xqueenfrostine

Absolutely. I kinda had that vibe all episode, but Mr. Cooper told Betty that Polly is sick and that she can only come back once she's better sealed it for me. It totally sounds like the parents are trying to hide Polly away until after she gives birth. The reveal that Polly and Jason had gotten married while still in high school also points strongly in that direction. I really like Betty and Jughead together but only as friends. I'll be really disappointed if they abandoned the "ace" part of Jughead's character. Blatantly asexual characters (as opposed to characters who just don't have romantic storylines) are a rarity in television and I think that would be a far more interesting story arc to mine than a romantic plot line for Jughead.

That logic might be fair if Sylvie were a normal girl, and not someone who has had to spend part of her life in hiding lest she be killed. With that kind of trauma (and probably poor socialization), I don't think it's so far fetched for her to be irrationally frightened by seemingly normal interactions with strangers. Sylvie was alone without the people she was used to relying on protection when she encountered the King, and she was hiding in the Wizard's city right as his soldiers were hunting for her. It doesn't seem so strange to me that she might have gotten scared under those circumstances by a close encounter with a stranger.

While I do like this show, I can't stop thinking about how completely stupid it is that there were no guns in Oz prior to this time or that Ev would have needed Dorothy's gun to serve as a prototype to build one. They have the technological prowess to build clockwork marvels, but a device that's centuries old in our world was unknown to them? It's not like Ev wasn't already in the weapons business. I also continue to find Lucas/Roan so boring. I'm happy to have more Glinda, but I can do without her and Dorothy's shared boy toy. More witch politics, less relationship angst please! Possibly not quite that long, as it can take months for a woman to become noticeably pregnant, especially the first time around. And it's not like Glinda's council women wear formfitting clothing. So probably no less than 4 months, but no greater than 8. I don't think she's Mother South, as it doesn't seem like she'd have time to both care for Tip on a daily basis for so long and birth/create so many children. Also her powers just didn't seem flashy enough for a cardinal witch. That said, I don't think Mombi needs to have be Mother South for her to still have a future with this series. I imagine that if we see more of Tip's true identity as Ozma, we'll likely see how Ozma survived her parents' assassination and who brought her out of the Emerald City and into hiding. That story could require Shaw to come back either for flashback scenes or the show might send Tip back to Mombi's hut (where she may still be alive) to look for answers.

Good episode. Lenny continues to be such a beautiful, baffling puzzle. It was such an odd juxtaposition for him to go out of his way to bring the body of the nun's sister to the Vatican so that she could see her without having to face her fears of returning home, only to scream at her for crying over the body. I was also intrigued by his weird little half smile when he saw Esther and her husband having sex. I was really moved by Gutierrez's fear of leaving the Vatican. I also thought the hallucination he had of the nun praising him for becoming a man (even though he's clearly middle aged) is telling. I suspect there's some sort of arrested development going on with that guy. Between the drinking, his stuffed toy collection, and his fear of the outside world, I think something traumatic must have happened to him when he was young. I don't know what to make of the ending scene. The dancing prime minister was weird, but I really can't figure out why they bothered to put that "fun fact" about Greenland's love of dancing up on the screen. Is the show going to make a habit of teaching us random trivia? I don't get it either. It did pretty well when it aired in Europe, so I would think a lack of confidence would be the reason to air it this way. I also don't think they would have done so much marketing for the series if they expected it to fail. But I don't have an alternate explanation. Is their schedule in February packed or something?

I'm leaning toward the idea that none (or at least very little) of it is an act. Lenny strikes me a very mercurial figure, and it wouldn't surprise me at all, if (for example) he was being honest to both Tommaso and to God in his private bedroom confession. Even though the things he said in both seem inherently contradictory.

This is such a strange show. The less I understand about what's really going on, the more I appreciate it. I don't know if I'm moved by the beauty of the cinematography, the curious musical choices, or the great performances or what, but it's somehow riveting despite the slow pacing. And I love the quirky sense of humor this show has. I couldn't stop giggling as Viello confronted the Monsignor on a bed covered in stuffed toys, holding a stuffed deer for seemingly no reason. I have no idea where this show plans to take me, but I'm really enjoying the ride.

I'm equally enthralled and creeped out by the Steampunk fantasyland that is Ev. Jack as the Tin Man is perfect for this universe, but I find him so unsettling to behold. I know the canon version of the Tinman was also an amputee story, but it's so much harder to forget that with Jack, since he still has his head and part of his torso.

