Iseut

When this came out, my friend got tickets to a free preview and invited me to go, so I agreed like an idiot, despite my fear of spiders. The preview was so packed we ended up having to sit in the front row. I nearly died of fear from the moment the first tarantula leaped right at the screen, but it was also a fun and memorable movie experience! Love when the audience screams along, and I thought it was actually a pretty well-done and funny movie for what it was (the parts I could see when my eyes weren't squeezed shut, at least). I'm also still very careful to check my shoes and slippers for spiders before putting them on.

This episode was awesome, and yes, definitely need to rewatch. I don't have the money or artistic skills, but I would love to make up my house like the night market for Halloween. Kind of disappointed in Nadja for giving all of the vials to Xerxes...she would have had more leverage if she'd kept some behind to keep all of the wraiths in line. But also, union strong! Go wraiths! I love how they keep finding new ways to play with Nandor's "Thees faaacking guy" catchphrase.

Agree! It's enraging! She and Jeff Hiller both deserved to be nominated and win. Grrrr.

Though it ended horribly, I was glad that Ava got her some with the hot subletter, especially after having been unceremoniously torn away from the hot cruise couple a few episodes ago. The lawsuit plotline is so weird. It's an ongoing thread but it seems to be ignored in most of Ava and Deb's scenes together. Maybe I also just don't understand the casual thing about "rich people suing each other all the time," but I just can't imagine that Ava and Deborah continue to cultivate a decent working relationship/friendship with that hanging over their head.

This show is so brilliant. With the callbacks and references, it's clear that Hader and Berg plan everything out, which makes me trust that it will end well (well, not necessarily WELL for our characters, but you know what I mean) when it eventually has to come to an end. It's hard to fathom how much longer it could go on, but again, I trust these showrunners completely. I've been thinking about Mr. Moss's repeated "DO YOU LOVE BARRY BERKMAN?" interrogation of Gene, and how it called back Barry's "Do you love me, Mr. Cousineau?" when he was threatening Gene's family. It was super creepy then and didn't make much sense to me, but now at the end we see that it's a PsyOps technique, and we also learned of Barry's terrifying PsyOps skills a couple episodes ago when he was "comforting" Sally by offering to gaslight the people who canceled her. It all starts to line up, and also makes me hopeful that Barry and Mr. Moss will have additional scenes together in the coming season where they can match wits.

I don't know...depends on the franchisee! I'd totally stay in line to get some life advice from my beloved NoHo Hank!

Barry's psy-ops monologue was so funny and scary. Bill Hader is so, so freaking good. I loved that Barry said all that batshit stuff in such a calm, comforting voice. I'm sure he was thinking, "I'm not yelling now, so this must be okay, right?" Like, he was doing the right things to a point...asking Sally for consent before comforting her, trying to help her feel better, but he's so broken that even when he's checking the boxes on how to be a "good person," still the only way he is able to be is violent and terrifying.

This episode was amazing and terrifying. I previously thought that Barry had Sally on such a pedestal that his violent tendencies would be directed anywhere else but her. She's always been the star of his dream life, even when she was oblivious to it and seemed to be with him more out of convenience than anything else. To see him turn his anger toward her, and to see her put her show at risk to try and appease him, much in the way she would have with her abusive ex, was a huge shift for both of them and really hard to watch. The performances were incredible, though. Really sad for NoHo Hank and Cristobal. I love that Cristobal saved Hank and the Chechens from the attack, but there's no way they can keep doing that forever.

Surprised that Victoria is the chaser again in the next episode when Brandon hasn't had a turn yet. Looking forward to seeing him in action too! I really enjoyed Buzzy as the chaser. He did the silly joke and trash talking thing, but seemed a little more natural and gentle with it than some of the others. I also appreciate that he explained how he knew the answers in the 1:1 round; some of them are usually like "Yeah, I just knew that." And his last 11 questions in the Final Chase were fiiiiire! I thought the contestants had a chance in the first half, but then he just smoked 'em. Already looking forward to his next episode!

I agree that he wasn't enough, but I don't think that's why he had to leave. If uselessness of judging were criteria for removal, Vanessa Hudgens wouldn't have made it halfway through her first episode.

Bill Hader in this scene is just amazing. You can see him at first terrified and then resigned and almost relieved as he realizes Loach has him dead to rights, and then when Loach reveals his real motivation, there's that little pause right before the comically shocked "...WHAT?!?" Roll credits. It's so, so, freaking good.

I really don't know where they're going with the Abe stuff. That was gross. I hope there is actual comeuppance for him. But I'm mostly concerned that his behavior is part of the usual Sherman-Palladino MO where a man becomes violently jealous and it's somehow supposed to be a sign of him being a romantic hero (Luke, Dean, and Jess in GG and Joel in S1 of this show). Blecch.

While I'm sad that this season only had 7 episodes, and so glad that it's been renewed, I'm also in awe of how much character and connection they were able to build in that short amount of time. Sam's song to Joel, and his reaction to it, was just so sweet and wonderful. Shows how much growth both characters have experienced alone and together. Intrigue! Tricia and Cooper! A previous poster mentioned how completely unapologetic Charity seems for her actions. Kinda makes me wonder if she and Rick were revenge-banging for something Tricia and Cooper had done? Tricia was obviously gutted when Sam told her about the affair, but there might be some guilt mixed in with the pain and rage there too? Hmm...

