DearEvette

Pacing -- too much of nothing happening and the feeling that no time is passing even over the course of several seasons. They are treading in syrup. Plotting -- Instead of concentrating on telling an actual story with a beginning, middle, end and set up anticipation each season for the next season, they are too enamored of trying to create 'OMG' moments. They are attempting to hit all the 'important' milestones in the comic books without the proper connective tissue. There is no excitement, no anticipation just ok we hit that mark, on to the next one. Character consistency -- most anyone who follows a narrative need a character to either identify with or to root for. The hero's journey is a classic narrative for a reason. In increasing efforts to create those 'OMG' moments they are relying on shocking kills or introducing characters that are more a collection of personality tics than actual personality. The problem is the shocking kills end up not really mattering because they don't allow the story to capitalize on them in meaningful ways. They are just used for shock value. And the new characters are just too flat and ridiculous to actually connect with. In the meantime the long time characters have become lobotomized or made to do out of character things just to further plot and get to the 'OMG' moments. Not understanding your audience -- The extreme close ups. The stand alone episodes that follow one character. The dialogue that attempts to be meaningful and deep. All of this just feels like they are desperately attempting to infuse art house sensibilities into a show that really should just embrace its Saturday matinee adventure pedigree. People aren't trying to watch a Wim Wenders film. This is a comic book. Stay in your lane and just deliver the thrills.

There is a fucked up sort of genius in this show that one week we get Bibby and the next we get Teddy. So Macabre. I can appreciate DG thinking outside the box and doing something so avant garde. I really dig it. I just think this episode wasn't as clever as I think he thinks it was supposed to be. It just felt, I dunno, self aware. But Lakeith Stansfield is definitely the person to carry this episode. He was stellar. All things considered, though, I still prefer Bibby.

Agreed. If he had done it after she admitted to it. But he did it before. At that point, he only had his suspicions with no actual proof. And up until she admitted it, even we in the audience are unsure. Does Garrett have a bad palate? Is she just a lousy brewer. But he was costing her sales based on up to that point just on his supposition which is why I call it a dick move. Until he knew definitively he was just being a jerk because what is it to him if some people were buying her beer? In the end the whole storyline was ultimately packaged as the metaphorical kid pulling on the pigtails of the girl he likes -- which still makes it rather bad.

The cold open was funny as was the break room chat about Amy's dating preferences. Also, Dina, Cheyenne and MAteo's mad-libs for Amy. "Amy is the SAD one' LOL. I found Glen pressuring of the staff and Garrett's interaction with the craft brew lady off putting. It is one thing to suspect or even discuss with Jonah but to announce it other people it a dick move. What does it matter to him if she's re-branding. I found her sales patter kinda funny, though -- it was sooo pretentious and fake. It does sound like someone has an axe to grind against craft brews. Also Amy's storyline didn't make sense. The beverage guy already knew and was accepting that she was Latina. She didn't have to prove anything to him. It was the coworkers who don't connect her with the Latina identity.

Ha! Yes. My own reaction, was 'Well, ok" as well. And I loved the expression on their faces. So far I like everyone -- with possibly the exception of Ben's parents who seem like they come out of the "WASPy restrained rich people with murky motives" central casting. And Yeah, Calvin is a piece of work, but Xander is fab and tempers him a bit. But I am enjoying their side plot following up on Chris. I also wish they'll break Helen out of her role as Mermaid Whisperer and person who drops ominous hints. I want to know more about her background. We are getting the idea that there is some friction between her and Ben's family. The Admiral is standard fare government villain. I had to roll my eyes at his "Keep this project on track and keep her alive.!" Dude, he just told you that she was probably dying with the aggressive pace of the project. I hate people like that who make impossible demands . I am liking the main guy who is overseeing Sister Mermaid -- I think his name is Aldon?. Has he been mind-wooed by her or is his onset of conscience his own doing? Hopefully he'll go rogue -- or more rogue than he went in this episode. At any rate, I really want Sister Mermaid out of the tank! I cant imagine it is a very stimulating acting challenge for the actress but I do appreciate they are making them so super intelligent. Also, I just want to see Ryn interact with her own kind. I love the little throwaway that there are many of them. Maybe we'll see some other sisters, brothers and cousins. I think Ben, Maddie and Ryn make a very strong central group. I agree the writing for them is really good and doesn't seem cliche. I would hate for it to devolve into a romantic melodrama. I like the complexity they've introduced into that relationship. Let's just say I am not opposed to some intra-species threesome. Really enjoying this so far.

I enjoyed Jesus Christ Superstar so much! The casting, the staging, the live audience... it really moved. But yeah, Brandon Victor Davis is a snack. He was so riveting to watch as Judas.