Just finished watching the first three episodes of the series, and so far I'm cautiously optimistic. The series has a lot of potential, but I find myself much more interested in the Witches/Emerald City politics part of the show than I am in Dorothy's story. Lucas in particularly bores me. He's nice enough to look at, but I can't bring myself to care about his mysterious backstory and I'm not all that impressed with the dynamic between him and Dorothy. Every time they're on the screen, I just want to go back and spend more time with West, who is charismatic as hell. I'm hoping my interest in them will increase the closer Dorothy gets to the Emerald City. I was struck by that as well. Given the severity of the penalty levied against magic users, I would have expected the herbalist to be a little more stern/confrontational with Tip than he was. The compassion he showed instead was a very interesting choice for the show, and the sensitivity they've shown so far in handling Tip's confusion over his identity makes me hopeful for where they might take his story. That seems like an unsafe assumption since the existence of separate bathrooms in public places is entirely about gender related social norms. Different "plumbing" doesn't actually require different plumbing. The men's bathroom may have some standing urinals, but a toilet is a toilet. This show is also much more committed to being a mystery story than Once Upon a Time, which told you what the entire story arc of its first season would be in its pilot. I feel much less sure of where Emerald City intends to take its world and its characters now than I was 3 episodes into Once Upon a Time and I think that's a good thing.

Not surprised at all to see Amanda win. I had her pegged to be the big winner for a few episodes now, even though in my heart I was rooting for Steph! The 3D bread sculptures weren't for a final. None of the seasons have done bread for the final show stopper. I have a feeling you might be thinking of the showstopper challenge of UK Series 6/US Season 3 Bread week, which did have some very impressive sculptures. Much more so than the this season's 3D bread sculpture challenge produced! This final showstopper was simplistic compared to recent final showstoppers of the GBBO, but is on par with what was required on the earliest seasons. I believe both Series 1 and Series 2 had Petit Fours as their final showstopper challenge. Same here. I found them a little grating in the first few episodes, but they really grew on me. This full season of GABS has convinced me that the only truly essential element of GBBO to me is Queen Mary. Didn't miss Paul at all, and while I may have missed Mel and Sue at the beginning, I got over that fairly quickly.

Well by necessity, they'd have to get all of their baking directives ahead of time if there were no big breaks. There's no way they could plan both a signature bake and a showstopper in 24-36 hours. Not only would that be impossible for the contestants, it'd be hard for the production team that would presumably need to get ingredient lists from each baker to prepare for the show. Still I don't think being able to practice before the show starts filming would be enough to make up for not having several days off between each episode, since they'd have to prepare practice at least 16 recipes in that time. It's comparable to the difference in difficulty of prepping for finals week in school compared to a exam in the middle of the year. It's much harder when everything comes up at once than when you only have to focus on one subject.

That just seems crazy to me given how complicated the Showstoppers are expected to be. Part of the benefit of the UK's format was that the contestants had time between filming to not just see their families, but to practice their bakes, sometimes many times over. Since these are not professional bakers, having the time to do multiple practice runs during their time off seems critical for success. Yup. I've seen a few "behind the scenes" articles on GBBO, and more than one of them said that the show requires that everyone wear the same outfit (plus hair and makeup for the women) all weekend for just this reason. I assume it's the same for the US version.

How did that work? Did they fly them to England every single weekend, or did they live there for 8 weeks? That seems a lot more complicated than the UK version where a weekly commute seems more doable. It's all about the pan, though some types of cake recipes are better suited for bundt pans than others. The depth and large surface area of the pan make these cakes really prone to drying out.

This is the first GBBO spin-off I've ever watched, and it really made me appreciate Mel and Sue more than I ever had before. I didn't know how much I would miss their presence until they weren't there! Nia and Ian aren't bad per se, but it feels like the production team told them to try to ape Mel and Sue's shtick on the show and I'm not sure that was a wise approach. I think it would have been better to let them develop their own thing instead of serving as a pale imitation of the original. I didn't miss Paul.

Something similar happened at the end of season 6 too as I remember Tamal mentioning that he had plans to have dinner at Nadiya's house in the near future. But I agree that there was just something about seeing Candice and Jane together at the end that really encapsulated the element of friendship that has been part of what has made GBBO so special.

