weathered1

Robin was just an example. Would it make sense for her to act like this? No. Does it make sense for the always competitive and driven Ava to suddenly take that to such extremes (and again, for Connor to have back-to-back love interests with extreme mental disorders)? I don't think so. Being ambitious to a highly unpleasant extent doesn't equate to someone suddenly deciding to give Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction a run for her money (imo). That said, a case could also be made for, say, the dark-haired ED/surgeon guy with whom Connor keeps butting heads. He seems to only show up to act like a dirtbag, so his involvement in some of these things wouldn't surprise me, but would that make a lot of sense either? Nope. Then there's the exceedingly unlikable hospital exec who has always had it out for Connor, his hybrid OR, and Sharon. Could she go to extremes just to oust Connor (and perhaps also Sharon) who has always been a thorn in her side? Who knows. The point I'm trying to make is that the writing for this arc has been unsurprisingly awful. I'm just throwing out ideas trying to find a way that the writers won't be treating the viewers like utter simpletons by choosing to craft such an obvious resolution to this story.

That's a good point, and it certainly ties into how she's being portrayed now: all of a sudden, even with as extreme as her downward spiral was. As to the question of why Robin would do these things, I suppose the writers could say that at some point, she became fixated on Connor, and either decided that she wanted to hurt him or that she wanted to frame Ava (who had been his bed buddy for a while) to get her out of the picture or even both. In addition to the odd moment with her father, I did also find it somewhat peculiar that she didn't seem more bothered by the fact that someone had claimed to have kidnapped her, which caused Connor and her father to experience so much panic, anxiety, etc. etc. This is all probably just grasping at straws, but I can't help but feel like, as thoroughly unlikable as Ava has been written since literally her very first scene, we've never seen a hint that she was unhinged enough to do these things. She's been a myriad of negative things - obnoxious, arrogant, antagonistic, argumentative, cold, manipulative, petulant, and the list goes on - but her mental health has never been called into question, yet now there's all of this. Eh. I'm probably spending far too much time thinking about something that will most likely simply be yet another mind-bogglingly poorly written story.

For what it's worth, I'm hoping Ava isn't behind all of this stuff; not because I have any great fondness for the character, but because the writers have made it so incredibly obvious. It would be one thing if all of these things happened to Connor and maybe he began to grow a little suspicious, but last night, they practically had her twirling a cartoon mustache. And now even Sharon suspects her. These writers wouldn't know subtlety if it smacked them in the face, but it would be infinitely more interesting if this were all a giant red herring and perhaps someone like Robin is the real culprit. I don't dislike Robin, but her relationship with Connor did grow tiresome for me. Plus, I'm not sure what it was, but something about the exchange where she told her father that he knew that she goes swimming every day during lunch and he denied knowing that seemed kind of odd to me. Ultimately, I think it's a bit much for Connor's last two major love interests to both have extreme mental disorders. And if this is about getting rid of Ava, I can't imagine that when she's officially accused of doing these things, she'll want to stick around anyway. Basically, I just want the show to actually make this a relatively interesting story, though I realize the odds of that are about on par with them making these doctors not be entirely insufferable every single week.

I liked the guy being interrogated, too. He pulled off both the emotion and the sass really well. As for the rest . . . eh. I have to say, while the visual of Erica being noticeably moved at her daughter's recital was a nice scene on the surface, I could not get past the fact that Erica was let out of her cell, taken to wherever that was, and had her handcuffs removed right in the middle of a crowd of people, not one of whom batted an eye at being in the presence of "the most hated woman in America". The writers (such as they are) continue to do a real disservice to most of these actors. I think I've gotten all of their names down now except for the blonde analyst - for some reason, I keep forgetting what they call her - but that's not necessarily a good thing because they exist pretty much solely as cardboard cutouts. Daniel interrogates people. Bragg chases people. Pettigrew is smart (I guess) but mostly just there. Blonde analyst is there for exposition purposes, her ridiculous crush on Keaton, and to awkwardly deliver really terrible Microsoft AI infomercials. The character development is just nil, and at this stage of the game, that's inexcusable. On another note, I saw some people on Twitter noting chemistry between Shepard and Keaton. I wish I could have faith that these writers won't go there, but given their track record thus far, I'm fearing the worst. The problem with even just the idea of that is, well, everything. She's a traitor. She's responsible for the death of his beloved fiancee. Sure, he's softened a little since he learned about her (inexplicably stupid and short-sighted) motivation and has a grudging respect for her knowledge and abilities, but to even the entertain the idea of anything happening there is just . . . no. This is yet another problem with the overall premise because where exactly can any storyline - professional or personal - with Erica go, other than nowhere fast?

