DearEvette

I just finished Year One by Nora Roberts. I am not a huge fan of her trilogies, and sometimes her stand alone suspense novels are hit or miss -- the last one I really enjoyed was The Witness. I tend to prefer her alter ego, JD Robb stuff. But I have to admit I liked this one. Helps that it can't help but bring to mind Stephen King's The Stand (which is one of my favorite books) as there were some similarities there. Seems larger of scope than some of her stuff with a lot of characters and it doesn't emphasize romance at all. But it is still very Nora Roberts. Earlier upthread some posts were talking about her overused phrases. This book included one that I notice she uses a lot: "bet your ass" and she describes one character as having a "poetic" face. She likes that description as well. Even so, this was a really engrossing read and a little darker than she usually goes in her trilogies.

When I read this I immediately thought of Homicide Life on The Streets. In that show, Andre Braugher played detective Frank Pembleton. That show also had a bottle episode that took place entirely in an interrogation room that consisted only of three men: Pembleton (Braugher), his partner Bayliss (played by Kyle Secor) and their suspect in the murder they had been investigating all season long, played by Moses Gunn. It was called 'Three Men and Adena.' It was THE standout episode of the season. Given the Braugher connection and the composition of the characters, I couldn't help to drawn the comparison. I hope that was sort of the intent/ easter egg for this concept.

No it really isn't the same. Candace came to the show already at an extreme disadvantage comparative to other characters because she was black. They race bent Iris, so there was already pre-negative feelings about that. If a relatively unknown white female actress had been cast as Iris, she wouldn't have started at the acceptance deficit Candace had to start with.

This was one of my favorites of the whole series. Yes, Landry/Todd was a terrible person and a really sadistic asshole. But beyond that I liked that this was darkly funny. The clones' cynical acceptance, their resigned "we have to laugh or we'll cry" way they brought Nanette up to speed, Walton's entire no-fucks-will-be-given attitude. The entire scene where they tell her about their lack of genitals was great. And I love that they committed to the TOS:Star Trek aesthetic even until the end, complete with the cheesy special effects as they were going through the asteroid belt. "He's a Jolly good felloowww so say.." SLAP "Oh my fuck!" - I swear I rewound this twice and giggled I was so scared they'd all fall to the Black Mirror depressing, dark end twist and he'd come out victorious, so glad he got punished. And I love that they were free to explore the universe and probably become expert at the game since Cole and Dudani at least all worked on the code!

For me personally, it was the more agency + the Iris ghosting that led to the concern. I didn't have any issues when I first heard they were bringing on Patty. It actually made sense. At the end of S1, Eddie was about to propose to Iris and all things signalled that she would have said yes when he died and s1 ended. Without a significant time jump it would have actually made Iris look worse for having her go from Eddie's barely cold corpse to falling in love with Barry right away. So yeah, there needed to be a breather there and I like for the OTPs to have at least one or two rom interests before settling with each other, it gives their final pairing the weight of choice rather than just fated mates. But even so, a good OTP story always lets us know they are still connected to each other, even when they are with the others. But Iris was off in her own West family storyline, her screentime was greatly reduced, and she had barely any interaction with Barry. And what scenes they did share they seemed more like the sibling theirs detractors kept claiming they are. Heck they even teased that she might start her own new romance with her new boss while the supposed reason she wasn't pining for Barry was because she was in mourning for Eddie (thank god that went nowhere!) To me, it just seemed so bizarre. It felt like the writers were actively trying to erase any romantic feelings, not just stall them or subdue them. And then bam Patty was gone and hey, Iris and Barry notice each other again. There as no transition, no hints that they were moving them back toward each other. The episode right after Patty leaves is when Iris gets injured during Wally's drag race and Barry angsts about his speed because he wasn't fast enough to save her. I've always had S3 as my least favorite season but the more I remember about S2... I dunno. And it isn't just he Barry/Iris stuff. It was that there were at least, what, three episode that were jump offs for The Legends (which I now LOVE -- but back then...). And all he confusing zoom and Jay Garrick stuff.

