DearEvette

The King Shark vs. Grodd fight was the highlight of the episode. Loved the Joe/Iris subplot. Just loved seeing Joe again and it was a nice change of pace to have them solely concentrated on each other. Not sure why the writers wrote Jenna into Joe is absent subplot. There are much easier ways to explain a baby not being seen onscreen than having her schlepped o Tibet. I just roll my eyes with the whole 'you didn't get consent' line of reasoning from Cisco and Caitlin. Y'all created and meta-humanly accelerated the production of a serum for the sole purpose of forcibly injecting it into your adversary. Even going to the trouble of finding some tech to forcibly keep him still so you can inject it in him. Only Now you struggle with the ethics of it? And just in time to piss on Barry about it? Between this and the whole 'well we can only use it once so King ShayShark will have to be a shark from now on' just scream "because of plot reasons..." And finally, Barry and Iris are still technically newlyweds having been married less than a year. And yet you'd never know it considering they barely interact with each other in any intimate way that does not involve them pep talking each other about Nora. The last time we got anything that just let them interact as a loving couple was in Episode 5.

I really liked Survivor at first. It just felt so interesting and different at the time. But I have to agree that it created a type of template that other reality competition shows and competitors emulated. Richard the first winner was a basic asshole but after he won, his duplicity and manipulation was praised and offered up as something cool and inevitable. You could tell that other shows that came after actively sought that sort of ethic. And because it seemed like it was rewarded in winning and audience admiration, backstabbing behavior became the norm and became somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy in that you couldn't seem to win without lying in some way, I feel like this was something egged on and encouraged by production as well. This is one of the reasons of all the competitive reality shows, I liked The Amazing Race the best. I thought it was the one show where you had to rely more on ability, your own strategy and just plain luck over something like and alliance or lies in order to prevail.

I'd actually go lower and say five seasons is a sweet spot. And also I came across an article today that I fully agree with. Some shows should only run for one season the author name checks several series, but Big Little Lies is the main one for me. I thought it was a perfect one season show.

Yeah, this is where I am at. These writers do not have good ideas. And the ones they do have they do not implement them effectively. The show has demonstrated that from season 2 onward, the writers can not sustain a season long big bad arc. Also have any of the characters had a meaningful growth arc? Iris is probably the character that has shown the most growth but then that was not hard because she was the most undeveloped to start out with, they had nowhere to go but up there. Also they don't know how to write humor well. They try but it is like they forget and the show gets muddied in angst again really quickly. There are individual good episodes that make you realize they can write good comic book drama. I still love the "Enter Flashtime' stand alone episode from last season. it was so well executed on every level. This makes me realize if they are wedded to the season long arc model rather than an episodic model maybe they should give up on creating a big bad cuz nobody has ever been as good as Thawne/Wells. And go with a major destructive event that is not precipitated by an eeevil bad guy but something that requires all of their talents to stop along the lines of what they did in Enter Flashtime. It could even be something they caused.

I dunno. That doesn't sound like it gives the biracial person the privilege and access if they can't handle issues without calling in the white parent. That just sounds like putting the white parent in the space of white saviour. Also if you read interviews of people like Kidada Jones or Halle Berry speaking about some of the issues they had growing up biracial it doesn't bear out either. For instance, Kidada and her sister Rashida both went to the same school as kids had the same famous parents, yet Rashida's experience was easier because she looked whiter (paler skin, silky hair) than Kidada did (dark curly hair, darker skin) and who had a really hard time. In this case the presence of a white parent had very little to do with how they were treated but the skin color and phenotype did.

I agree with this a lot. Like a lot of people for years I'd always taken the Oscars/Emmys at face value i.e. that they really did try to reward excellence. But as I've gotten older I see how mediocre so may of the winners are or in the case of Emmys seeing actors and shows that continue to get awards year after year after they've peaked and already gone downhill while some really great lesser known shows/actors never even get noticed, I and I realize it is mostly about money, influence and power and quality might be a lucky accident. I don't typically watch live, preferring to get the highlights. I did watch the Oscars this year because I was rooting hard for Regina King and Ruth Carter. And I do admit, I did love watching the major fuck up of the La La Land/Moonlight debacle unfold in real time. I hate these types of Villains. I call them the 'Energizer bunny' villain. One of the main reasons I can't bring myself to watch Killing Eve. My one exception is Doug Judy, the Pontiac Bandit on Brooklyn 99. It wouldn't feel like a season of B99 without a Doug Judy episode or a twisty Halloween episode.

