DearEvette

Yeah, the show is maddening when it comes to DeVoe's master plan. There is obviously some plan at play because I still think the non-sensical stuff Barry was saying coming out the Speedforce and the 'maybe Dawn Allen' character will come into play somehow. As far as DeVoe stealing the metas powers in 4.13, judging by Marlize's reaction, I am reading that as him going off book. That Barry busting them out wasn't something he calculated for.

Not sure if it is just because I am intensely interested in it so it just seems like the movie is spawning more thinkpiece type articles than normal big blockbuster movies do (maybe except for LOTR which comes which a deep history of that sort of thing and possibly Star Wars) , but it does feel like everyday I am seeing yet another article taking a slightly different tack to try to delve into some of the themes about the movie. Mostly I am kinda surprised by the non-Hollywood, non-movie and non-entertainment industry articles I am coming across. For instance Scientific American did an article on the Shuri Effect. Christianity Today talks about what Black Panther Means for Christians, a few museum studies organizations have gotten into the mix to discuss the Erik Killmonger museum scene, and hilariously, National Geographic just wants us to understand real black panthers.

For Devoe, it would be a useful power to have, though. And the bus metas were of his making. That said, not sure what his need for the Native American meta's power or shrinky guy's power is. Becky Sharpe's and even Dominics I get, and yes Ralph's as well, but some of them are puzzlers.

Sterling K Brown plays a small but pivotal role in Black Panther (and yes there is a scene that involves crying). And he's hosting an upcoming SNL. This article is pretty funny Is it Sterling K Brown's Personal Mission to Make Us Cry? and I love one of the commenters that says: "He’s hosting Saturday Night Live in a few weeks. Watch me cry during his opening monologue"

On thing I forgot to mention that I also thought was pretty great casting and something I didn't catch until Zuri confronted Killmonger, was that the actor who played young Zuri had the same squint/lazy eye that Forest Whitaker has. Not as pronounced, but it was there and noticeable where he revealed who he was and we saw that last flashback.

I've seen white women cosplaying as Michonne and little black girls dressed up as Elsa (Frozen) so I don't think there's an issue. If she wanted to wear African garb then yeah, appropriation. But dressing up like a Dora, with the actual red armor and the spears is simply cosplaying a comic book character. Obviously no blackface, though.

I decided to see this mid-week because I didn't want the crowd experience. Welp, even on a Tuesday 3:00 matinee the theatre was about 2/3 full. I agree that this was a great movie. But honestly, it kinda felt like superhero movie spiced up with a dash of James Bond storytelling. Shuri was def giving me Q vibes with all her fancy tech. And that casino fight scene definitely tilted more toward 'spy' than 'superhero'. More than that though, the film was a visual feast. I loved everything Wakanda. The look of the entry to the Panther tribe area with their rearing black panther was repeated in tone by the leaping ape that marked the entry of King M'Baka's tribe. And holy cow, the shot of them all in the flat boats heading toward the challenge grounds to crown T'Challa gave me chills. What a fantastic sequence. And of course, everything the Dora Milaje did, their spear tapping, their stances, their team fighting, their strut -- just everything. And even when they went to the UN and wouldn't wear their armor, they still stayed in uniform with the black dresses and the neck and arm rings. Speaking of, I adored the costuming -- again a visual feast, just the vibrant colors on everyone. And every character's costuming was their own color story. Nakia was always wearing shades of green, Okoye was always wearing red, T'Challa was always wearing black, the queen wore yellows and purples, Shuri's clothes were edgier and more fashion forward, W'Kabi was always in a patterned Sesotho blanket, even the guy with the Ethiopian lip plate was color coordinated in green/turquoise with his plate. Erik Killmonger was exactly the sort of villain I love, the kind whose motives are understandable and who thinks he is in the right, even when he is doing it all wrong. The last line of his just about gutted me. So many things to say, so many themes to ponder. Hell even the end credits were pretty awesome. This makes me look forward to Infinity War so much more.

Yup. That is the one that won. Deservedly so.

I would say that the show is better than him. I like Master of None a lot, but mostly because I love the depiction of New York. And I love his circle of friends and I like the stories it tells. The biggest weakness is when it veers into Aziz being a lead romance guy. I simply don't buy him as a romantic lead. I'd recommend the Parents episode of Season 1, his real parents play his parents on the show and they really make the episode. For Season 2 I'd recommend the New York I Love You episode where he only makes an appearance at the end. And Most especially the Thanksgiving episode. He is in it, but it centers on Lena Waithe coming out to her mom played by Angela Bassett over a series of Thanksgiving days that span several years.

