DearEvette

He may not be insurable now, but a strategic fade away for 6 mos to a year. A stint in rehab. An apology tour. He'll get a part in something indie which will lead to a bigger part. An voila he's back. If he manages to luck into something really big and manages to behave himself, this will be just considered a blip in his career. See: Robert Downey Jr. Big names were still lining to up work for him even though he was completely unreliable. It wasn't until he was deemed uninsurable that he began to lose parts in A-list projects. After a long stint in rehab, a confessional on Oprah, and finally Mel Gibson( !!) paying his insurance bond himself, he was back on his comeback tour. And look at him now.

I agree. I admit in my first viewing of it, I characterized it as a bad season. But upon repeat viewings, I put it down to being a bit of a shock to the system because of the abrupt tonal shift going from all things Avon and Stringer in S1 to the waterfront and the Sabotkas in S2. It isn't til we get to S3 and realize that each season has a different focus, circles that ripple out and examine all the different 'broken' systems. Honestly if I had to rank the seasons, S5 would come in as my least favorite of the 5 seasons of the show. S1 and S4 run neck and neck as my favorites with S2 and S3 coming next.

They have done so much better by Troy this season than last season. He is so messy! I love it. I especially love the scenes with him and Reggie and how they are two peas in a IDGAF pod. Also, shallowly, I have to admit Mr. Pastiche is an actual snack this season. The man bun is working for him. And they have low-key made him feel more 'real' as less like a character type.

This was the weakest ep in all of season 1. The rest of the season gets so much better. Believe me, the race relations, the social commentary, the smart look at college life all of it gets much better. Troy in the first season is really rudderless and his POVs reflect that. In one of my comments somewhere on the threads about him I call him a cypher. And to some extent he is. But his character is one that shows the most growth, imo. By the time the S1 ends and we get into S2 we'll see they've done a good job of making Troy more complex in iterative steps.

From the firing, to being dropped by her talent agency and now all the other tv providers/channels removing the original recipe show from syndication, other actors really coming down hard in condemnation in language that isn't diplomatic -- all of this is happening with such a decisive quickness that I am frankly surprised. We haven't seen this type of wholesale industry response to a celebrity acting out since, well, Kevin Spacey. Makes you wonder is Disney/ABC flexing muscles behind the scenes? Or were people wanting to distance themselves from Roseanne as she's become incrasinly unhinged on twitter well before this didn't feel empowered to do so until ABC cancelled her in such a definitive way?

I am betting it won't be too long before we get an announcement she's leaving too.

Leverage ran for five years. Crawford was a guest actor in two episodes. How he behaved on that show may have no correlation to how he behaved on the a show where he was not only the lead actor but also the director in charge for the episode that seems to have precipitated everything. People can act nice as a guest in someone else's home and be a big asshole in their own. I also don't think people not speaking up is some sort of vindication for him. Even in the age of #MeToo, Hollywood is still a company town and people might still be afraid of not getting work if they are seen to speak out about Hollywood talent. Also because of the way Hollywood seems very forgiving of enfant terrible white guys (ironically Mel Gibson comes to mind) it is not impossible to believe that Crawford may get work again in a high profile show where some of these people may need to work on again. I mean, look at the clusterfuck that was the Arrested Development interview last week. Jeffrey Tambor was fired from Transparent amidst damning allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct. He was still hired back by Netflix to work on the newest season of Arrested Development. And we find out that he was very abusive to Jessica Walter on set in an earlier season and yet her male co-stars fell all over themselves to defend Tambor. And this just happened last week. We would have never known about that without that interview because up until that moment Walter had remained silent and the male co-stars were willing to look the other way.

This is my biggest takeaway with Caitlin since about season 2. Their big ideas for Caitlin has been 1) to make her Doctor of Everything 2) shuffle her into a chemistry-less romance with the new guy of the season (I was rather surprised they didn't go there this season with Ralph) 3) deploy her Killer frost persona in the most baffling, contradictory, least logical way possible 4) make her selfish and betray the team. I agree they did retcon her, but that has nothing to do with Iris. To imply that her KF abilities are not a because of the particle accelerator is an yet another iteration of they have no idea what they are doing when writing her KF persona. KF was potentially a great plot element to propel Caitlin forward in her role and they've completely botched it.

That is definitely related to the phenomenon when the police officer/detective discovers quite by accident on the basis of some very small clue who the murderer is, meanwhile at that exact moment the murderer is with the detective's partner/spouse about to kill them. Despite the fact that the murderer could have chosen to kill the partner/spouse at any time, they somehow never do until coincidentally (and without their actual knowledge) the detective has figured out who they are. Where of course the partner/spouse's cell phone battery has conveniently died and thus can't be warned of the murderer's identity as the detective frantically tries to call them.