The silence after Carolyn's elimination was pretty telling, I thought. When prompted, the bakers acknowledged that they really thought she was one of the ones to beat, and couldn't believe that she got eliminated on a (not said but implied) f*ing cookie salad with f*ing sprinkles. I could be projecting, but I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing that most of the bakers genuinely dislike Molly. With the other hosts, the bakers good-naturedly roll their eyes at the twist and might not be super chatty with the hosts when they're trying to get something done, but I feel like they've liked the hosts in general. They laugh at Jesse's dad jokes, banter back and forth with Clinton and John, etc. With Molly it really does seem like they don't connect with her and are just over her antics. It's too bad because they are really talented and deserve the best experience possible once they've made the show.

I wasn't really paying attention to who had how many ribbons, but felt bad for Kim not getting any before she was sent home. And I thought it was SUPER shitty of Molly to keep harping on about it. Molly: "You're the only one without a ribbon, Kim!" Kim, "Yeah, sigh, I know." Molly: "I mean, everyone has one! Everyone but you!" She was saying it in her perky chirpy Molly voice, but that didn't make it any less rude. I didn't expect Kim to make it to the end given the level of her competition, but I was hoping she would get a ribbon before she left just so that horrible conversation wouldn't be hanging over her head. Sorry Kim.

I'm curious to know how far Romy will go in this competition. His decorating skills are absolutely amazing; Nancy was right when she said that his pie was magazine-cover worthy. So gorgeous. I feel like French pastry chefs never do as well on these shows, though; their training and preferred flavor profiles are probably just different than what we're used to. A couple weeks ago Duff criticized one of Romy's dishes for not being sweet enough, and I was wondering if it's just that French desserts use sugar differently than American. I know that Duff is trained in pastry so he probably knows that too, but after tasting so many American-trained pastry chefs' desserts, I imagine that a French one would be a bit of a jolt.

I understand why NBC feels the need to follow Mikaela Shiffrin's every move, and I'm so glad that she was able to finish the race well and can look forward to the next one now. But man, that interview with her after her race was looooong and provided very little new information. I was like, "I get it. Yay Mikaela! Can we pleeeeease go back to the actual skiing now?"

Aww, Duffy! Such a cute dog and perfect name. Kind of reminded me of Miss Piggy's dog Foo Foo (that is a compliment)! The visuals are always interesting, but I kind of wonder if some of the most realistic-looking dessert imposters are actually good. Like, the baked beans looked absolutely perfect, but would I really want to eat a cup of peanuts floating in caramel? I don't know.

The talking head with Santiago and Riya was hilarious, where he was talking about what a great partner she was and how strong, and when it was her turn, she just sort of quietly smiled politely and forced out a "he's...good." Hee. Also loved Ellora's "our team dynamic is..." So much maturity from that sweet little face! Agree that most of the cream puffs did not look very appetizing. That thick craquelin on a lot of them looked like a fungus.

I only recently discovered Amaury Guichon on Netflix's School of Chocolate and now I'm a huge fan too. He's brilliant, and also seems so nice! I love that Ellora is a fan of his too. Now I want him and Ellora to do a show together!

Yeah, I could see how over it Duff was when Ben gave him the cheesy little wink and finger gun at judging time when he said he was on Team Peanut Butter. I think Duff would crack up and love that from most of the kids, but he barely grimaced when this kid did it. Happy that he's gone, since I really do like all of the rest of the kids so far. Ellora is my favorite, so talented and cute and sweet. I also really like Joseph...he seems so natural and really doesn't look like he's putting on a show like some of the kids do. I appreciate that Valerie likes to comfort the kids who are getting upset, but it looked like the girl who messed up her cupcakes didn't really want a big long hug. She wanted to get started on a new batch! Read the room, Val.

In the process of watching this...agree with all here that it's a lovely twist on most of the mean-spirited reality competition shows. Amaury is absolutely damn delightful. For such a young insanely talented person, he could get away with being a jerk, but he's so nice! I feel like my grandma would have loved him lol and I do too.

Aww, Jurgen. Too pure. On his Insta he did a little promo for Extra Slice while snuggling his bunny, Humphrey. It was almost too much. My hearrrrrrrrrt!

As a judge, Paul should reeeeeeally leave the comedy bits (such as they are) to Noel and Matt. When he came out in that Elvis getup my eyeballs rolled so hard they popped right out of my head and into the tent where they became surprise entremet fillings.

Aww, I love that! We had my aunt and uncle over this weekend and just had some of the holiday GBBO episodes playing softly in the background while we were making dinner and chatting. My uncle, especially, came in and was like "I can't believe people just watch people make cake! That's a whole show?!?" By the end of his visit, he was like "Stop opening the oven door! What are you thinking?" and "Oh wow! That silver-haired judge gave a hug! I thought he stopped at handshakes!" Totally hooked! 😄