I agree with everyone that the reviews of the show seem overly harsh. I had been anticipating this and then read some reviews and was like, 'oh bummer' but decided to watch anyway and was pleasantly surprised. What were they expecting? It felt like the pilot -- and hence suffers from typical pilot-itis where there seems to be a lot of self aware exposition. But overall i liked how... messy the family is. I loved the sense of place the show has. As @ElectricBoogaloo points out, kudos for the very Portlandness of the place. I only visited Portland once and just watching i felt like I knew it. The overcast look of the sky, the bikes galore, hot gay barista dude rocking a beard and artfully slouched knit hat. I like how snarky the kids are about their upbringing and the performative aspect of their parents' parenting. I totally get them just wanting to be normal American kids but having to suffer their parents' well meaning (or not) attempts at keeping them connected to their culture. Mostly I am intrigued by he family dynamics. The two older sibs seems closer to each other while the two younger sibs seem closer. Why does Audrey seem to dismissive of her son-in-law -- he seems nice and harmless. Is he too whitebread for her? Did she want Ashley to marry an African guy? Their relationship with Dad looks interesting -- a little more disconnected than with mom. I love that Holley Hunter seems to have that her character's number down cold. I could totally see this mother and why her kids are the way they are. All in all I think the actors are adding layers to what, in this first episode, feels like clunky dialogue and this need to push all these elements out in front. I am hoping as it goes on it settled into itself. But so far I am intrigued enough to keep watching.

This is a great point. Colorism is and has always been a big issue when it comes to first-look casting decisions. Hollywood is pre-disposed to tilt in favor of lighter skinned women of color no matter their ethnicity. I too rail against the bias while still celebrating a woc getting a choice casting part. The creator of this reboot is a woman of SE Asian descent and the show is also going to be fairly centered on the main character's Indian family. I imagine she is thrilled to be able to bring one of the first shows on a major network that will showcase an Indian family, not just a single one-off Indian character.

I thought this was pretty cool The Wakanda Royal Family Tree

Seconded. I especially loved their first meeting, the dialogue was a lot of fun. It also ended a mini book slump for me. Started and stopped about six books before I settled in with this one.

As usual fun episode. I liked Constantine and his brand of scenery chewing. I especially liked Mick not being able to tell him and Rip apart. Damien's line about family reunions being painful could be the theme of the episode. Between him and his terrible parentage of Nora contrasted with Amaya trying desperately to reach out to Kuasa. And yeah, I can't help but wonder if Nate is grandpa considering Amaya's cryptic line about Kuasa needing him. Yeah, so not here for the Ava/Sara thing. It feels too.... manufactured. Man, Jitters' insurance rates must been through the roof.

I hear what y'all are saying. But I still can't Co-sign on essentially hand waving away the purposeful actions of Kevin and Tyler that led them getting where they are now in their relationship to ascribe esential fault to Yvette who did nothing to invite Tyler's attentions or feelings nor strung him along. In essence the act of a woman being visible for a couple of hours is being ascribed as the root cause of these two men's friendship becoming rocky. They aren't being held to the same level of responsibility even though it was one guy's obsession and another guys lies that pretty much created the situation.

Why is Yvette the one with the responsibility in the Tyler situation? IMO, she isn't the one who created it. Tyler and Kevin did that all on their own. All she did was sit down at restaurant thinking she was anonymous, minding her own business. Tyler came to her. She was polite, they shared a drink, conversation, and a dance. Then she peaced out. Disappeared. She never even told him her name. I think they spent no more than a few hours together in Laos. He was the one one got obsessed with her absent her involvement or encouragement. She didn't lead him on. Kevin is the one who decided to create a fake person and correspond, again without her involvement or encouragement. Actually I think the writing on this is rather shitty and irresponsible because it does encourage the viewers to believe she has some culpability here. By making Tyler's borderline stalker creepy obsession with her 'adorable' and ooh-worthy because he is so much in love and is such a sweet guy. At one point Kevin even says "he was hurting and you weren't doing anything." It explicitly places the responsibility of a guy's feelings back on the woman who did not encourage the guy in the first place, but somehow she is the one who has to make him feel better about it. If further explicitly burdens her because in this episode Yvette says "we have been leading the guy on for so long" and "I full take responsibility" even though she had been telling Kevin to nip all the Leslie stuff in the bud for two episodes now. That is just wrong. Kevin did lie to Tyler. All the stuff that happened, Kevin did that. If Tyler is upset at being lied to then he should be upset at Kevin. Yvette didn't make that decision, Kevin did.

