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rab01

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Everything posted by rab01

  1. Hey, I resemble that remark 😉 Though I don't say it to be cool or thinking it's cool in any way. Like I tell my kids, it's not my job to be cool anymore.
  2. The writers already did that last line during the Saviors arc when Negan killed a henchman who attempted to rape Sasha supposedly because rape was against their rules. The level of stupid going on during that season was so high that the hypocrisy wasn't all that memorable.
  3. I stopped watching after Rick's farewell and just started catching up last week (it is a much less frustrating show to semi-binge than watch one episode a week). Devoting entire episodes to the villain's perspective (whether the Governor, Negan or Alpha) is such a staple of the show and still so very very annoying. That said, and this may be an unpopular opinion but these latest seasons have been a big improvement over Gimple's Saviors arc. That shit was Bugs Bunny level stupid and there were no dialogue scenes with our protagonists (just monologues and grunting) for like two years - blech. Put me on team-Lydia. She didn't kill Henry. She didn't even choose to do anything that led to his death. Her mother killed Henry and the only other people responsible for his death are Henry himself and Darryl. Henry refused to accept her sacrifice for the community at Hilltop and Darryl is the person who thought it would be a bright idea to put a hormonal teenage boy in the cell next to an attractive damsel-in-distress to get intel. The bond the kids formed is on him, not Lydia. (Lydia even went to the authorities immediately after her mom let her go and warned them there was a psycho inside the Kingdom.) As for the ASZhats' treatment of Lydia, that's some serious bullshit and is on the bullies themselves, on the schoolteacher who didn't stop it (Aaron), the parent who didn't protect her (Darryl), and the administration who enabled them (Gabriel and the others).
  4. We've never gotten the celebrity GBBO episodes in the U.S. I'm still hoping to someday see Jameela Jamil's episode and that was years ago.
  5. This most recent season has made me realize that all those times when Mel and Sue ruined takes where bakers were breaking down must have really angered the producers. I think the producers don't believe that Mel and Sue's attitude helped make GBBO special but believe instead that they were interfering with telling compelling stories - witness this Final focusing more on Alice crying over her parents not making it and on Steph crying than on David having his best day in the tent. It's really hard for us to celebrate with the bakers when all we're shown is them being unhappy. Overall, this season wasn't terrible but the magic is gone. It's now just an above-average reality show. Maybe/hopefully next time they'll return to bakers of varied ages and appearances and a focus on their successes, rather than their failures. Watching people staring maniacally at ovens is fun when everyone recognizes that there are no real stakes - "it's just cake" - and not so much fun when we are repeatedly told and shown tons about the pressure they're under. Let them have a cup of tea and chat while their dough is proving, rather than filling the time with making dipping sauces.
  6. Is a top crust part of the definition of pies in the U.K.? (Most websites I've checked say that it's optional but they were American.) From the way that Paul looked at David, it seemed like a definitional issue, rather than Paul's taste preference. I got the feeling that Paul thought it was something of a cheat (though not barred by the bakers' brief) not to have a top crust.
  7. Bruce is supposed to be older than Kate rather than the reverse so I think the math works out. If Bruce's mother was the older sibling and had kids in her early 20s while Kate's father had her in his mid 30s, Bruce would be 20 years older than Kate. That would make Batman somewhere approaching 30 when he tried to save Kate's family on the bridge. AS for the episode as a whole, it was very very piloty. I haven't watched OITNB (it's on my list for someday) so I haven't seen the actress much and didn't have any preconceptions and I think she works in the role - she's charismatic and physically believable as an action hero. I'll have to see her in a better written episode before I have an opinion on her acting ability.
  8. Also, I'm pretty sure that production has a say in how they wear their hair (just like how they're instructed to wear the same clothes on both days of the shoot). They'd rather not have contestants with hairnets or everybody with pony tails. I bet they think it's not as visually interesting
  9. I'm having a similar problem and I think it may be that this group is much more uniform in looks and age than prior groups.
  10. I made it through all 10 episodes and I'm not entirely sure how. There were huge plot holes, huge continuity problems, unclear motivations, dialogue that doesn't match the direction of the scenes, etc. I liked the performances - the actors really worked hard (so hard) to sell the emotions they were supposed to be feeling - and the effects weren't terrible but the makers of this show don't deserve another chance. I'm not so sure the Akaye are actually evil - there's no way to tell yet. It's entirely possible that the race saying they're terrible were lying. For example, if they are that evil why did their puppet on the spaceship work so hard to keep a planet-killer weapon from reaching a world they had already decimated (not their own homeworld)? I wouldn't be shocked if their plan was for Season 2 to show that the Akaye are actually scared by humanity and want to domesticate humans before they become too dangerous for the rest of the universe - i.e., anatagonists but no Eeeeevil ones
  11. I live in NY and think of the type of place they showed as a typical bodega but would probably say "deli" to someone else. Most stores like that in Manhattan have "deli" or "market" in their names while few have "bodega" in their signage. Looking around online suggests that both usages are correct for the store we were shown.
  12. That's a good choice -- one of the Greyjoy scenes was why I stopped reading the series in the middle.
  13. Well, yeah of course it's just playing around cutesy talk and what bugged me is that they didn't sound anything like the couple we met last season. I got a chance to watch it again tonight and it was just sort of there, filler to finish the episode order. On second viewing, there were a lot of boring shots of Shadow walking around the house and the chat between Technical Boy 2.0 and his creator/acolyte was surprisingly drab. Also, I have to say the nudity this season feels gratuitous in a way it didn't last year. I enjoy seeing Bilquis naked as much as the next guy but there wasn't any plot reason this time and it didn't have any of the visual or mythological interest that those scenes had last year.