I don't think there's ever been a finale where there's been less suspense for me over who the winner was going to be. I didn't come into the episode with a clear feeling as to who would win, but Candace outbaked her competitors by such a large margin in the final challenge that it was absolutely inconceivable that she wouldn't win. Her chocolate cake was probably my least favorite visually of the 3 (which is surprising as I usually love the look of Candice's bakes. I didn't even hate that green citrus meringue pie that everyone else was so hard on!) but she didn't have any of the technical errors that Jane and Andrew did. I love that Jane and Candice are going traveling together! I've enjoyed their obvious friendship over the course of this season, so I'm delighted that they're still friends.

I was actually worried that I'd find her peacock boring after Nadiya's but I didn't. Nadiya's peacock had a better overall shape, but I thought Candice's feathers were better. The yellow Candace included in the design really made the colors pop, though I suspect she had an advantage color wise since she was working with marzipan instead of chocolate.

I don't know why, but I was shocked to see Tom leave this week. I mean, I know he was having a rough week, but I thought for sure Selasi was going to get the ax. Not that I mind being wrong. I'd much rather keep Selasi in the tent than Tom. I loved Andrew's Mousse Cake Ferris wheel and was happy to see him named star baked this week. And I loved how happy everyone else seemed to see him score his first win.

I really enjoyed this series, but I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the Diamondback/Luke Cage fight. It probably didn't help that I was underwhelmed by Diamondback as a villain. He chewed the scenery a little too much, which isn't usually something the bothers me but it didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the cast. I also didn't think he was as well developed as some of the other Marvel Netflix big bads.

I was so impressed by Selasi's showstopper cake this week that I was really disappointed that he didn't make Star Baker. I know they don't (usually!) award Star Baker status based on one round alone, but his cake was head and shoulders ahead of anyone else's in terms of its looks and Paul and Mary both had really nice things to say about its flavor and the quality of the bake! The main difference in meringues is how heat in introduced to cook the egg whites. The recipe your Nana used is a french style meringue which is the easiest to do. Italian meringues cook the egg whites using boiling hot sugar syrup and Swiss Meringues are slowly cooked over a hot water bath. The different methods produce different textures, and French is definitely the way to go if you like your meringue to be light and crisp! I agree that it was Rav's time to go, but I was still bummed to see him eliminated. He had the best personality of the group, and that matters (enjoyment wise, not competition wise obviously) when the overall group seems a little dull compared to last season.

I wasn't heartbroken by Mel and Sue leaving (I do love them, particularly Sue, but they weren't the most important part of GBBO to me), but I'm really taking the news that Mary Berry's leaving too pretty hard. I can't imagine GBBO being even close to the same show with only Paul Hollywood remaining. I'll still give the next season a chance, but my heart won't be in it.

It's not a grudge, it's just poorly written. If you enjoy it, I'm happy for you as that enhances your enjoyment of the show. That's terrific. But for a lot of us, there's been way too much "tell" and too little "show" when it comes to Daisy. And Coulson's relationship with her has always felt weird because of the way he favors her above everyone else on the team. With Giles/Buffy it made sense, because he was a Watcher and Buffy was the Slayer he was sent to guide. It made narrative sense that they would form a unique parental bond. But the show has never bothered to show us why Coulson has developed a much tighter bond with Daisy, than say Simmons, and so it becomes noticeable (and irritating) when he's 10x as dedicated to saving her or getting her back than he was when Simmons vanished a season ago.

She had it figured out last season! I don't know why they decided to increase her eye makeup even more. It's clearly not to hide her identity, because it would take more than a half inch of eye liner to fool anyone.

I usually see it as more Crazy/Mean/Troubled/Evil than as BADASS. If a character goes over to the dark side, or goes through a fit of depression/self loathing, the makeup artists starts applying triple the normal amount of eye liner. As a woman who quite likes her makeup (though not nearly as much as Daisy is wearing!) I really really really hate this trope. It makes no sense. There's no correlation between one's moral character and their taste in makeup, and depression usually causes people to spend less time carefully grooming themselves, not more.

The new time slot came before the plans for season 4. They announced it last spring. As for why, I assume it's a combination of the fact that Agents of SHIELD has had only middling ratings and because ABC has had a devil of a time finding a show to fill the 10/9c time slot for several years now. There hasn't been a single show to last there for longer than a season in at least 4 years. It may not even be a matter of Simmons's values. The writers made a point to have Simmons tell us earlier in the episode that the director has his inner circle pass lie detector tests on a daily basis. It's possible that if Simmons knew, she'd be unable to keep it from the director. Especially if Simmons has to report to the director on Radcliffe specifically.

I don't always love Coulson as a lead (IMO this show is at its best when it works as a true ensemble), but I'm so grateful that didn't happen. That sounds like a formula for a bad Marvel themed procedural.