DearEvette

Heh I've read so many on that list. The thing is, while some of those books are long, they really move. You are carried along on the story and they really are over before you know it. I remember thinking a 200 page book I read just dragged, but Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson all 1100 pages flew by.

Lauren Speed Hamilton's (season 1) father, known affectionately as Papa Speed, passed away on Christmas day. So sad. https://www.instagram.com/p/DEIVM-tPRRJ/?img_index=1

Aldi had a special on Chilean Sea Bass and Alaskan Sable fish (black Cod). I got abt 2 lbs of each. I made the famous Nobu Miso mairnated black cod and it really is as delicious as every says. Sablefish has the most silky, buttery texture! I can only imagine what the real thing in the restaurant must taste like.

This was a fun episode. I laughed quite a bit, starting with Iwith the whole Father Crime stuff at the very beginning. A priest coming out a la John Wick on a rampage, complete with two guns a blazin'. I love how much Kaya loves and knows about tv shows. And yet was so clueless even about MacBeth. In addition to all the meta-references there were some nice funny lines. I loved Capt Wagner asking with an exasperated eye-roll 'Ms. Tascioni why are you talking like Batman?' We already know that 'My people came over on the Mayflower' murder Judge is a classist snob, but the sly way he said regarding the fancy party: 'Some of us are born for it, and others are invited in for whatever reason..." is also giving racist. The look Wagner's face! Ooh child! Also given his mention of passing on the message to Elsbeth, I will bet he was a few steps ahead and flagged any requests on the trial transcripts. No wonder the clerk acted so suspicious. Finally, would a contentious divorce of an albeit rich/famous person in Chicago merit a major network tv news story?

Right. Also, this made me wonder.. granted I am not a theater person but I assumed in addition to singing, you have to also act in a Musical Theater production. All we saw was her singing we never saw her do a scene or anything that would show she could also act. Which leads me to rolling my eyes at the theater guy saying she was so much better than the person who got the lead. Why? How does he know that if he didnt't see her act. Or all the other students in the waiting area who bugged eyes at her voice. These are all (I assumed) Theater kids. Unless she was the second coming of Whitney Houston, girls with big pipes belting out tunes should not cause their eyes to bug out in awe. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that their reaction was because maybe they thought she couldn't sing at all so expectations were low. But the scene didn't play that way, imo.

"I'm piss-apointed which is worse that disappointed because I'm Pissed!" Once again Lilah is the best thing about this show. Not sure how she'll get away with destroying those robo-server thingys. New roommate is annoying. Her brand of cutesy arrogance is never a good look. I am so happy Hetty from Ghosts read her. And she did it brilliantly. Best bit of writing for the show this season because that was how I felt watching the audition. Also, do they cast every potential (white) love interest from the same pool? All the guys this season are thin, boyish looking brunettes with slightly curly hair. So... is Whitney's new-new potential storyline is about college student stress? mental health? They really don't know what to do with her.

The last moments of the Season 1 finale of Fringe. That last shot of her in an office in one of the towers of the still standing World Trade Center was such a WTF moment!

IIRC, he mentioned several policing mistakes, e.g. a cop arresting a suspect's twin instead of the suspect, that had happened during Elsbeth's time in Jury duty, alluding that these are things that her observations/presence helped prevent. So he was finally seeing the benefit of her presence because of her absence. At least that was my takeaway.