Yeah, I mean, I could never co-sign on Wes' behavior as simple self defense when is came to Sam. Maybe it was the way Alfie Enoch portrayed Wes as being rather cold and remorseless about Sam in the aftermath that made it not feel like a clear case of self defense. Connor and Michaela were freaking out and wanting to call the ambulance and the police. But Wes shot that down and went straight to the cover up disposal of the body. I mean there were times when Alfie would get this blank look on his face and make Wes seem like a borderline sociopath. Honestly, I couldn't stand him because of his obsession with Rebecca who just did not seem worth it, but after Sam's death between him and Laurel, they pretty much emotionally blackmailed Connor and Michaela into going along and then it became something that was held over their heads from that point on.

Living amongst PhDs and two medical doctors, I have to say I have heard this argument in varying shades of heat, passion, volume, humor, and vitriol for years. So hearing Holt's version of it had me cracking up. I had to make my husband watch he's one of the PhDs and he was nodding in solidarity. LOL. I would die. Of happiness. Back in the day on the old usenet boards we'd talk Homicide:LOTS the tv critic Alan Sepinwall used to run a discussion board on H:LOTS when he was a college student. Braugher (Frank Pembleton) and Secor's (Tim Bayliss) partner chemistry was fantastic they were like one, so we'd call them 'Frankentim.' Ah, good times.

Exactly. This episode was specifically written as an homage to Three Men and Adena. When I first heard the premise of this episode, my mind immediately went there because of Andre Braugher and the composition of just three men in the box the whole episode. When they confirmed that it was the case, I was even more stoked. This more than lived up to it. They did a great job of keeping it 99 but showing the homage. I hate to say it because I love when Jake shows what a great detective he is and I love when the show really show-cases his relationship with Holt, but SKB was doing such a fantastic job that I kinda wanted him to get away with it. Kinda.

Not for comedy or supporting, but he was nominated for guest actor for This Is Us last year and it was well deserved. I didn't know he could actually sing. Actually he didn't know he could sing. LOL. Here is a nice article about it. http://www.tvguide.com/news/brian-tyree-henry-this-is-us-memphis-song-best-performance/

I have nothing else to add to what everyone else has already said. Bibby was awesome. Funny, funny episode. I need to re=watch because, just like Al, I felt like I was dragged along for the ride. Bibby was a force of nature -- so full of bullshit but still rather likable. Yes. This rarely ever works. But the actor, the situation, the dialogue --- everything conspired to allow us to enjoy a never-before-seen character front and center and carrying and entire episode. finally, I adore the the invisible car made a re-appearance even if it was only Bibby being wowed by it.

Ooh, that's a good one. I didn't even think of that one. I did think of Checkov's wheelchair, cynically believing it has some significance. But then I thought .. benefit of the doubt... maybe they are just trying to be inclusive repping a character with a disability without any ulterior plot motive?

Yes! Double Yes! I especially liked that when she reverted back to her native form she did not care that guy in water was nice guy who helped her -- he was lower on the food chain and he was prey. I hope that continues. And I immediately headwanked that Mermaid Sestra was Maddie's "missing" mom. I enjoyed it and like that it is rather dark. Not fluffy at all. I also love the sense of place for the setting. The casting is excellent -- firstly for the diversity. Yay! Maddie, Captured mermaid, Xander, and the captain of the fishing boat are all of African descent. Maddie's dad is Native American. And Calvin and the guy who is entranced by captured mermaid are Asian. Also main actress looks th part so well. She has such distinct features, she really looks like she is otherworldly. Same thing with Maddie if she really is a hybrid. There is just something about her features as well.

I can see this point, but the danger here is that if you underwhelm this early you might not even be here later on to pull out the full stop. And even if you are saving your best drag for later, I would hope that there was something between "best" and bejeweled swimsuit/bejeweled catsuit in your luggage. Last week I was tsking my teeth at Vixen, thinking she was playing the villain card a little too early. But I found her a little more fascinating this week. I can't remember the last time the personality of a person out of drag felt like such sharp contrast with their in drag personality. Out of drag, Vixen came off as whiny, petulant and very young. In drag she feels sharper, more abrasive, a bit salty and more mature. I don't think she deserved the win just because she was the captain. Because she didn't really do much. But I guess if the expectation is she would have been on the chopping block for the very same reason if her team lost, I guess the win is expected then. I liked her quite a bit with her no-nonsense pep talk with Kalorie. She came off as supportive but pragmatic. The only reason I can tell Kameron Michaels apart from anyone else is because of the tats. Otherwise she is getting lost. I could easily confuse her with Dusty in drag if Dusty's look wasn't so distinctive this time around.