Not as numerous on Network but you can find some around: Insecure (HBO) Queen Sugar (OWN) Growinsh (FreeForm) Dear White People (Netflix) Chewing Gum (not AA but Afro-Brit -- Netflix) Free Reign (Netflix) Atlanta (FX) Power (Starz) The CHi (Showtime) The Quad (BET) She's Gotta Have It (Netflix) shows with major AA characters/character arcs: This is Us (NBC) The Good Fight (CBS All Access) Claws (TNT)

Yes. I liked that it was staged like a one act two-character play almost. Lots of intense dialogue and emotion with both Sam and Gabe hitting some salient points. Not only that, but the chemistry between them was off the charts. You could totally tell they were still pining for each other and this interview was the way to get back in each other's orbit without admitting they wanted to be. Sam is just hard headed and Gabe is now trying to backtrack. I thought it was very strong acting by both actors, kudos to them. Hate Gabe's look though. I like the scruff and the hair.

@GHScorpiosRule Now you have me curious about why? Do you just dislike reboots or are a big C&L fan or just this concept in particular? I am not a fan of the recent wave of reboots myself. Although I am bummed they passed on Get Christy Love but the original was so long ago that it almost doesn't even qualify as a reboot.

My understanding is that the director on the set, even for just one episode, is the boss. It is his/her shoot. He is answerable to the EPs and the showrunner when it comes to issues of the script or interpreting a scene etc., but for that set, the actors are answerable to him. Also how much authority he has overall depends on how much the showrunner accedes. It seems like the showrunner isn't very hands on himself, so Crawford probably was given broad range authority over the shoot. I checked IMDB and this episode of Lethal Weapon is his highest profile directing gig. He only has 4 other directing credits,the most recent in 2010, and they look like they were shot on his own home video camera. I'll wager that the guy simply didn't know how to control a set or a shoot of that complexity. Beyond the directing, though,if he's punching folks out that is beyond the pale. No matter you think about Wayans' complaints, violence is never acceptable in the workplace. Why would anyone want to work with someone who is punching folks out? All the attention on Wayans seems like a deflection on the real issue which is the fact that Crawford sounds like he had some issues that affected not just Wayans but the entire production.

Fox Finally speaks. From a fan pov, I am bummed that Clayne is gone because I did think he and Wayans had god partner chemistry. But then again, I don't have to work with the guy. I'll still give the show another try. In everything it will all depend on how entertained I am by the show. He's not a deal breaker for me and I hate to reward bad behavior. Whether I stick with the show will completely depend on what is on screen.

First of all, yay Brooke. Just like Kelsey in CoCo's pov episode that gave us some insight on her, this one worked less as another Lionel episode than a nice way to introduce us to Brooke. Yet another mew character that breaks out as very interesting. Second of all, Sorbet Lives!!! And how apropos that Al has fallen under her spell. Third of all, I knew Silvio was a bitchass bitch. But this was even more assery than even i had given him credit for. But it does seem to be inline with some of this seasons larger themes about group, societies and belonging. Another reminder that even a marginalized POC like Silvio who may face some of the same discrimination, they also can still view blacks as other -- or more other other than themselves. I hate Silvio.

A Joelle episode! Yay! And girlfriend came through. For a brief moment I was so happy for her (but still low key pulling for Reggie). And then came the moment I knew. AS I was watching I started sayonh "OMG he's Hotep, he's a Hotep." groans. My poor husband (who is a total Gabe with a little more street cred, but not enough to know what a Hotep is) was completely puzzled. Had to school him real quick. Sighs. But maybe this is a turning point for my boy Reg. Hafta say, i am not loving the parody show within a show this year as much as I loved last year's Defamation.

Coco is still the wheeler dealer. I always like that she is often the smartest girl in the room. But honestly, this didn't give any new information about Coco. Instead we got a lot of new info about Kelsey and I am here for it. One thing that is nice about the 'enforced' room-mating of students in A-P because of the relocation of the white students, is how the show is enforcing proximity of the main 'stars' with some of the more supporting characters. Finding out out that Kelsey is Trini and a Lesbian with a sharp POV is everything. Not only that but she is such a strong, sensible support system for CoCo really filled her in a lot as a character. She isn't just a clueless Bougie girl with her support dog. Kelsey was the real revelation here. I hated and loved the fakeout in the end. I like how it allowed CoCo to imagine the possibilities up what she was potentially giving up. It gave her time to agonize over her decision, but in the end she needed to decide what was best for her. My husband actually thought it was a true flash-forward, but I knew it was a fake-out. Given what we had learned about CoCo and her ambitions & aspirations, no way was she going to go home to her family and have baby. She's too much of a striver.

