BlackberryJam

Humphrey was my least favorite but Mooney was scraping the bottom too. I adore Neville.

Anna’s dress was ugly and repetitive, but so was Korto’s. The named the right winner and sent the right person home. I love me some Fabio, but that garment was awful. I liked Rami’s dress, but Lena was right. The zippers were too small to have made a detailing difference adn there was some puckering. A dress that simple needed to be perfect. It wasn’t. I say that when Rami is one of my all time favorites. Bishme’s was interesting, but those sleeves were silly and poorly constructed.

Finished Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? Using the Amazon description of the novel, I'm going to add in my thoughts. When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions. Can you guess? I bet you can guess. But really, this question isn't the driving force of the novel at all. A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could―and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty. So there are three sisters, but only Elise matters. The other sisters are less than cardboard cutouts and have no POV chapters. I say Elise matters, but she doesn't. She so DOES NOT. She's not interesting. Her fiancé has no personality and is barely in the book and the social media scandal is far from developed. The truth behind Kitty's ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them. The beginning of this sentence is the part of the book where you'll find good writing, developed characters and a compelling storyline. And I DID NOT CARE about the St. John sisters. As Elise digs deeper into Kitty's past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. Elise turned the lens upon herself? When? I'm pretty sure that never happened, at least not in this novel. Elise wasn't introspective and certainly not interesting. She existed to give a big speech at the end of the novel to give it a "dramatic" ending. UUUUUGHHHHHHHH. I loved the parts from Kitty (and Kitty's mother's) POV, but the whole St. John Sisters storyline could have easily been excised from the novel and it would have been such much better for the edit. Instead of "finishing" Kitty's story, it simply switches to Elise at one point and I stopped caring then. I just wanted more Kitty chapters.

I don't know if that's fair for any dress because Cher can make any crazy ass design work. It's the power of Cher.

Seriously, I betcha Elaine couldn't even name a non-British royal, let alone anticipate what they would wear. Look, a lot of these challenges are just ridiculous "theme on a pretty dress." I'm fine with that. But Judges don't tell me, "I could see a young, modern royal wearing that." Wes Gordon was crawling out of his skin every time Elaine spoke. Then again, I don't think Teen Vogue knows much about the royals, so it's really not Elaine's bag. The right dress won, definitely. And Victor was not long for the PR season, but wow, those judges are on crack. I posted over in the Royals Small Talk thread about the episode so I don't inundate the PR thread with things like, "Anna and Brittany's dress was so in Mette-Marit's color wheelhouse..." We need @MissLucas and the other Royal Forumers to weigh in!

I clocked Victor going home the minute he chose that metallic leather. It was ugly and the idea was awful. I do a lot of royal fashion watching. That dress Korto and Prajje made could be worn by Rania (Rami dressed her and she’s fucking gorgeous) of Jordan (with a little editing because royals like coverage). I could even see Kate in that, but neither of them would wear the head wrap or cape. I loved those items though. Queen ‘Masenate of Lesotho could pull all off the whole thing. Hester and Fabio’s dress, while gorgeous, has no place in royal fashion. Rami and Bishme’s looked exactly like something Maxima of the Netherlands or Mary of Denmark would wear. Maxima is my spirit royal, and she could totally make that drape sleeve sing. Korto and Laurence. NO. That dress was just a damn hot NO and the model couldn’t even walk in it. I have seen some royals wear some damn ugly crap (Mathilde of Belgium enters the conversation) but there isn’t a royal out there who would wear a tiered ruffled sheer skirt. That’s the kind of dress Emma Weymouth, Marchioness of Bath, would wear and she’d make it sing. The guest judge was right. Those pieces did not belong together. Kanye’s dress under the corset was made for Victoria of Sweden. That color would go great with her dark hair and brown eyes. That sad drippy mess made by Brittany and Anna. *sigh* I like Anna. I think she has some interesting design ideas. I don’t hate Brittany even if she is always “pretty and romantic.” However, that dress. There isn’t a royal out there who would wear something both that ugly and ill-fitting, and there are a LOT of royals who wear ugly, ill-fitting clothes (Maria-Teresa of Luxembourg and her stumpifying pants, Camilla and her 10,000 versions of a housecoat, Sophie of Liechtenstein who takes fashion cues from Lady Bird Johnson and Mamie Eisenhower.) Not even Beatrice (toilet seat hat anyone?) and Eugenie, two royals known for going ugly with their fashion, would put on that hot mess. Mentally, I dubbed that dress, “Depression in the form of Bridal Wear.” They both deserved the aufing. I’d like more of that guest judge, please.

