more attention to the details (the bow was crooked, the waistband wasn't sewn straight, etc). I'm not a huge fan of 70s fashion so I wasn't super excited about the Dreamgirls made to measure challenge. For a bunch of people who complained about having to use satin for the Dirty Dancing challenge, a lot of them CHOSE to use it for the made to measure! Unfortunately, I thought the satin cheapened some of the looks. I didn't like Rebecca's gold dress. The sequined fabric at the top looked like a circus costume. The satin on the torso made it look cheap. The sheer mermaid skirt would have looked better if there had been a layer of fabric beneath each ruffle. I liked Serena's red and silver dress better but I knew she wouldn't win garment of the week when Esme pointed out the seams pulling a bit. Raph's jumpsuit was A LOT, but he definitely got points for going in a completely different direction. I didn't like the lace sleeve that the judges raved about on Farie's red dress. Damien's dress was such a mess. It was a series of bad choices: the pattern didn't fit the brief, the material was awful, the colors weren't great together, etc. Just one of those choices would have been bad but all of those things together? Yikes. Once again Farie saved herself from elimination by pulling out something good in the final challenge. Bon voyage, Damien!

Daveed Diggs' movie Blindspotting has been adapted to a tv show. There's a forum for it here. The first episode airs on June 13.

There's a forum for the new tv adaptation of Blindspotting here. The show premieres on June 13!

Mare of Easttown finale was the most watched episode of any HBO original series on HBO Max Kate Winslet: “I would absolutely love to play Mare again" Craig Zobel's take on a second season

S5 is now available on Netflix!

I agreed with the judges about who was in the top and who was in the bottom for the music video challenge. Jack's pink makeup with winged lines was bold and graphic so it looked good in the long shots (and honestly, how many close ups do you get of a backup dancer's face in a music video?). Sophie's big smoky eye with gold flakes was also bold and easy to see from a distance. In contrast, Dolli's was too literal and too detailed. Who the hell is going to see those tiny birds on the model's temples? And the makeup was supposed to complement the background, not look the same. Hated the orange lipstick. But I do give her credit for staying calm and making changes when she was told by Rankin that the makeup wasn't working. Craig's metallic green eyes looked very dated but generic. But weird that the places were completely reversed for the second challenge. I've never gotten the feeling that the creative challenge is significantly weighted more than the first challenge (unlike GBBO where it's obvious that the showstopper is weighted much more heavily than the signature and technical challenges to the point where they will completely ignore someone failing at the first two if they do something amazing in the showstopper) which made me think that since each of them did well in one challenge and badly in the other challenge, they should have had all four of them do the face off. I guess the only problem would have been finding quadruplets, but I would have been fine with two sets of twins since this was a full face of makeup and it was really just about blending to get a good gradient. I thought that Jack and Sophie's makeups looked pretty similar - black foreheads, green/red from the eyelid down. Neither of them did much ombré with the black and other color in the middle. But Sophie had more of a gradient within the red so she won by default. In the yellow example, there was no gradient in the yellow itself. The gradient was all in the black/yellow mixture in the middle of the face which neither Sophie nor Jack did.

S1.E4: Tee-Rific Topiaries Original air date: 6/2/21

OMG, Fred. Please STFU. I can't bear to hear someone who abused his position and power tell the court about how they all made sacrifices in Gilead. Yes, it must have been terrible for YOU when you were breaking Gilead laws to go to Jezebel's and raping your handmaid every month. My, my, such sacrifices he made. The issues with June and Luke are so complex that I don't know where to begin. I was solidly with Moira when she told him that he didn't understand what June had been through. His reply ("Maybe that's the problem") made me really anxious. I get that he is June's husband and that he wants to move forward, which will require work on both their parts. But I am also firmly of the belief that an assault victim never needs to talk about their trauma unless they want to do so. This is complicated by the fact that June was chomping at the bit to testify against the Waterfords, but I understand her desire to make them pay for what they did to her as a drop in the bucket for what Gilead did to so many other women. The difference is that she was able to dispassionately describe a list of things that they had subjected her to. Luke, on the other hand, would no doubt want more than that. He would want to talk about the details and how she felt and I don't think that she's even close to ready for that. In a relationship, both people have to have similar goals in order to be in harmony. Luke wants to heal their relationship. June is deliberately shutting him out. I think she really needs to give serious thought as to whether she wants to be married to Luke anymore and what that will entail. Everything can't be on her terms (especially her sexual aggression). But by the same token, Luke needs to respect June's boundaries. She said she didn't want him to come to court and hear her testimony but he showed up anyway. Maybe he should have considered that it might be more difficult for her to give her testimony if he was in the room. One thing I liked about this episode was the acknowledgment that not everyone reacts to trauma the same way. June was frustrated that the other girls in her support group were talking about their feelings and journaling and wanting to forgive and later she didn't understand why Emily wouldn't want to confront Aunt Irene. But the truth is that some people lash out at those who hurt them and other people don't want any further contact with their abusers. There's no right way to respond to trauma, just what's right for you. But I'm with Moira (again) - anger is an understandable reaction but you can't live there. You can channel it onto specific actions (like testifying against Fred) but you can't be angry 24/7 without it affecting you negatively. I disliked that the show ended up making June right again. I don't think she should have ambushed Emily at therapy by bringing the aunt. It should have been Emily's choice whether to confront her or see her at all. All of this brings me to the point that June needs a real therapist. I appreciate Moira offering a support group to the handmaids who clearly need some fellowship with other survivors who understand what they've been through. That is important. But June (and the others) still need professional counseling about the immense amount of abuse and trauma that they suffered for years. I'm glad that Janine is alive but so disappointed that she's back in Gilead and specifically under Lydia's thumb once again. Hopefully Lydia's attempts to brainwash Janine into turning against June won't be successful. Gross to see how many supporters Fred and Serena had after his "God rewarded us" moralizing.