I may be wrong about this, but didn't we very, very briefly see the ex-husband in the courtroom flashbacks when Erica was sentenced to about a billion consecutive life sentences? I seem to remember the daughter being very upset and was embraced by the guy sitting next to her, who appeared to be her father/Erica's ex-husband (since it looked to me like the guy they cast in the role). Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly that the potentially fatal flaw of this show is the writing. They've taken a show with a decent (albeit problematic) premise and a mostly solid cast, and everything and everyone is bogged down by ridiculous dialogue, implausibilities, an endless stream of tropes, repeated scenes and conversations, and predictability. Plus, when we're now several episodes in and there's still so much confusion about some characters' names, that's a problem. It's not like the cast is so huge that some names are falling through the cracks - it's that there is a relatively small core group of people yet the writers have refused to properly develop them (save perhaps Erica and Keaton). I can't figure out why the writing is so bad. I'm one of the people who liked The Brave very much (and was quite sad when it was canceled) and thought that it was fairly well-written (with some exceptions), so I cannot fathom why writing like this is being delivered, much less filmed. In terms of the premise, I can't figure out where it could possibly go. Erica did what she was accused of doing and several people died as a direct result. That can't be handwaved away, so was the plan to have her stuck in that cell for a vast majority of however long the show lasts? Harkening back to a previous conversation point, I also think the bit about not telling anyone that her daughter was threatened was deeply, deeply stupid. If nothing else, I fail to understand why Erica would think the threat to her daughter would suddenly and completely disappear once she gave Tal the information he wanted. With as evil as Tal is supposed to be, she wouldn't have any reason to believe that he wouldn't have killed Hannah at some point just because he's that evil. Yet the girl was without protection for all of that time. Yeah, that makes a whole bunch of sense.

It almost seemed like this episode was aired out of order. The last I saw with Helen and Sendhil Ramamurthy, she looked less than enthused that he already had kids. This episode? No mention of or follow through with that at all. Unless I missed something in the last episode, which is entirely possible. They also all of a sudden went warp speed with Max and Helen. There had always been (imo) chemistry and a certain rapport, but now Sendhil Ramamurthy points it out to her, the clairvoyant mentions it, and it's being addressed seemingly head-on by the two parties involved. That said, given this show's penchant for melodrama and predictability, I'm going to guess that in the next episode, both of them state that "the thing" can never be, only to be solidified when it winds up that the clairvoyant really did die after all, and it ends with one or two last meaningful looks, and Max/Helen goes back on the backburner until Georgia leaves him. I think one of the most telling aspects of the clairvoyant's scenes was that Max tacitly acknowledged that he feels something a lot of viewers have expressed since the show began: that he is forever jumping through hoops for Georgia but it's somehow never enough. That's not sustainable and that relationship is hanging on by a thread (again, imo). And then there was Bloom. If they'd intended to go down this road with her, the writers really should've done a better job of making her a more sympathetic character, because as it is, I can't find myself caring all that much about her struggles. Plus, the show's already replaced Bloom professionally in the emergency department and personally by having her former bed buddy being in love with the woman with whom Bloom set him up. So what's the point of this (other than, I assume, writing around the actress's maternity leave or something)? Beyond that, wow, was this entire episode filled with implausibilities as far as the eye could see. And now, on top of everything, there's a blackout. Because of course there is.

I was prepared to thoroughly dislike this show because it looked like yet another paint-by-numbers, will they/won't they, spy farce. However, while it certainly isn't reinventing the wheel, the show is so fun and charming, and I think the cast really gels together very well. The writing could certainly be better - much, much better - but the show is just so much likable, purely escapist fun that that almost doesn't even matter (to me). It was nice to see a mini-Scandal reunion in tonight's episode. (There was even a brief, quasi-return of Jake in the scene where Will threatened Karen.) All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I'm liking this. Maybe it's just because there's a glut of super-serious shows (or just shows that take themselves seriously) that this is standing out in such an enjoyable way, but I'm in for however long the show may last.

That particular scene was an interesting one. At first, as he was going through his spiel and showing Helen the picture of his kids, I thought we'd see her face and some kind of expression of happiness and relief that the guy wasn't opposed to having kids. When we actually saw her face, though, she certainly didn't look happy, and though there was some surprise mixed in, it seemed like her expression was mostly one of dismay. I don't know if it was because he'd hidden something so huge from her (regardless of the fact that they haven't been together long) or because she assumed he was happy with the kids he already has and doesn't want more. Either way, she did not look like a happy camper to me.

I read the theory earlier in this thread that perhaps Zeke is the one who was supposed to be on the plane with Saanvi and all I could think was that it would possibly combine the love triangles into one ginormous, mostly gross, largely chemistry-free mess. That said, I'm not sure if her comment about who was supposed to be with her was meant to be tied to the addition of Zeke to the "mystery," or if it was merely a bad, clunky way to set up yet another chapter of this story, featuring yet another new character about whom most of us will probably not care. I did find this episode to be on the boring side. I don't mind Zeke, but ye gods, the truly terrible CGI, sob story, and ridiculously obvious ways they're shoving him and Michaela together were really . . . something. The writing is reaching new lows of craptasticness every week, it seems. The writers evidently saw that Ben was thought to be mostly likable, so they proceeded to give him anger issues at the expense of his brain. There was too much Grace. Yes, she wasn't as wholly unlikable as she has been up to this point, but the damage has been done, at least in my view, and this is just not a character I'm ever going to like. I actually wish that weren't the case, but the writers just trashed her, IMO, and that kind of damage can't be handwaved. Cal really is kind of a one trick pony, isn't he? If not for his callings leaving him in sort of danger every other week, he just doesn't really have much going on. It was nice to see the return of likable Olive and that she really wanted to help Ben and actually wound up doing so. I find myself watching this show every week hoping that the writers will get their act together and really make good use of an interesting premise and some talented, charismatic actors. Better luck next episode, I guess.