I don't think Shiv has any maternal feelings other than, "Wow, my parents sucked. I don't want my kid to suffer the same kind of suckage, but I really don't want to actually parent this thing* either. Tom's childhood didn't suck the same way mine did. Therefore, it will be better if Tom and I stay together because then he can do the majority of the parenting and we won't be able to use our kids as weapons the way Mom and Dad did. But yeah, we gotta find a great nanny ASAP and I'm getting ALL the drugs during labor." *Thing is used deliberately. There is a reason we didn't see Shiv cupping her belly and picking out names.

I think both Shiv and Kendall were acting in their own self-interest. Kendall wanted to be CEO and run the company because then he'll feel validated because "he's the oldest boy!" He was never, ever going to value Shiv and give her any say in the company. Even when he was CE-Bros with Roman, he was angling with Hugo to make decisions without Roman. Roman was mentally and emotionally checked out and just going along with his siblings. Shiv was stuck between a brother who would completely cut her out and a husband whom she could no longer control. At least with okaying the buyout, she gets a giant pile of cash and a possible foot in the door with Tom.

No matter how great Keiran was, Roman still rushed a rocket launch and killed a bunch of people. He, like Kendall, can rot in hell. Shiv, for all her faults, didn't kill anyone. All the Roy children suck.

Earlier in the episode, Shiv asked Tom about the possibility of reconciling so it's not like her choosing him came out of the blue. Tom wasn't into it until Mattson indicated that he (Lukas) and Shiv had sexual chemistry. I kind of loved that Tom put one of Connor's Who Wants Logan's Old Crap stickers on Greg's forehead. Gerri, Karolina and Ebba for the win. A great bit of acting on the part of the woman extra during the sibling fight in that conference room. You can see her with her forehead against the wall, unable to stomach watching them.

All the Roy children are awful, the least awful being Connor, and he’s only least awful because he has zero power. Kendall Chappaquidicked that waiter. He’s a coke addict who shits the bed. He made the call for Mencken because he was pissed at Shiv. He has zero concern for his children, and those are just a few of his negatives. Roman has no discernible skills, sold any shred of soul he might have had to put Mencken in the White House, sexually harassed Gerri and is mentally hanging by a thread. Shiv is inconstant and desperate for approval, selling out Kendall to get back at him for selling her out. She’s unqualified for the job and she’s terrible at office politics, not to mention her bizarre and uncaring push pull relationship with Tom. Connor though. Connor and his cow couch. You do you, Cameron. You do you.

I kind of wanted Stewy to screw Kendall over, but that’s because I’ve always liked Stewy. Totally thrilled that Logan is spinning in his grave screaming about how his children aren’t serious people.

Quoting myself because though I didn’t have Tom as CEO and Greg along for that ride, I got GoJo taking over, Roman going off on his own,Tom and Shiv driving off in a car and Kendall on the street. I’m giving myself props.

Okay…my predictions were semi right with Shiv and Tom in a love adjacent marriage, Greg still sucking up, Roman going off on his own and Kendall on the street. Well done.

