ahisma

I was all ready to say how much I liked Klaus teasing Ben for being open, and complain that Allison notably did NOT apologize to Viktor for murdering his stepson. But, eurgh, way too traumatized!

I didn’t like Lila until last episode, but I’m okay with her now. I was perfectly happy to trade Allison for Lila and new new Ben at the wedding reception. They were at least happy for Luther and Sloane. I even like Reginald for a bit. Dammit.

Stan mentioned after his mom took off with a bass player that that’s how they ended up in Germany in the first place—his mom had followed a bass player there (presumably from the US). The only car(s) we’ve seen the inside of until this episode are from Hotel Obsidian, right hand drive. Everyone else is driving per normal for the US, and Reginald’s Rolls is US style. So I assume it’s just another hotel eccentricity. I was skeptical of Reginald & Klaus, but they pulled it off. Reginald using his beyond-tough-love with genuine encouragement and faith is … good? Lila talking to Allison is the first I’ve liked her. Allison’s sibling relationship with Viktor has been a highlight of the past two seasons + first episode of s3. This heel turn is THE WORST. Poor Harlan. He finally got rid of his freaky powers for the first time since he was a kid, and got killed for no reason. Poor Viktor has just been screwed, too. S1, he was too untrained and tortured from being held in the basement to control his powers. S2, he was getting a hold on them, but torture again, plus accidentally transferred some powers to Harlan without realizing it. S3, that accident with Harlan screwed everything up. I wouldn’t say Viktor is a villain, but he is dangerously overpowered. So, apparently, is Christopher. It’s too bad there’s no subtitles for him. When they discussed the plan and talked about trapping the “bees nest” in a box, he said something that made me think he was relating to the situation. And, lo, the kugelblitz in a box looks just like Christopher, and Christopher broken out looks just like the kugelblitz. I wonder if Christopher was overpowered, similar to Viktor, and contained early on.

To be fair, I think Allison took off to California very quickly after they arrived in the present, before the Umbrellas found out they were never born. If she had been raised by her birth mother and had her rumors powers, she still could have whispered her way into movie stardom.

I feel like her arc in s1 was realizing how f-ed up (ab)using her power is. Her arc in s2 was being so traumatized by what she did that she refused to use her power, even when it could have really helped. Until she snapped and went overboard. And now in s3 she snapped and went overboard again, already? And not against someone she hates but someone she loves? I was loving that they were realistic with her grief over losing both Claire and Ray. And her sibling bond with Viktor continued to be a high point. Even blowing off some steam with Diego was great. But this turn… ugh.

I noticed that too. Do they film this series in the UK? They were also on the wrong side of the road. No, they were driving on the right side of the road. I think the car being right-hand drive was just an affectation of the hotel. With Callum Rennie and Julian Richings, my guess is that they filmed in Vancouver or Toronto. Perfect casting for the kind of offbeat sensibility of the show!

Lila would have needed her own time travel suitcase to meet up with Diego. And yeah, not only did the Umbrellas get dumped into 2019 with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but so did the kid.

Yeah, I knew exactly where John was going with that. There was a story on NPR Friday about airlines who are going to buy supersonic jets again. Apparently they’re not as worried about the environmental impact this time around because they’re going to make them carbon neutral by making them more fuel efficient… and make up the rest with carbon offsets. I was immediately VERY suspicious, so perfect timing from John on this topic Oh, Hannity, eeeew. That’s telling on yourself, for sure. And dragging your buddy down with you.

I think there are certain things Rachel was interested in learning about the craft of cable news. For example, asking questions engages the viewer—that is a proven rhetorical device. Tucker looks constipated and confused when he does it, while Rachel looks purposeful and focused. And Rachel follows up her questions with answers based on history / law / reporting. But “asking questions engages viewers” is good advice no matter who it comes from. It does sound disconcerting to hear Rachel talking blithely about hanging with Tuck and Rog, though.

You could just see their smiles getting ever more fixed as they tried to figure out how to break in and stop his non-stop sentences. Our public health system needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom. And, unfortunately, the CDC is not our savior. They are fantastic at studying; they are not great at doing. (Michael Lewis’s latest book Premonition contains excellent stories about how the public health infrastructure responded, or didn’t, to Covid. It’s frightening how many of the things that saved hundreds of thousands of lives came down to the sheer luck of somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody, and was persistent about needing to do something.) That we are blowing it with monkeypox this badly right after blowing it with Covid is a searing indictment.

What did I just SEE with that televangelist?!?! Unclean! Unclean! That TV host taking down ol’ Liz was beautiful. “ZERO.” “Well, er…” “ZERO.” This was the first story I thought of on the topic of lack of mental health care: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/virginia-state-senator-injured-in-home-another-person-found-dead-inside/2013/11/19/3e419ac4-512c-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html That, and Reagan closing down mental hospitals. Apt analogy, for John to say we’ve gone from institutions like prisons to actual prisons.

So glad to have Seth back! And I, for one, appreciated his Squirrel Nut Zippers joke.