Ed Mcbain. I loved his early 87th precinct novels. They were a great blend of police procedure and soap opera. They had great long running characters and character arcs and cases. But then as time went on it felt like his own personal politics started to infiltrate the books. Long screeds against PC culture began to appear. He started to use his minority characters as mouthpieces to argue against ideas that typically minority people are solidly for. And the final straw was that he made one of his most racist, bigoted, awful creatures a main character and gave him a black informant that spoke in rap. Rap! all the time. Ugh. Talk about souring a legacy. I can't even go back and remember the early books fondly anymore because of how the series devolved.

I enjoyed them the most this ep. And I just love Talia.

Billy's outfit was apparently an homage to the late legendary father of the house of Xtravaganza, Hector Xtravaganza. Between this and Shangela walking the red carpet at the Oscars in full drag as part of the cast of a major motion picture, I can't help but think of how proud the Paris is Burning ball walkers would have been.

My probably not popular opinion is that I think Oscar gets best picture wrong more often than it has gotten it right. Quite a few best picture winners don't feel like you are watching great cinema and especially not the greatest of the year. I think Green Book's win for writing was probably a worse travesty than its win for best picture. So Banal. Hell Black Panther had better writing that GB. It kinda sucks that is was the last winner of the night because it leaves a sour taste after having some really deserving wins early on: Regina, Ruth, Rami, Spike, Hannah Beachler, Cuaron, and Olivia Coleman etc. Even Mahershala deserved his win since I do think the acting was about the only thing the movie did well.

I don’t miss having a host at all. They even managed to put in some funny bits with Melissa McCarthy/Bryan Tyree Henry snd Keegan Michael Key.

It was a great speech though. Not just a litany of names. I felt bad for her co-winner the set designer guy, tho.

YES!!! Ruth Carter and Regina King were the two I wanted to win so bad. I can go to bed now. My day is done...

Seriously. Paris is Burning?!?! Speaking of.... Billy Porter's outfit is supposed to be an homage to Hector Xtravaganza who wore something very like it first.

If that is the same person to whom Candice responded with the very pithy 'I was there ashy.' (which cracked me the hell up!!) then it makes sense. The person had about 12 followers and their entire account was nothing but claiming how much Grant hated Candace. That is literally ALL they posted, the had not other twitter life or interest. So the person wasn't well adjusted in the first place.

I loved this scene. Also, how did Jake trill his "r's" on a sentence that does not contain the letter R?

In a change of pace from anonymous voters giving their picks, I like this article on designers discussing the graphic design aspects of the movie posters from among the best movie nominees -- what works and what doesn't work. From a visual standpoint I immediately agree with their two top consensus picks. I love their critical comments, the conversation sounds like it was fun.

I gave up on this series around book 8. I loved the first four -- LOVED THEM. But as the series went on, it felt like she had made up her overall myth arc on the fly to keep the series going. So the back story and the ongoing high stakes plot felt muddled and lacked focus and momentum. And I could never get really invested in the Charley/Reyes relationship.

I hope not. I hope he is just what he's been presented so far: Nolan's rich BFF who is basically decent. Of the the three storylines between each of the rookies dealing with issues extant to freebies/money, I liked West's the best. Not only did it end on a great note, but it built on the personality and backstory they gave him really nicely. I'd always thought he was the least developed of the three, but in the past few eps they've given him a lot more depth. I think they are doing a good job with showing how someone who thinks they know it all because they observed it all their lives from the outside, but they really don't because they haven't experienced it from the inside. Not only that but his continuous breakdown over the creme brulee was funny. Overall I liked this episode quite a bit. Thank goodness it is tv so the bad guys have to monologue a bit and hesitate before pulling a trigger cuz that is the only thing that saved Lucy.

I really enjoy this show. It hits a sweet spot for me. I like the work-a-day approach it takes in regards policing. Also I like the lighter tone. I had to laugh at how good Bradford's wife looks. I mean she's been a hard core heroine addict for how long? And yet, a few weeks in rehab and she looks fresh as a daisy. They didn't even make the effort to even give her bad skin. LOL. The actress who played Nolan's stalker has been on several shows I've seen before and I never really liked any of her characters. Her streak with me remains intact. Liked the smallish glimpse we got of Talia's personal life. Oooh messy! I loved her showing up at Nolan's sad little party. Her outfit was bangin' Grey's jerk meter was set to high. I did like how his wife stated her desire for him to retire and instead of making a big pissy issue out of it when he said he didn't want to she conceded only to reserve the right to bring it u again in the future. It was a nice bit of married people byplay that indicates a pretty healthy marriage. I also love their February the 13th rule, Makes a lot of sense really.