I like this entire post, but want to comment specifically on the bolded parts... 1. Yes indeed. I felt bad for Katie Cassidy and Laurel because I thought she was written so poorly and you're right, she just didn't have the ability to rise above the bad material and make people warm to her. I think nostalgia and backlash against Olicity makes people more fond of her now than they were then. But Candace was more anemically written than Laurel, and yet she had a warmth and charisma that prevented the level of vitriol against her that Katie got. and 2. I ship Barry and Iris because I am an Iris fan and want all the good things for her. And that is her rightful place as Iris West Allen. But real talk, I thought she had a crack ton more with Eddie than she does with Barry. I will say, though, there are moments when Barry and Iris do give off nice tingles of sexiness that does allow their chemistry to come to the fore. E-2 Iris ad Barry were hella sexy. It was like they were different people. And then there was a scene of them at a party at the West house right after she and Barry got together officially. Iris was wearing this killer red velvet dress and she was sitting on Barry's lap. An while they were talking he was lazily stroking her leg and thigh. It was such a natural, couple-y sexy thing that it was one of the few times I remembered thinking they might just grow into their chemistry. I've never given it much thought, but now I wonder if the show not showing more sexy-times with Iris and Barry has actually hurt them chemistry wise?

Man, I was so sure they were gonna pull a Laurel on Iris in 2A. The writing felt like it was on the wall. Here comes this new love interest for Barry who in just a few episodes had more agency than Iris had all season 1. Also she had a mentor/mentee relationship with Joe. And they made her all perky of girl-nerdy. It really did feel like they were trying to make her a Felicity type character. I really was nervous for Iris and I remember seeing so many people talking how cute and perfect Barry & Patty were together. The one thing that I think Iris had that Laurel didn't have were very vocal and combative fans who were ride or die about their ship. I think 2A was when i started seeing what felt like a concerted campaign by the WestAllen and specifically Iris West fans to hold the show's feet to the fire wrt to Iris, her screentime, and her character arc etc. And yes, a LOT of those fans were black women who did not want to see Iris sidelined like they had seen Abbie sidelined on Sleepy Hollow. The abrupt exit of Patty and the re-localized focus on WestAllen in 2B made me wonder what happened? It just felt like such a shift. Since I found out later that the actress had only been signed for those episodes, I wondered if the intent for Patty was just to be a temporary WestAllen impediment for awhile but writer bias beefed her up more than it should have with an intent to actually create a more viable partner for Barry. But then something behind the scenes changed. Whatever the shift was I am glad.

Ryan Murphy (of Glee and American Horror Story) has a new show ordered to series at FX. It is a "dance musical" that is "Set in 1986 and takes on the rise of Donald Trump-style superwealth, the denizens of downtown (including the literary scene) and the underground LGBT subculture known as ball culture." On the one hand this is great for LGBTQ inclusion because they are planning to cast a lot of LGBTQ actors. On the other hand... ball culture? In the hands of Ryan Murphy? I have not been in any way impressed with any handling of black characters in any of the shows of his that I have watched. They all feel like caricatures in the end, full of cliches and no real inner life. If he is the one writing this, I can't think he'll do any better with the black & latino men who were part of the ball culture in the 80s. I have visions of him centering some white midwestern Kurt like character into the story and having him walking a ball. Gah!

Happy Beebo day, all. Go hug someone who is so damned huggable!

Snort. That is one the least blind, blind items I've ever read. There was no attempt at subtlety there. LOL.

I actually liked the Governor and Woodbury. He was an interesting villain with some layers and Woodbury was a good concept and it was a great reintroduction and final character arc for Merle. I did hate they didn't quite stick the landing on that arc, making the Gov another energizer bunny villain, the leader who against all laws of physics stayed alive while his minions all died around him only to pop up a season later and kill Herschel. And yeah, yet another person Rick wouldn't inexplicably kill when he had the clear chance. But the I loved the Woodbury arc.

I am reading Tiffany Haddish's memoir The Last Black Unicorn because I needed something a little lighter from my most recent book. This is Laugh out loud funny and smart. Also and I can hear her 'voice' in this so clearly. My girl crush on her has not been crushed yet, thank goodness.

With Zoom and Savitar the reveal of their actual identity was part of the story arc. The problem with that is that is by the time they were revealed so much crap had happened you forgot why you even cared or even forgot what their actual beef was in the first place. And in the case of Savitar, the end didn't quite match up with the beginning (or if it did, then it was so convoluted it was too hard to trace back). I like that at least it seems like with DeVoe it is relatively straight forward. He does seem to be playing a chess game with Barry and Team Flash being both his opponents and the pieces he's moving around the board. He is thinking four moves ahead and they are still catching up. But, I'd characterize Barry not as the pawn, but more is more like the King, the piece he has to completely stymie and box in before he can declare checkmate. I wouldn't say he is at checkmate just yet, more like 'check' because obviously Team Flash is going to come out triumphant, we just need to see how they maneuver Barry out of this mess. If the showrunners/writers can manage to restrain themselves from getting too fancy with too many flourishes like they did with Savitar, and keep this a story of a two opponents out-thinking each other, Devoe has the potential to rival S1 Thawne as the show's best villain, imo.