Vicky: Still, you must be so scared. Danielle: And worried. You know, the defense gets to ask questions. June: I'm not nervous or worried. Or scared. I can't fucking wait. June: I just, I thought that I'd have more in common with them. Feelings, forgiveness. Journaling? Why aren't they more angry? Moira: How do you know they're not? June: [Aunt Irene] hurt you, didn't she? Luke: Why would you say that? June: Because she's an aunt. Moira: Getting over trauma is a bumpy fucking road. You need to be patient till June gets where she's going. You don't know what she's been through. Luke: Maybe that's the problem. Judge: Next we will hear the victim statement of June Osborn. Bailiff: Please raise your right hand. June: Is there a Bible? Bailiff: No, ma'am. Not in this court. Lydia: Commander, it was an accident. Aunt Ruth got in my way. She is often clumsy. Lawrence: Oh, bull shit. Aunt Ruth has a different story. Not that I care about that one either. But the handmaid - by all accounts she was obedient and compliant. They all are these days. They've known Gilead most of their lives, unlike some. Boy, it must be killing you that June won. Out of your reach, free as a bird. And singing like one, too. Lydia: Well, she will answer to God. Lawrence: We'll see. Maybe she'll just wrap that old goat around her little finger too. June won because she knows how to make people like her. People do not like you. They don't. But I can sympathize. People don't like me either. Lawrence: I know you enjoy inflicting pain. Lydia: That isn't true. Lawrence: I'm not judging. Everybody needs a hobby, I guess. Emily: I feel amazing. I'm glad [Irene]'s dead. And I hope I had something to do with it. Moira: I think we're all better than the worst thing we've done. Moira: Anger is a valid emotion. It's necessary, important even, to heal. But we can't live there. June: Why not? Why does healing have to be the only goal? Why can't we be as furious as we feel? Don't we have that right?

The thing is that Ava is not an asshole 100% of the time. She's been shown to have moments of kindness and understanding so she's not completely awful. I think what she learned from what the girls said to her is that she needs to not be so selfish and one-sided. She called this girl out of the blue just to get tickets to her movie premiere. That's not a friend or someone who reciprocates. That's an opportunistic leech. She did the same to that girl who was having lunch with her mom in the first episode. The other girl said that Ava hadn't spoken to her in months, yet here she was asking for a favor. It's fine to be focused on your career and to network, but if that's all you do then why would anyone want to help you? Her behavior with all of those people was really selfish because she just wanted to take what she could get from them but she clearly wasn't giving anything back in return. It doesn't have to be monetary or anything either. Just call to say hi. Offer to take them to lunch so you can catch up. Cultivate a relationship that isn't just you asking for stuff.

Just wanted to add that I thought it was surprising (in a good way) that the bald guy (Paul?) who said he had major PTSD and is happiest when he's hiding in a blind for days waiting for an animal to come by so he can get a good shot ended up being very chatty with Anna Friel in an effort to get her relaxed. Based on what he'd said earlier, I thought he would be one of the silent photographers so it was nice to see him jump right in with some casual conversation. Now that there have been several assignments that required them to talk to their subjects, it's obvious that some of them are not very good at giving direction or feedback. One girl kept telling Anna "love that!" which is positive but it's not very helpful. She said it like ten times in a row. I thought it was kind of sweet to see Rankin and the creative director at the fashion shoot be so supportive of the photographers. They were very encouraging because it was obvious that a lot of them were uncomfortable or unsure. Then I thought about how bizarre it must be for the models to hear people cheering on the photographers.