Marlize seemed upset and mad at the killing of Wolfe. But not the metas. She was only upset that whatever plan they had for the metas got blown to hell because he accelerated it before they got all the 12 bus metas. This makes me think that it might not be that unrealistic to believe that the other metas might still be alive? From the beginning their plan seemed to be about some grand scheme to make something better. They were super intellectuals. And yes while it is inevitable that there might be some collateral damage in getting to their end goal, overall I didn't get the feeling the Devoes were supposed to be evil murderers. They were too cerebral for that what with their warm fireplaces, fancy brandy snifters, and mac & cheese. But DeVoe is messing it all up now. I wonder if somehow inhabiting Dominic's body and seeing all the additional insights he got from Dominic's psychic power somehow messed up his own thought processes. He is no longer just thinking and calculating the odds. The DeVoe we fist met doesn't seem like he would have roofied Marlize. I do agree that I miss the actor who played DeVoe. He was excellent and had the right amount of menace and just actually looked like he was super smart.

I like that DeVoe is starting to deviate from his grand master plan because of the growing megalomania. And that growing megalomania is creating cracks in his formerly solid marriage. I also like that the wild card element of Ralph having a power that DeVoe could never predict and them using it in a way he could never predict is what derails his plans and show that he isn't as omniscient as he thinks. This is the kind of thing I want to see more of. Liked Ralph's comment about Wolfe's sharp cheekbones. LOL. When I saw them showing the previously on scenes with Camille's mind reading I figured it would be used in this episode. Nice deployment of it for real plot reasons. I really loved seeing Barry do Science! And aww he and Iris together at the end. Sweet.

Oh man, That was her? I binged the first three eps of Altered Carbon Monday and not three hours later watched this show and totally didn't recognize her. The hair was radically different in this one and I think I too was distracted by her nipples in AC. To be fair, they did enter the scene a good five minutes before she did. She inhabited both roles so differently though. Good acting.

20 Trivia facts about Iris West/Candice Patton Cute list, and I love the gif of her in the glasses.

Thank you. I feel so bad I blank on her name all the time.

I found Reznick to be late addition antagonist 101. She's abrasive! She's competitive! She's not here to be your best friend because in the vernacular of reality tv this is not 'Residents best friends race.' In that sense I feel like I've seen her character 100 times on tv before. What would have been a fascinating character beat for her, imo, was for her to be friendly and warm and still be cut-throat and competitive. Someone that Claire wanted to raise her game for because she was a person worth raising your game for, rather than someone she has to raise her game for because she feels threatened. But it gave us another nice mentoring moment for Melendez. I like Shaun's dynamic with his new neighbor. I could easily see how Shaun could be off putting upon first meeting, people are just not used to such literal interpretations of everything. But this guy just seems to go with Shaun's flow with no judgment and their vibe is already very easy. I actually liked the case Shaun and Kalu were on. Not necessarily because it was a great story or anything but it is yet another sort of exposure for Shaun. He is there to learn and this was a learning opportunity for her. He is going to come into contact with a lot of things that need to be considered outside of the science and medical boxes. Gender is a big one because it really should be as simple as XX vs. XY but Identity is a much more complex thing that even people who aren't on the spectrum have a really hard time grappling with. Even liberal, well meaning people have a hard time learning the vocabulary of gender identity and even can resent it to some extent. So yeah, the writing here isn't the best -- again like the Reznick it borders on clumsy -- but I could appreciate what they were trying to do there. ETA: On a shallow note, Hill Harper and Marsha Thomason make a very attractive couple. But I kinda wish their marital strife wasn;t also baby based like Melendez' and .... God what is her name???

I live in the Fingerlakes area of New York. Snow days (extra days) are built into the k-12 school calendar. If they are not used, then sometime around early May we get an email from the district giving us a revised May calendar. Usually the kids'll get those extra days off as a couple of free Fridays and Monday in May. Colleges typically only close when there is a State of Emergency or if the city has declared it unsafe to be on the roads. I worked at a college once where each year they'd send out their annual notice of policy regarding school closing and the first line of the letter/email was "We do not close." That always struck me as funny. We have in-laws who live in Buffalo and last year they had thunder snow. My Sis -in-law was telling me how freaky it was to hear thunder& see lightning while it was snowing. And people were trapped inside houses with snow and high as their window sills. But even that extreme they are like, *shrug* just a little extra snow, whatevs. Even when my sis-in-law was telling me about it she was all "yeah it was really freaky but then I had to check my pot roast..."

There isn't a Russell on This Is Us. Do You Mean Randall?

This was a fun episode. Count me in as another one who likes Jonah with Kelly. I loved their loud speaker banter especially channeling Hoda and Kathy with the overlarge cups. I also though Jonah's Pacino was decent. I have never felt him with Amy and hope they would finally steer away from that. Surprisingly, I actually felt real chemistry with her and pharmacy guy. Too bad Amy is her own worst enemy. I liked the scene where everyone, including the shoppers were all up in her business, I just wish they had kept it comical without the tinge of slut shaming. But I really enjoyed Mateo telling the woman who wanted to find Tide to not ruin it for everyone. LOL. He and Cheyenne are a winning the combo. The show has done a good job there.