I watched this episode with second hand embarrassment for everyone especially Tom Cavanaugh and Carlos Valdes for being stuck in that idiotic Harry subplot. WT even Fuck is that? Also I skipped the last couple episodes, but the Thinker's big plan is ... make everyone dumb? Really show? That is what you squandered all the personality and chemistry of The Devoes on so they devolved in this Wile E. Coyote of a plot? In addition to making Harrison and Cisco look like fools, they're making Caitlin into this selfish creature. They are in the midst of this DeVoe crisis and her attitude is analogous to treating KF like she has been kidnapped or Amunet is a walking amber alert. Priorities, girl. Iris was the only one who was acting like she had any sense this episode. This season has become so disappointing ater such a strong start. These writers really can't plot for shit. And they can't handle a 22-24 episode season.

From what I can see public perception of Clayne Crawford as Riggs is very positive. So no, not coming from the public since the public had no knowledge of the behind the scenes turmoil until announcement of troubles on the set and rumors of firing him. Since he is popular with the audience and he is a lead in the show (not just a supporting or ensemble), and the chemistry between Riggs and Murtaugh is an important element of the show's identity, I'd think Fox whould be really reluctant to fire him. That would not be their first go to. Shows put up with a lot of asinine behavior behind the scenes to maintain a 'show must go on' facade. If the show is making even a little profit for the network, they aren't going to want to rock the boat. So the decision to fire him has to come from a place where they had determined that keeping him is more detrimental than a recast. Which leads me to believe that what is really happening is even more serious than the initial reports indicate.

Poor Lionel, is he cursed to only ever come into contact with the most obnoxious, arch, self aware, bitchy gays? Where are the guys like him? I wasn't a huge fan of this glimpse of this segment of the gay subculture at Winchester. They felt too 'on' all the time and their dialogue felt like it was taken from social media. Maybe it was just because it was places that Silvio was taking him to and these were the people Silvio hung out with. I want Lionel to find his tribe, not to be dragged along to Silvio's. And you can miss me with the over meta references to loving Taylor Swift by the guy played by Todrick Hall. I rolled my eyes so hard at that. Really show? I am still enjoying Troy's DGAF attitude. Also love the Black lesbian who worked on the paper. She breaks out a bit in this episode it was nice to see more of her.

I really enjoyed Ragtime by E.L Doctorow. just loved he depiction of Coalhouse Walker's rage even though I knew it would end badly. But this was one black man who was not going to be ignored. Also prompted me to look up pictures of Evelyn Nesbitt. She really was very beautiful. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Since most of my book reading back in the 80s and 90s were mass market sci-fi fantasy and romance, I rarely read "important" novels. This is one of the first ones I ever read. In hardcover even, LOL. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Yeah, I am very surprised I loved a book about the building of cathedral. But it was rather soap-tastic as well. The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer. A book about William the Conqueror. History tells us that William of Normandy was born a bastard, held off multiple assassination attempts, became Duke of Normandy, repelled the French and invaded England to become it's King. Heyer does all that plus invites us to watch him as a strategic military genius. I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Sex, betrayal, murder, stuttering... it has it all.

I think I liked Troy the most this episode than I have all last season. Also loved the Troy/Reggie interaction. I don't think we got any of that last season so it was nice to have a nice chunk of it in this episode. But I am kinda over it that Reggie can be such as ass to Sam and yet can hang all chill with that Pastiche asshole (who I admit was confusingly hot as fuck in this episode). That said, was not a fan of this installment. While Reggi's PTSD is important and believable, it dragged the episode. Don't think I laughed once this episode. This is a comedy, not therapy. Still loving Joelle.

For real though. We are not a sugar on grits family. I think the first place I ever saw that was on tv. Nobody I've met IRL does it.

Heh... I just the put the 'how can merpeople have developed enough melanin to look black' under the same category that I put 'how can fish turn into people' and 'how can Donna have a perfect twist out after living in the ocean' -- basically it is all magic.

Watching this first episode I felt like what maybe the black students felt with the relocation of the (white) Davis Hall students to Armstrong-Parker -- displaced, out of sorts and a little alienated. Not because the show is not as good, in fact, it felt just as biting and incisive as it did with V1. But because this is Sam's POV episode and she is in a really bad place. On the one hand she is so much in her head, her need to fight back so hard, that she is ignoring the great advice she is getting about not engaging the wrong people in fights. You are not going to change their minds. They are entrenched. All it does it frustrates you. I was so mad at her that she could not see it. But then again, I was struck by the overarcing message of the episode (a message that doubles down in the next episode) in that Sam, a black woman, is being disproportionately blamed and held responsible for things she did not do just because she is the uncomfortable black. Versus Troy, who really did damage property is being largely ignored or absolved (and conveniently is nowhere to be found to face the music). In addition all the people who conveniently rode behind her activism have all dissipated. Except Joelle, who remains ride or die. Love Joelle. Looking forward to this season, so happy the show is back.