Ugh. I hate those too. I actually thought the way they constructed this was very smart and keeps the door open in a really logical way to bring him back without it seeming that they are doing it solely to capitalize on the relationship between the actors. It wasn't an easy solve for one episode. I like the change up in the formula here. First it wasn't a crime Elsbeth was investigating and there was nothing connecting the judge to the victim so she had no reason to look at him as any sort of a suspect. Second, they limited all the information to what was presented at trial and the defense lawyer was so bad and the judge was so slick, that the lawyer could not mount an effective defense and introduce his own evidence. Elsbeth had no real information to work with. Third, she obviously knew the judge wasn't quite right, but the inept lawyer was a bigger detriment to the accused than the judge was and acted as an immediate distraction. It wasn't until later she paid more attention to her instincts about the judge and realized he was railroading the accused, but again there was no reason to suspect the judge of actually being involved in the crime itself until the very end with the disco clue. So yeah, this is a very neat way to keep him in the mix without creating some super obvious clunky expositional way to do it. That said, I hope he isn't around for multiple episodes and becomes some endless nemesis. They are already setting her up for one of those with whatever is happening with her old client from Chicago. Something prompted the Judge to kill the guy at this point in time, so something about whatever secret he knew must have come to light and the judge got antsy. It seems logical that will somehow come across Elsbeth's path to put this man back on her rader and then she'll connect the dots. Outside of that, I know Chaz's ineptitude might have been ramped up for comic effect, but I can't lie i found Chaz funny. The actor had great line delivery and timing. When the judge denied his peremptory challenge of Elsbeth reminding him he'd used the all of them, Chaz's response of "But I would way prefer those people to her." cracked me up. Just the way he said it. And his unprompted, yet straight faced admission of his wife finding about his other family. LOL. I hope we see him again.

Lilah - 'Let me give you advice from my upcoming book on sex that I have not yet begun to write." LOL But yeah her advice was pretty terrible. NGL, new girl was super annoying. Bless them for having her back because I don't now if I would have had the patience. Good news: Whitney is possiby getting an actual storyline Bad news: It looks like it is going to be a 'black activism' adjacent storyline. Sigh.

It was a staple of black radio stations. But I think the movie Die Hard was a lot of people's gateway to that song.

I loved the chaos of this episode and meeting Melissa's big family. Caleb grew on me here. He was cute and fit right in. And his terrible pulse checking made me cackle. Jacob was the best with all the physical comedy he did in this one. I especially loved how he came out of nowhere an tackled Melissa's brother from going upstairs. And his maniacal laugh at Melissa insisting on everyone eating cannoli. Awww, Janine and Gregory were cute.

I think their handling of the Christmas thing felt rather realistic. Abbott is a pubic school in a primarily black neighborhood. It is clearly incredibly homogeneous wrt to religion and culture. Only about 2% of the US black population is Muslim. And only about 1% of the US black population identifies as Jewish. Consider this year they made a big deal about getting ONE white student. And Janine mentioned this was their inaugural show. Sure it would have been nice for the teachers to initially determine they should cover all the bases, but I think the point was for them to show they listened to the concerns of the one little girl and pivoted out of care and realization that they didn't want to exclude, rather than just showing a de facto form of blanket inclusion that could have come off as performative rather than sincere. I LOVED the cold open with them performing Christmas in Hollis. That song is a Christmas song staple in my house. It cracked me up the kids did not know it. I blame the parents! I loved Jacob's storyline the best. First, I thought it was great casting. They looked like they could be brothers. I also liked how it played with perspectives. Jacob's perspective of himself is different than his brother's. And how their adult perspectives of their younger relationship is different. And how important it is to talk and understand instead of just going on your own assumptions. I will say Caleb was A LOT. And unlike the rest of Abbott, I don't welcome that sort of Labradoodle Energy automatically. I need to you calm down a bit. LOL. And yeah, I agreed with everybody. Gregory needed that haircut. But what a nice way to set us up for meeting Ava's dad. They don't have to, but I saw little girls wearing a hijab a lot when we lived closer to the University many years ago, that had a rather sizeable Muslim community.

I am not sure Taylor (the blond lesbian) is their replacement roommate. I'll spoiler tag just in case I am underwhelmed with the season so far. The way they wrote out Leighton was lame AF (and once again, not how college works). They have no idea how to write Whitney her personality is the least developed, imo. Also the show is making a super effort to show a wildly diverse campus and yet oddly the social experiences of these students is homogenized and narrow. And whatever appeal Kimberly and Canaan had as a couple last season, dissipated during the break between seasons. They just looked so awkward. And while we are on the subject of Canaan, he needs a hair makeover. Lilah remains fun as fuck.