  14. I dozed off during this episode so I'm going to have to rewatch it. Reading people's posts this morning makes me half-dread that rewatch but, much diminished though the show may be from last season, I still kind of like it. I was, however, awake for the early scene between Shadow and Dead Wife so one question -- Does the same DW who regularly contemplated suicide in S1 seem like the same person who would have a very Rom-Com standard reaction to seeing a cute puppy? And does the same Shadow who committed a robbery to help her feel alive seem like someone who wouldn't have immediately bought her a puppy?
  15. I think it's a recurring theme of the show that Wednesday is tricking people and deities into his service and binding them to him through a claimed debt/agreement. We've seen it with Shadow, with Donar, with Columbia, and now with Sweeney. We've also seen him refuse to pay honest value even if it's something as trivial as money (for Lou Reed's jacket).
  16. I really liked and hated this episode. The hated part is easy -- Mad Sweeney and Dead Wife are my favorite part of the show and she's at her best when with him so the show just lost most of what I enjoyed this season. But I really liked the exploration of Sweeney's past, why he was tied to Odin, why he hated him, etc. I don't necessarily understand most of what they showed us -- and the unreliable narrator means that the show may not be taking a position on what's necessarily "real" about it -- but it felt like it touched on the level of myth-making that the show achieved often last season and somewhat less often this season. Bilquis' sermon/seduction lacked a little for me and I think it's because she was so serene during the service. The audience reaction shots showed a build-up of desire to match the biblical verse but her body language didn't quite match it. For me, there was more seduction in the moment she sat in the chair opposite Sweeney than in the entire sermon. I wish they had brought more of that energy into her speech. Obviously, attraction is a very personal response so YMMV.
  17. Also, Thor accused Odin of using magic on Columbia to make her fall for it. Odin denied it but he lies as easily as breathing. I think Odin bewitched both of them. Given what we've seen so far, why would any human support Odin's side in this war? And why should any god support it (except for death and war gods that is)? Also, how is Odin important enough in America to have any influence or power?
  18. Looking up through all the quotes you've listed, it's not just the visuals that are becoming more ordinary over time for this show.
  19. It still doesn't make sense that Thor would have to throw the competition (or that Odin would want him to) because he gets more worship for winning. So what if some human Nazis want you to lose? His burlesque shenanigans are also further reason why his treatment of Vulcan and Bilquis taking the New Gods' deal is pure hypocrisy because we see him here making deals with them right-and-left. Are we supposed to discern that Odin learned his lesson from how badly he fucked up in this episode's flashback? Odin seems to be enough of a creep that I'm beginning to root for Laura and Mad Eye to team up with Mr. World and take him out.
  20. Has anyone else noticed that Buddy and Duff are friendlier talking to each other during the first round challenges than they are in the talking heads? But they are each pretending to be surprised by something the other does? I think the producers' first take on the dynamic was going to be fine dining trained pastry chef vs. Baker and they switched gears after finding out how much Buddy hates to lose. I think a lot of the insulting each other commentary was added afterwards to hype the "drama." Also, I like Duff but Buddy's cake was far better than Duff's. Buddy's partner actually baked magic tricks into the cake while Duff didn't even make much of a cake; he just held an amateurish magic show.
  21. They screwed up the order of scenes didn't they? Wednesday peed on yggdrasil before meeting the djinn to receive mjolnir BUT it was the djinn who received both last episode. Wednesday shouldn't have had it yet. Also, am I right that Wednesday called the god from that episode "Yahweh"? As in the god of the old testament? I've got to say, if a God's strength is measured by belief of his followers, there are a lot more Jews in the world these days than Odin-worshippers. Lastly, I'm shocked that I was right in my guess that the sprig might be from yggdrasil.
  22. It struck me as a scene to save money and round out an episode. If they really did have to cut a bunch of stuff that didn't work, that speech is a great scene for insertion in reshoots - it's cheap (they already have the set, the actors are there, no special effects and Orlando Jones may well have written it) and it doesn't advance the plot at all so it doesn't cause any continuity problems.
  23. I don't know how much (if at all) we disagree. I didn't mean that he wanted Shadow permanently injured, just ... stressed ... to further him along the path to becoming whatever god or demigod he's supposed to be. I haven't read the book so I really don't know why Shadow is important to Odin but it's clear that Shadow is not an ordinary human and Odin needs something from him that Shadow is currently *incapable* of doing. Odin's been putting him through boot camp throughout the series and getting to Cairo on his own is part of that training. That said, in Norse mythology Odin is known as both deceitful and "all-seeing" so I find it hard to believe that he knew exactly where the train and Shadow were but didn't know that Laura and his servant, Sweeney, were also on the train. In addition, we know that Odin killed Laura, was angry last season when she turned up during his big reveal to Shadow, and that he was trying to put a wedge between Laura and Shadow in this episode so I think it's important to Odin that Shadow and Laura are not attached to each other. I think he more didn't want Shadow to see Laura's attempt to rescue him, than the extent of her injuries. Bottom-line, I agree that Odin is kind of a dick. I wonder whether, despite being charming, personable, and the protagonist, he's really the villain of the story.
  24. Well, Wednesday caused the train wreck thereby preventing Laura and Sweeney from saving him without further injury so I think he wanted Shadow to be busted up and on his own. I'd guess it's part of Shadow's "journey" to becoming whatever useful thing Wednesday needs him to be.
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