I think last season was a failure on every front -- tone, character, story, romance etc. It did no one any favors, it was too dark, didn't make any narrative sense, regressed Iris, misused Tom Felton, badly deployed Killer Frost, and gave us the worst incarnation of Harrison Wells, imo. If any time was to bail on the show it as last season. SO far this season has been a major improvement in every area. The hardest part to pull off, imo, is the long story arc and I think they are pulling that off admiably so far. It is difficult to give us a season long villain and parcel out his villainy in such a way we keep invested and entertained and also give us little surprise twists to keep up invested in the story. Also, to give us someone to both dislike and admire because you have to be engaged in the villain as well as the hero, or else the story gets hard to watch *cough* Negan *cough*. They've managed to do that this season with Devoe. The only thing the are falling down a bit on, is making the heroes do out of character stuff, even dumbing them down a bit to make plot work. You don;t have to do that. You can keep your heroes smart, just make your villain smarter. And I do like that they aren't sacrificing the romance but are also not letting the romance cannibalize the show. We are getting a nice amount of Barry/Iris that deepens their relationship but it isn't at the expense of the bigger plot.

And here I was thinking they were doing a great job of balancing the romance and the action, keeping the show still a superhero show while not shortchanging the relationships.

I just finished episode 2.3 and thought this was a really good, strong episode. It was also very funny in places --like how Nicola's advice to Rebecca of what to do after a break up came back to her from her own father. That particular game of telephone was fun to see. Alison's reaction to Eddie's new gf, and Alison's 'notes' while she was sitting in on Eddie's lecture. And basically everything out of Nicola's boss' mouth. I agree with everyone about Maurice's storyline with his gf's cancer is the weakest link and it infuriates me that he simply won't respect her wishes. I loved her talk to Alison about it being her cancer and she needing to manage it her way, but overall the show would have missed a beat if they had done without it, but then I guess they would need to have come up with something for Maurice. Not sorry to see Nicola's dad leave, but his being there added to what I liked the most about this episode and that is the entire family interaction with each other. No matter their issues this is a warm and likable family. Like, Rebecca going to Nicola for advice, ditto Paul going to Eddie, Eddie allowing Alison and Joe to stay at his place, Nicola's dad giving Rebecca driving lessons (she is right he is patient teacher!) and he then working so tirelessly on fixing up that bike for Joe, Joe's sweet reliance on baby Emily being one of his familiar anchors, and Maurice getting Joe that goat. My favorite scene was of Nicola walking baby Emily, while Eddie was walking the goat as they trailed along behind Rebecca giving Joe his bike riding lessons. And finally, Joe's goldfish are named Kim and Kanye. Ha!

Oh, man, I had no idea this was back for S2. So glad, I enjoyed this so much last year. I've only just watched the first episode and like how they've moved the characters in the two year since the show ended. After spending much of the first season being so exasperated and sometimes downright disliking Alison, I am totally loving her in this this episode. I can see the growth in her attitude wrt to Joe's diagnosis. Meanwhile Paul seems to have regressed. I'm interested to see how far they take it. Oh man, I thought the cracks in Nicola and Eddie's marriage were realistically shown last season. Somewhat surprised (and honestly glad) to see they decided to do the smart thing and divorce. But here again, it seems that one has seemingly grown - Eddie - while Nicola seems to have regressed. It doesn't seem like the Nicola from last season would have been the type of character to insist on pretending her marriage for her parents. I am glad that plot point got resolved in this episode I'd hate for something like this to drag on. I love her mother, though. So salty! Their daughter is dead cute and I love the smallish glimpse we get of Joe's relationship with the baby. Ok, Rebecca's sullen bf. Hot yeah, but dude-- lighten up! Anyway, so glad I have something to binge at the start of my two week Christmas vacay.