Those olives are a staple in our house. Their taste is so mild, yet 'olive-y', and the flesh has a nice firmness, that you can snack on them alone.

Technically, All names are made up. Shakespeare made up the name Jessica. I know people get clowned for giving their kids names of objects, but common last names like Smith, Cooper, Baker, Mason, Weaver, Fisher etc, were all jobs people did.

Honestly, I want the Dead Daughter/Big Pharma plot put to bed by the end of season 1. My biggest wish is that Matty discovers that her assumptions about what went down with Wellbrexa isn't what she thinks they are. That whatever that thread on Reddit said was misinterpreted or a lie or a hoax or whatever and her crusade has been flawed. That would lead to a better dilemma for season 2. Matty, having come to like and respect Olympia and actually liking the work, has to decide between locking in as Matty and keep her real identity a secret, coming clean or just leaving. Obviously the best choice from a drama perspective is her maintaining the Matty cover, which the great tension being the imminent discovery of her as Madeline Kingston. Other than that, I agree that the COTW format can be a bit formulaic. It is CBS so maybe they are locked into that, but yeah I'd like them to play with format a bit. Maybe have a horrible unsympathetic client that they have to put aside their dislike and really work to get a win where they don't feel great in the end. Or maybe a retired partner dies and they do a fully flashback ep where they reminisce about a case the partner did. Or maybe a very low stakes case they allow Sarah or Billy to take the lead on.

Even without Matty being old, unless there is something about them that totally stands out, who is going to remember the face of someone who spilled coffee on you two years ago? Especially if you were barely paying attention to them and you had a lot more important things on your mind? In the elevator immediate after the spill, with the big wonkin' coffee stain on the front Olympia barely gave it a thought. She was wrapped up in the case and asking Julian for a divorce. Even when she pulls the suit out in the present day, she doesn't even mention the coffee, the suit is linked in her head to losing the case. So I hope Olympia never remembers Matty bumping into her. It s more believable if she never does. I think him holding it up introduced a bacteria (from his cast) into a formerly sterile environment. But that does not explain why no one else was part of the case. Even if this baby was the only one that actually died, others would have at least been sick.

This was probably my favorite episode so far. Even though the daughter stuff is still not making a lot of sense for me. Stuff I liked: The utilization of Olympia's gorgeous cream colored suit. During the first flashback when Matty spilled on it and Olympia's reaction to her which Matty saw as a sign to pursue her cause, I thought to myself, you never know what someone else is going through. She saw Olympia being mean as justification that the lawyers were bad, but what if Olympia herself was going through something and Matty just made it worse? And sure enough. When they showed her wearing that again during a later flashback during her argument with Julian and it was the day of the first verdict, it clicked. And then she brought it out again in present time, I knew her wearing it would be the visual trigger that something would happen that Matty would see as another sign. I liked that one mother who looked and sounded like a young Angela Bassett. And, NGL, Not!Angela's testimony was excellent. The actress bodied that scene. Also, look at Olympia code switching during her convo with that worker guy, Teddy! Her elocution went from crisp,white-shoe-law-firm professional to girl from around the way real quick. I really liked that Matty's husband said all the things that I think needed to be said to her. And verified my suspicion from a few episodes ago that he was not on board with what she was doing. In what I found was a great little detail, after the verdict when Matty was reassuring Not!Angela that she make them take responsibility, Not!Angela just looked at Matty with a still very sad expression. It really was signalling that even if Matty gets whatever it is she needs on the firm, she may not be as satisfied as she thinks. I am not sure how I feel about Olympia and Julian getting back together. I was rather enjoying their friendly divorce. The stuff that bugged: This epsiode didn't do my opinion of Matty any favors. She is so super focused on her feelings for her daughter that she is doing her husband and grandson a disservice. And she was kinda cruel to that old friend, cutting him off abruptly and yelling she never wanted to see him again when she noticed Olympia. It is all giving very selfish, that she is not doing this for anything but to make herself feel better. She is 75 years old, like her husband said why not enjoy your grandson and the rest of your life and the good memories? But then there would not be drama, I guess. Which brings me to the timeline. See, this is where I scratch my head a little. She says her daughter died 10 years ago. Right? So if Alfie is 12 now then Ellie died when he was two. So that would mean they were talking to Alfie about the specifics of the drug (don't know if Wellbrexa is the drug or the company) his mother took when he was a child? So much so that he would recognize the name of it and the law firm involved in the suit in a Reddit post when he was 10 years old? Really?