A good episode and the pharmarusical was clever and fun. I am glad they weighed the musical performance heavier than the runway, because if those were supposed to be best runway looks, they were really disappointing. I did like Dusty's and surprisingly, Aquaria's. I haven't been too impressed with Aquaria but her look was striking as hell. The bottom two were correct. Eureka did not know the words to the musical. The judges critique was spot on. And ooof that LSFYL -- For such an awesome song, that lip sync felt rather lackluster. Best of My Love was wasted on those two. Somebody like Trinity K Bonet would have killed that lip sync. So far is this the cryingest group of drag queens? I mean it is only episode two and we've already had tears from like 5 of them on the runway. Pace yourselves ladies! Halsey is gorgeous! I always get surprised how stunning she is whenever I see her. Finally, I love how they were dragging Monet on her Sponge outfit from last week on Untucked. Too funny.

Heh. I figured everyone knows she's got a major role in BP and IW, so it felt, I dunno, kinda unnecessary to post too much about it. BP was everything! I could talk about it for ever.

Honestly, I like just having Luka and Aaron as boy members of their friend tribe. There doesn't have to be a romance between any of them. I did not like this episode very much, It devolved back into Zoey dating shenanigans which to me is the weakest part of the series. Like I have said elsewhere, there is so much more story to mine about college life without it always being about Zoey's dating. I loved the episodes with the twins and their dating/colorism issues and the safe space debates. Even Vivek's drug dealing. And I miss not seeing more of some of the Nomi's LGBTQ experiences. There was this great episode of Dear White People where a group of them just did nothing all day except drift around campus -- they went to a tailgate party, they mooched food off a sparsely attended student club, they just hung around and ended the night at a big campus party. We got a real sense of all the different groups on campus. Or there was this great episode of A Different World that was all about everybody cramming for finals. It was so real because they got it exactly right -- people studying all night and sharing notes, they had dining halls open 24 hours for coffee and free donuts and snacks. Then they'd roll out of bed with bad hair and sweats to make it to an 8:00 am final. It was one of my favorite episodes of the first season. They can do an episode of Parent's weekend so we could see everyobody's parents. Or have them go on a road trip. Dip a toe into Greek life. Introduce some more faculty who are actually competent. Let us see them stressing about grades. Introduce a rival posse. As much as I am liking seeing all Zoey's dope outfits, it really isn't living up to the potential of the first few episodes.

I know of soooo many people who start this series and are feeling a little iffy after the first book wondering what all the fuss is about. The first book of this series is the weakest. Don't let it deter you from continuing. This is one of the best UF series out there and the books get better as they go on. The plotting is superb over the life of the series. IMO, Book three (Magic Strikes) is when the series hits its stride and never looks back. Like @GaT mentions the last book is coming out this year. On the one hand, that makes me sad because I love Kate Daniels and all the characters. But otoh, it just makes me respect the writing team of Ilona Andrews more because they understand that there is no need to drag out what has so been a tightly written over 9 books so far. One thing I hate is a series that, no matter how much I have been enjoying it, drags on endlessly for no real reason. I have this on audio and am waiting for a when I get out of my "fluffy book" reading mode to dive into this. I have heard so many wonderful things about it.

Yeah, there is a scene between Jessica and Glassman early in the season where they were sitting at the sidelines of a track and they talked cryptically about the daughter on the 13th anniversary of her death. Jessica and his daughter were best friends, both on the track team. At one point Jessica says she was practically living at their house back then. They both talk regretfully about the daughter about "giving her space". Glassman talks a lot of maybes "maybe if I had been on her more." So that made me think she did something to herself. But then.. I think there is more mystery there even with Jessica herself because she says "maybe if I hadn't..." then Glassman jumps in and says "you were both teenagers and you were both idiots. You got lucky and she didn't." So maybe then I thought drugs? An OD maybe where the girls dabbled and Jessica got straight but the daughter stayed hooked? Whatever the case, it sounds like the daughter gave up either through a straight suicide or something else.