Ned Stark - from Game of Thrones. I mean, the dude was minding his business up in the North. Hanging happily with his family. Frolicking int he snow with dire wolves. Trying to warn people about Winter. Completely out of the Thug Life. And then that ass Robert comes by and convinces him to be his Hand. Poor Ned I was so sad about him. And his family. Honestly, I think the entire Stark family got a raw deal. Parents dead, they are all separated. Sansa having to deal with the horror that is Joffrey, Bran thrown off a tower by Jaime etc. Bruli of the Ketohara - from Daughter of the Empire by Janny Wurts - Set in a world where the noble class practices a form of one-upmanship called the Game of Houses where murder is only bad if you are caught. And whole family histories can be obliterated by a cunning enemy. Mara (the main character) is really great. I loved her. I did. She is desperate to keep her house from obliteration by an enemy so she makes some really gangsta moves. But what she did to Bruli was uncalled for. All he wanted to do was court her and she led him on and humiliated him just to neutralize a bigger threat. She did him dirty. Paul Tankersley - from Field of Dishonor (Honor Harrington series) by David Weber. He was Honor's love interest that I feel got sacrificed to make way for a "more important" love interest. I felt really bad for him.

The Hunt': Jordan Peele's '70s-Set Nazi-Hunting Drama Series To Star Jerrika Hinton And Tiffany Boone The series is set to stream on Amazon and centers around a diverse band of " Nazi Hunters living in 1977 New York City. The Hunters, as they’re known, have discovered that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the US." In addition to Hinton (who is credited as a lead) is also stars Al Pacino and Logan Lerman as leads. Tiff Boone is credited as a co-star along with other regulars Saul Rubinek, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Lena Olin, Greg Austin and Dylan Baker. Sounds interesting and the cast looks great.

I never read it but my husband did. I remember listening to him grouse all the way through it grumbling about how derivative it was and he thought the writing pedestrian and he marvelled that the book was so popular. When he read the New Yorker article he quipped that the article was better written and more interesting than the book.

Yeah, this is why I say this all comes down to Helbing. The sensibility & tone of the show comes from the showrunner. We have seen that there have been romantic scenes for WA, but they deliberately get cut, so we know there are writers who can write the romantic scenes. This feels to me like something that comes from top down because romance is simply not his aesthetic. I characterize him as bro-centric based on the tenor of his previous projects, not just because he is a guy. Meanwhile the showrunner of Arrow's (previous) background was in Desperate Housewives and Mara Brock Akil has a strong sense of showcasing black female desirability & black love with shows like Girlfriends and The Game. Honestly, I think this is also why they can't seem to stick the landing when it comes to a romance for Caitlin. And even the Cisco/Gypsy romance was pretty lackluster and perfunctory. I also think that showing a woman as sexy/desirable (which they have done with Iris on occasion) is very different that showing a couple as romantic. The former is something for the male gaze the latter is something for the female gaze. I don't think anyone is advocating that the Flash suddenly becomes a full fledged romantic show, but if you are going to have a married couple at the center whose love for each other drives some of the plot (hello Season 3!!) then give their love the visual weight it deserves so the story payoff really matters.

Tood Helbing's background is very bro-centric. He comes from shows like Entourage and Spartacus. So I always get the feeling that while they include the relationship of Barry & Iris because it is comics cannon, that they don't necessarily want to write the romance part of. To me this is more symptomatic of the Flash than any of the other Berlanti-verse shows, but then the other Berlanti-verse shows either have female or co-female showrunners. I mean, there have been scenes of Barry/Iris being overtly romantic, the breakfast scene for one. Also there was a dance scene. These were both cut. This leads me to believe there is actual discussion and desire in the writer's room to show the more romantic side of WA, but there is a deliberate decision not to, possibly coming from Helbing. It isn't an entire Berlanti-verse thing since Arrow, Black Lightning and Legends have shown some real sexy times amongst their romantic pairings. I mean there was a scene of Sara showing up in Ava's office in a barely there black teddy! But then again, those shows also boast female showrunners or co-showrunners. Also after season 1, The Flash has always struck me as a show that the writing prioritizes the plot over the characters. And it shows in the relationship development nit just in WA but across all the relationships. It is a shame. Because the cast is charismatic and really could pull off some great character stuff. Season 1 showed us that.