But if it is another fake=out then they are massively out of touch with their viewers because they already did it once with Glen. It would absolutely send the message that they aren't trying to tell a story, but are just fucking with their fandom. I am not so much as outraged that Carl might be dead, I am mad that his death might just be one more death in the show that means nothing except to get fans talking about a major death. If he is dead, will it galvanize Rick? Michonne? Will it represent some sort of sea change in the direction of the story? What does it really accomplish except them being able to say they killed off yet another major character. What is worse, where is his emotional replacement? In early seasons before we lost a characters with history, we got introduced to newer characters that we could get to know. In S2 we lost Shane but we got Maggie, Hershel & Beth. In S3 we lost Lorie, but we got Michonne, Tyreses and Sasha, in S4 we lost Herschel & Beth but we got Abraham, Eugene and Rosita. And we actually got a sense of them as characters with some background and built history. But since the Saviors came we only seem to have gotten Jesus. (Ha!) And his characterization is as thin as paper. I don't feel like we really have anyone to care about anymore because they aren't taking the time to give us a story with stakes to make use care. I honestly think they were trying to take a page from The Wire. The character of Omar was such a bigger than life personality on the show, you just knew that if he was gonna die, he was gonna die spectacular. But in the end he died kinda ignominiously. And it was sad but it worked as a great coda for the character. Like I said above, Carl dying, no matter how great or glorious or little and sad, doesn't really mean anything, because the show itself just feels so diminished.

Rick = Charlie Brown going for the kick Negan = football GImple & Co - are Lucy pulling it away

I feel like this whole "THIS IS WAR' storyline has been nothing but a sad, boring waste of time. How have we exactly progressed from the end of last season? Negan is still alive. The Garbage people are still useless. And the Alexandrians have lost yet another important member? I the last two years we've lost Abraham, Glenn, Sasha and now Carl. Literally the only forward momentum this show is giving us is killing off character at the end of each season just to give us an OMG! Shocking Death! But storyline wise nothing has changed. At this point there is a very definable formula that Gimple & Co. are following and it is sad and boring; - First episode comes out of a cliffhanger ending - Starts out sorta promising - Negan talks - Character nobody cares about gets an episode - Negan talks - Nothing happens - Negan talks - At least once Carol will do something bad ass - At least once Rick will do something stupid or inexplicable - A confrontation happens - Rick sweats - Favorite or long time character dies - Despite standing in the midst of a hail of bullets, walkers, general mayhem, Negan Lives and monologues - Useless cliffhanger - only about 1 week has passed in-story timeline

Well, if they are anything like The Flash writers, they'll manage ways to make his speediness not so speedy. The show fudges on the whole "fastest man alive" thing when the plot miraculously needs him to not to be. I think it would be analogous to how when someone without Sarah's specialized martial training manages to either stick with her in fights or even sometimes best her. I mean, c'mon, no way would Ava been able to beat Sara in a fight, unless plot called for it. I am glad if it is Wally, I like the actor and the character and let's face it, as another speedster on The Flash he is pretty redundant. I mean, he is canon in the comics but for the show I feel the writers wrote themselves into a box with him.

Loved his line delivery on that. Since it followed his and Amaya's guilty face, sneaking poses it was perfection. I am giggling just thinking about it.

And we're back! Great episode. Three things stood out for me: 1) The pants Terry borrowed from the Boyle cousins were soooo effin' short on him. Perfection. 2) The entire Nakatomi plaza picture taking frenzy. I can remember all those scenes exactly just from Jake's re-enactments. 3) Amy allowed to shine without anybody dumping on her. The amazed applause after she mapped out their return trip was great. This is why I don't miss Gina one bit. Gina is always ragging on Amy and I can't help but think that Gina would have spoiled that moment.

Yeah, there are way too many holes in the murder. First one is motive. Why would Barry want DeVoe dead? In about 72% of murders the motive is a crime of passion (romance, DV) or money. Why was DeVoe at Barry and Iris' house in the first place? It would look worse for Barry if DeVoe had lured Barry to the Devoe's home. But by being at Barry's house he has set up reasonable doubt. Barry has proof of an intruder alert on his phone. The house was dark, couldn't Barry have thought he was an intruder? And yeah, if the wife suddenly starts spending all her time with this young hottie, then she starts looking mighty guilty.

Let's see... Beebo Ray lecturing about God, evolution and science while choking on cotton stuffing, The montage of plans, Ava looking like she really could have been an extra on Vikings, Puppet Stein and Shrink Leo, Young Stein, Nate's beard, Damien's hair, Jax's exit.... this show really knows its strengths. Such fun.