I get what they were trying to accomplish with the main case but the "ooh Shaun messed up" and all the discussions around it felt overly dramatic for some reason. It isn't like we've not seen doctors make mistakes that put the patient in jeopardy only for them to discover it later and correct it. It just felt like a plot point for no other reason than to clear the way for Andrews to take over the presidency of the hospital because Shaun made the mistake. The only person on the team who really needed to care that it was Shaun who made the mistake was Resnick, for obvious reasons. Everyone being so concerned about the outcome of an M&M review at that point seemed precipitous and a little out of character. It would have had more dramatic impact and made more sense if the fact of it being Shaun who almost caused a patient to die because of a mistake, is something that Andrews on his own decided to was important enough to use as the stick to remove Glassman from the presidency, independent of what Melendez and the team did to treat the patient. Oh well, it is a moot point. I still like Andrews even they want us to probably think he's going back to villain mode. They've done enough over the course of the season to give him layers and to make him a lot more sympathetic than he was at the start of the season. I think it was pretty clear that he has had a change of heart over Shaun but was still gunning for Glassman. Not that it matters, Glassman's brain cancer treatment would almost certainly require him to step down for a time from his responsibilities anyway. So it is a bit of a hollow victory for Andrews. Resnick has not grown at all. If anything she is showing her colors in front of Melendez now which is an oddly bad move for someone who is so calculating and manipulative. I just can't stand her. And her "he should not be working here" is just so tone deaf. Not just because it exposes her prejudice against Shaun because of his disability. But because she supposedly fights against the same sort of thing because of her "privileged" identity and the idea that she is not deserving of being there because of her own merits. Awful, awful character. Overall, a strong season and an enjoyable show that actually made the character evolve and grow over the course of the season.

This is how I feel about Breaking Bad. The way the story unfolds and the evolution of the Walter White character is fantastic. I love seeing where foundations laid ine season one gets paid off brilliantly in the final season. Even the episode titles are clever little easter eggs.

That's just it... he was fantastic on Community. He just put it all out there. Troy was my favorite character on the show. Just his crying scenes alone are comedy gold. DG he definitely has the range. So I think it is a conscious decision to make Earn this way.

Honestly, I think it has to do more with phenotype than anything else. That is why passing was such a big deal. If you looked white, you could be white regardless of what your actual genetic makeup is. People can't get past people needing to look a certain way to be put in a certain racial box. WRT to Diaz, CK and Bledel -- putting aside how much or how little they themselves may identify with their Latinx roots -- again it is all about phenotype They don't fit the ideal Latino/a "look" i.e. J.Lo, Gina Rodriguez or Eva Longoria so their whiteness trumps. This is also true with Afro-Latinas as well. Their Afro-ness supercedes their Latiness. There is actually a lot of current discussion about this most recently with Amara La Negra who talks about her struggles because, again, people consider Latinas to look white but not too white. Added to that, Latino/as have to sound a certain way as well. DIaz, CK and Bledel don't have an audible accent, not even a vague one. It further distances them away from what the ideal Latino/a is supposed to be. In regards casting of actresses like Amandla or Zendaya, I think some of the objection is part of the larger issue with people have in H'wood with colorism, not that those actresses should necessarily not have been cast in those particular parts. With Laura Harrier, the objection is without merit because her being biracial in Spiderman was a specific plot point.

My husband has always been a big fan of Zazie Beetz and Van. He is of German descent so this episode just upped his love for her as he had no clue about her background. I was happy to see Van because I just enjoy her character on this show and I loved the vibe of this episode. I enjoy Van and her real talk with her girlfriends. Her racially conversation with the 'black girl that chose white' in this one reminds me a little of the class based conversation she had with her Instagram-loving friend. I swear, can Earn get any more sour? Look, I was kinda feeling him because that first tennis ball game whatever they were playing felt incomprehensible to me. And yeah a German folk fest just isn't my comfort zone. But he had this "i am so over this' look on his face the whole time and was just so ... pissy. Van had a point, just be with her and do stuff with her because it is important to her. I can't stand hanging out and cheering on runners in a 20k race at the butt rack of dawn on a Saturday morning, but I'll drag ass and pass out water because it is important to my husband. Speaking of -- Earn he is quick to throw the money he earning from Paper Boi in Van's face, but I wonder how much he is out there really hustling on Paper Boi's behalf. How much of what PB is getting is because of Earn's work on his behalf and how much is he earning just because he is PB? I am glad they are broken up but I hope this means we will still see Van.

- Not sure of the names, but for real the queen who did the queen of hearts should been in the top three. Would have traded out Ankh/caution tape queen in a heartbeat. - Wasn't wowed by either of the lip syncs but the Kardashian knock off really worked for it and sold it. However she's being rather bitter in Untucked, so not as impressed with her as I was - The queen with the tattoos is gorgeous as a woman and super duper hotness as a man. Rowr! - That one queen is a dead ringer for Bob the Drag Queen, had to do a double take Looks like a strong season... fingers crossed. Ok.my husband's got jokes. He called the Bob the drag queen look alike, SpongeBob. I die.