I had such a flashback to Lex buying Clark a fancy new truck in the first episode of Smallville, and Pa Kent going, NOPE. It’s just sugar uncle Tal instead of sugar daddy Lex, this time. Agree with pretty much everyone that telling Chrissy did not seem necessary at this time. David Ramsey is so handsome, but the hair/facial hair here was not doing it for me. After gathering up speed, he landed a solar-powered punch right at an intersection where the cube met the sphere. And that was enough to knock them apart. I guess. My bet on Lana is that she will keep Kyle at arm’s length for a while and at the very least Tal will pursue her, knowing that they were together on Bizarro Earth.

Was it wearing a diaper?

Sure, it makes perfect sense for the states to be able to “protect the lives of children” from conception up until they are killed by a gun—that, the states are not allowed to prevent. [Take it as read that the rest of this comment is just swearing.] Yeah, the water situation in the SW has been horrendous for my entire life. John’s right that it’s possible to buy up land and just pump what they want. He didn’t even get into the agricorps that have come in and planted massive farms of alfalfa that they bale up and send to Saudi Arabia for their horses. So, yeah, the locals can’t reach the water in their wells anymore because some corporate farmer is drying up our desert to get oil money from another desert. Also, development projects are supposed to prove they have a 100 year water supply for the intended residents. Funny, their applications are never turned down, no matter how sketchy. He is right that Las Vegas does a great job on conservation. In Arizona, Tucson uses a fraction per person per day of what gets used in Phoenix—comparable to CA drought measures in the ‘80s without even instituting any drought measures. Yet… Those were alternate names that LWT made up. 🙂

Stephen on Jon Stewart at the Mark Twain Prize ceremony. So good!

Really lovely interview with Elliot, where he talks a bit about the show runners including his transition in the story:

Wow. I remember seeing Seth serious-angry or serious-upset about various things in the news. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen him serious in the quiet, open, and empathetic way he was in his interview with Elliot Page. It was just thoughtful and lovely and beautiful.

They were my favorites—they seemed so fun! Ugh, everyone from the landlord side was such a horrible human being. Christian, my Aunt Fanny. And the whole trend of corporations and private equity firms buying up everything for sale is a HUGE issue. All of the suggestions of things to do John showed towards the end were excellent.

It looks like they stayed after on their own to film additional elements inside the building. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/7-arrested-in-house-office-building-linked-to-colbert-show/2022/06/17/cb0d383e-eea6-11ec-9f90-79df1fb28296_story.html

Yes, Schumer for the Senate and Pelosi for the House. Assuming that both bills have made it out of committee and gone to the floor.

Pray for us in Arizona during the general election. The good news is that all the Rs are way nuttier than Senator Kelly. The bad news is that Brnovich has already been elected in a statewide race (currently our Atty General). Possibly good news? YouTube played me an ad for Senator Kelly during this show featuring a prominent local businessman who is a Republican. His message was that he’s supporting Kelly because Kelly has been fighting for local small businesses and recovering the economy. 🤞 Fully agree that the big tech companies need to break up. I’m glad John went the Senator Klobuchar route and mentioned the AT&T breakup history. I admit I do feel better about Apple having a lot of checks and security around their App Store. A phone is fundamentally different from a desktop computer in that it’s way too easy for unscrupulous apps to literally track your every move. But a 30% hit is way too high for every add-on or subscription. As someone who has checked Amazon’s alternate sellers many, many times, there’s a reason to not bother scrolling. Amazon has made sure that Amazon’s price including shipping is lower than, or at least within a couple of cents of, the competitor’s price plus shipping. Oh, look, the item is $3 cheaper at seller XYZ! Aaaaaand, shipping is $2.99… That ad was… something. On the one hand, it was carefully crafted to put tech bro billionaire libertarianism into the voice of down home, good ol’ boy libertarianism. But then the ad makers committed the cardinal sin of distracting the viewer from the message by getting them engaged in a mystery. “WHAT is under that sheet?!” Then the guy just drives off? It’s like Chekhov put a gun on the mantel and then no one ever fired it.

That’s part of trying to fill an hour with drama. Last episode, when Clark wanted to destroy the pendant, I immediately thought, “Fly out and throw it in the sun.” I mean, sure, two sets of laser eyes and a volcano are pretty strong. But not as strong as THE SUN!

I think the only reason Edwina didn’t go in harder was that everything about the situation was set up by the society at the time. Love matches weren’t the norm—it was much more the rule that you married for some type of advantage (family connection, financial stability, elevation of status, etc.). Or if some matter of honor was involved (“ruining” a girl’s reputation, marrying your dead brother’s pregnant girlfriend). If you were lucky enough to grow to love your spouse, that was the cherry on top. Marrying for love was nice if you could afford it (like the Bridgertons could) and a pipe dream if you couldn’t. Edwina marrying Anthony would be the height of advantage for her. But she also mistook his aggressive pursuit of her for love, when it was just the advantage (and convenience) of getting the “worthy” diamond. But once she knew Anthony was in love with Kate, I think she immediately understood that Kate would not be considered a suitable match and that Anthony was doing exactly what the entire ton expected—putting aside his sentiments to make a “correct” match.

Ooof, I didn’t even think of that. It looked a bit like they might have a chance of reconciling, but your thought makes sense. Lana would have to keep The Secret from him—it’s more likely the show just takes him out of the picture.