Ohh, I missed that. Nice detail. Also one little detail that I thought was pretty great that the B.L.A.C.Ks were, well, mostly black. So it made his earlier line that much funnier.

I think this is a valid point. But it is just as valid for a person to decide what their threshold is for enjoyment and engagement. I have had this very same discussion in my various book groups where we talk about technical writing skills vs. storytelling. Some can't get past bad writing, but others argue that a well told story with vivid characterizations can camouflage bad writing. I am somewhere in the middle. Egregious writing and logic flaws that are apparent to me can derail a good story. But no amount of excellent writing can make boring or tired story enjoyable. Basically I go with vibes.

Aww. Do they still do the parachute in schools? I thought that was just a GenX thing. That was always the most fun gym day! And yeah, I loved that cold open of them explaining it to the golf course guy. They look exactly like I think my friends and I would look trying to explain it. My favorite parts: "Lower the roof Gregory" Heh. "Your thoughts about food are a war crimes." - A reminder that Gregory also hates pizza. That was a terrific scene. That little girl's face after overhearing Barbara admonish Jacob for eating out of the trash can. And then the faces of the student in Jacob's whole class when he said "Oh no it's the B.L.A.C.K.s" "If people don't like me, it's on them." Exactly!! Ava praising Janine during her talk and Janine will never know about it. Janine being proud about Gregory's smoothie game. Actually I am really liking how the show is showing in lowkey but cute ways how much Janine and Gregory are sprung on other. In last weeks episode she mentioned how strong he was with a little smile. The end tag showing the real parachute game.

And for a second ep in a row the show begins with one of my favorite bangers. The song that is playing when the guy is jogging and finds the dead guy in the trailer is 'Point and Kill' by Little Simz. I had this song on repeat the Summer of 2022. For all that this was a tense episode, it still didn't feel heavy. This isn't that show. This is a show where even in the 'tense' moments there is still an undertone of a comfort show. You know things are gonna be alright and in ep. 7 they are not gonna kill off anyone important. I liked the structure of it, the idea of them re-solving a murder under these conditions. The people inside and the people outside working together. And the one last wild card guy for 11th hour drama. It was also cute how the janitor dude called the wrong number and became friends with the bowling ladies. I would love to see that as their first date! Bonus points for Morgan verbally slapping that woman down. And extra bonus points for the last bit with Garrett Dillahunt's character unable to give her any outright praise but acknowledging it with the desk was fun.

I did a re-watch and am laughing all over again how every single conversation Gregory had with Jabari's parents went from 0 to 100 in no time. In the Darnell's case it was escalating with (comic) violence but in Lisa's case it was escalating levels of appreciation. LOL And during the fight meet up... When Jacob accuses Gregory of making a homophobic slur, the reaction of HIS FRIENDS and GIRLFRIEND has me howling: Barbara: Gregory! Ava: (Looks disgusted) Janine: (Aggrieved) I didn't know! Tariq: (Disappointed) You have regressive views! Like... they knew beforehand Jacob was gonna fake up a beef and they know Gregory. The absurdity of their reaction is so funny. and then when Darnell says 'Now I gotta fight you for Jabari, for me, for him AND for Frank Ocean'. Barbara gasps dramatically. And my husband said 'knowing Barbara she probably thinks he means Billy Ocean." 😂

I am at the stage where I will watch almost anything if it is brightly lit and not depressing.