The Most Expensive TV Episode of Its Time: An Oral History of Moonlighting’s “Atomic Shakespeare” (an excerpt from the book Moonlighting: An Oral History by Scott Ryan which is out today!)

S1.E4: Freedom

I totally agree that Tony would say anything to make himself look not quite as bad (despite readily admitting that he raped Leigh). But I just thought that the way VC Andrews had Tony describe Leigh made her sound like Fanny (jealous, flirty, aggressive) while the way Leigh was written by the ghost writer in Web of Dreams was much more like Audrina (innocent, naive, unaware of how beautiful/sexy/desirable she was). Luke being retconned into a super nice guy in Web of Dreams always annoyed me. He was awful to Sarah and we're supposed to believe that he only became a total jerk because Leigh died (despite knowing that he cheated on Leigh with Sarah which was why Heaven and Tom were so close in age). I think the truth is that he was able to hide what an asshole he was for a few months before Leigh died. Despite Keith and Our Jane ending up with good parents, I don't believe for one second that Luke was being kindhearted and trying to do the best thing for his kids when he sold them like animals. That was to rid himself of kids he didn't want to feed and to make some money. He sold each of them for $500. $2500 was a lot in 1970, let alone in Winnerow in 1970.

Carmen definitely won some points for just jumping onto that mechanical bull. Ouch!

I liked that last week before they all shot Anna Friel, Rankin shot the photographers so that they would understand what it was like to be a subject and give them an idea of what was helpful to a subject. I really thought we would get more stuff like that (and like the brief lesson they had for the nature shoot), but this week the contestants were just taken to a location and kind of let loose with a vague idea of what was expected of them. I wish they'd been given more instruction or guidelines or anything before each assignment this week, especially when there was an expert introduced. Why have an expert is they aren't going to share their expertise? Last week when they shot Anna Friel, it seemed like a pretty level playing field because they had the same subject. Same for when they were at the gym this week. But giving them different models with different outfits for the fashion assignment this week made me think that some of them might just get lucky with a great model who was good at posing or who had a really good outfit. What I think the documentary assignment and the fashion assignment demonstrated this week is that as a photographer, you are going to have to communicate with people and some of them don't seem entirely comfortable with talking to people, giving them feedback, giving specific direction, etc. But my favorite aspect of the show is that all of the photographers get very concrete feedback on their photos after each assignment. I always feel bad on shows where only the people with the highest and lowest scores get feedback because it leaves the people in the middle of the pack unsure about how to improve their work. It's also really helpful that the judges on this show know how to give good feedback (unlike judges on some other competitive reality shows where their critiques are usually a whole lot of nothing). Seeing how unevenly the photographers did this week on their various assignments reinforced how much I love that they aren't eliminating anyone until the end. If you're a nature photographer and the first assignment is fashion, it sucks to get eliminated for being given a challenge that is outside of what you normally do. Seeing the variety of success in the different assignments makes me glad that they are all getting a chance to do all of the assignments and learn along the way. During the first episode, I wondered why there weren't more contestants, but knowing that they all get feedback and no one is eliminated, I think they picked a manageable number of people.

I KNOW! It's like people who go on the Amazing Race and can't read a map or drive a stick. You are just asking to be eliminated!

Awww, I loved how genuinely excited the queens were just to walk into the workroom. I think one of the annoying things about RPDR is when girls show up and act entitled to be there. These girls all seemed like they still couldn't believe they were there so they were like excited puppies which I found adorable. I also liked that they cheered every time another queen entered the room, even if they had no idea who she was. I thought the top and bottom three were correct. Hugáceo created a full character with her outfit. Carmen really showed how well she can sew but I think what kept her from winning is that her outfit looked like something you could buy at the mall, not something that was for the runway. Sagittaria created a whole look with very few materials. I actually thought that Sagittaria or Carmen would win because if you just looked at their outfits, Hugáceo's was the least impressive of the three. Pupi, Dovima, and the Macarena deserved to be in the bottom. Of the three, I thought the Macarena would be safe but I guess they didn't want to risk losing Pupi yet. Dovima was by far the worst look on the runway. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to say that she made her outfit from scratch. What outfit? She tied a rope around herself. There was nothing to her look. Say what you want about what Pupi and the Macarena created (yes, they both looked very homemade) but at least they made something. I knew they wouldn't get rid of Dovima so soon though. They obviously want the Dovima/Sagittaria drama.