If I were Rava, I’d move the kids as far the hell away from the Roys as I possibility could. Kendall sees them never, used Rava’s house as war room and brought his bedmate at the time over to drink her wine, doesn’t even call his daughter after she has a troubling experience on the street and likely couldn’t pass a hair follicle drug test. He learned parenting from Logan. On top of that, why would anyone want their kids around Uncle Roman? Let’s not forget him telling Shiv that he’d have to go rub one out if he saw her nursing. As to the eulogy, I remembered Willa’s fantastic eulogy she wrote for Connor at Mo-Lester’s funeral. “When a man dies, it is sad. All of us will die one day. In this case, it is Lester who has done so.” Speaking of Willa, she seemed to just stand around in the back looking at her phone. Classic. Shiv and the champagne, I specifically looked at her first drink and she put her lips on the class, tipped it up and let the champagne touch her mouth, no actual drink. I didn’t watch the second one that closely. Such a “Fuck You” to Tom. Harriet Walter is completely fabulous. I also loved Marcia this episode. I felt like her prior cold bitchiness was because she was pissed at the kids and trying to cut them out and then she was pissed at Logan for his treatment of her. With Logan gone, through whatever grieving process, she’s moving past that fury.

The moment Roman walked out of the building, I was preparing for him to die. I was worried about this episode because Connor’s Wedding episode made me relive a terrible loss of my own. However, this funeral didn’t give me that same emotional gut punch. So that was a relief. Kendall is trying to go full Logan, so we are back to the Kendall of the pilot. Which means Kendall is headed for a fall. Mattson is so going to screw Shiv over.

And that's exactly why I don't want him to win. So much calculation.

I remembered why I kept having such a poor reaction to Amar, and it wasn’t just remembered sweat. Not sad to seem him gone at all. I’m disappointed that Gabri is still there. I just don’t think he’s the caliber of the chef’s left. Also it felt like he was just Buddha’s sous. Happy that Tom and Ali made it through. I haven’t been intrigued or amazed by Sara’s food to date, so I’m surprised at how much I wanted her to make the final. I’d love to have her come through LCK, but I like the other competing contestant not named Amar so much more.

Shiv can have left leanings and still be acting in her own self-interest with Jimenez. I don't think she'd jump to Mencken for her own self-interest, not that she's high and mighty on her beliefs, but that she sees the long-term risk of him in office, whereas Roman just doesn't care.

Shiv worked for a Dem when the show started, clearly at odds with her family. She and Tom have a dog named Mondale. I’m sure that’s a characterization choice. Tom is more malleable, but the both originally leaned left.

Tom is fraying at the edges. I can honestly see him standing on the ledge, along with Kendall and Roman, looking down and thinking about the fall.

Of course some people don't like spicy food, but Victoire is a professional chef in a cooking competition. Every chef there is going to have to try things out of their comfort zone and out of their "likes" box. In addition, nothing about the thali they were served indicated the spice level was palate destroying. To me it felt like Victoire was exhausted by the competition and emotionally spent, more than she was unhappy eating spicy food. It had to be so much harder for her having just learned English. I was amazed by her grasp of the language. But listening to British accents, American accents, German accents, Mexican accents, and having to translate all of that in her head, while competing, would have overwhelmed me. Truly, I watch this show with closed captioning because I can't always keep up. I believe if the show was filmed in Italy, Italian being the "base" language of everyone involved, she would have done much better. I wish her well.

I’m just spitballin’ some ideas of here this goes. I think Waystar Royco ends up a worthless entity that no one wants. So Wisconsin actually ends up going for Jimenez and then Mencken sues ATN, splitting the ATN fan base? Does the board unite to remove the CE-Bros? Where are Sandy (and Sandy) and Stewy? Doesn’t Marcia get a seat on the board now with Logan dead? Ewan makes an appearance the funeral. I suspect Roman is going to screw up the eulogy completely. It’s going to be Kendall-rapping level of public humiliation.

So they were talking about what PGN (or something like that) was doing with coverage, which would be Pierce Group Network? Or something? So they did discuss other networks. And what happened with the Pierce deal anyway? I think Shiv knows she can’t “win” by aligning herself with either of her brothers. Her only option is to beat them and Mattson is her key to doing that.

So...if the election ends up going to Jimenez and ATN shenanigans are revealed, does ATN stock tank, bringing down Waystar, Mattson pull out of the deal and the Roys keep a mostly worthless company?