I stopped regularly watching this show, but I check in every now and then to see if it's gotten better. Somehow it's worse. The episode begins with Torrey DeVitto doing a truly terrible job acting like she was in pain. I like how a dislocated shoulder was meant to be conveyed by her wincing twice and saying "Ow" once. That was a fine performance. Then when Will comes on the scene, Natalie's temper tantrum ("I said I can do it myself!") took precedence over, say, making sure the little boy wasn't dying. What can be said about Will? No, really, what can be said about him, because he's either terribly boring and predictable (e.g., not turning in the gun), or he's a complete and total asshat. I really want someone involved with this show to explain to me why it's evidently so difficult to find a decent love interest to play opposite the charismatic, handsome Colin Donnell. I just don't get it. This Rhodes/Bekker storyline is pure dreck given that the latter has been a terribly written character since she was introduced, and the chemistry between them is nonexistent at best. I like the Sharon/Dr. Charles friendship. While I would prefer to see it stay that way, I fear that these writers won't be able to help themselves when it comes to putting them into a romance. The blonde resident/student? Ugh. Speaking of ugh, April and Choi/April. April has become my most thoroughly disliked character currently on TV (Grace from Manifest is a close second). I don't know who told Yaya DaCosta that she can act, but that person is deeply, deeply stupid. All she can do is have a blank look on her face or a sneer, and her voice stays in the same abysmal monotone all the time. The character is so ridiculously, rage-inducingly judgmental, self-righteous, cold, and a complete and total witch. To see Choi - once one of my favorites - pining over her (complete with those ridiculous shared glances that are so OTT and cringeworthy) at the expense of his beautiful, intelligent, accomplished girlfriend, is enough to make me actively dislike him now. These writers simply do not know how to write for female characters or for romantic relationships. All of the former (save perhaps Sharon and Maggie) are truly terrible. Halstead is almost always awful. Choi has been ruined. The "relationships" are all forced, chemistry-free, and inevitably make the parties involved look bad. I don't know what the writers are thinking, but it's like they're having a contest amongst themselves to see who can make this show completely unwatchable.

Grace is the worst. Truly. The absolute worst. Possibly ever. Ben, get out! Ben, how could you have left like that?! Ben, tell me everything! Ben, what you're saying is crazy. Shut up! Grace needs to go on a hike in the winter and be lost for a year. At least. I feel bad saying negative things about children, but the boy who plays Cal seems to be getting worse by the episode. The Zeke storyline might at least be interesting, and I do find it intriguing that whatever happened to the plane could have had pretty major ripple effects (affecting people who weren't at all connected to the flight), or that the plane itself is somehow responsible for . . . something, or that whatever happened to the plane has happened at other times, in other places, but on a much smaller scale. Or a combination of all of those. Speaking of Zeke, I think he passed out not so much from the hypothermia but because of the anvil that fell on his head portending the love triangle turning into a whole new shape. Though I had been in favor of Jared/Michaela, after the terrible writing last week, maybe it would be better to let Mic start something with the new guy, because I don't have any confidence whatsoever that the writers know to wrap up the triangle soon, in any kind of satisfactory way, or without invoking every possible soap opera trope they possibly can. And you can add me to the list of those thinking we'll be seeing Daly and Fiona again very soon.

Wow, the captain's storyline had holes big enough that, well, a passenger jet could fly through them. I highly doubt that that's the last we'll see of Daly and Fiona. The scene with Michaela and Grace was so awkward and bad. Either Ben has told his sister how inexcusably, irredeemably awful his wife has been to him, and Michaela is doing her level best to take herself permanently out of the running for Sister of the Year by trying to get them back together, or he hasn't told her the finer points of how his marriage has broken down. In that case, I'd say that Michaela is projecting what she wants out of her own situation onto theirs: hoping two people who were (seemingly) in love before the plane disappeared will be able to reconnect in the present and live happily ever after. Also, when Michaela said that Grace is the best thing that ever happened to Ben? If that's true, then I feel even sorrier for him than I already did. Which brings us to Mic and Jared. Let me get this straight. Last week, he very definitively tells her that he's in love with her, he wants to be with her, and she's his soulmate. They have sex. This week, he's all, "Oh, you wanted me to tell my wife?" Seriously? Are we actually supposed to surmise that this man fully expects to remain married and carry on a full-fledged love affair with his "soulmate," too? And could he have been any less convincing when he said that he loves Lourdes? Speaking of unconvincing, Michaela continues to beat the "she's my best friend" drum. No. No, she's not. The show can tell us that all they want (and they have), but every time they've tried to show it, they've failed. Miserably. Even supposing that that best friend bond is as real as ever, would Michaela really want her friend to be stuck in that marriage, blissfully unaware that her husband is (according to him) deeply in love with another woman who he considers to be his soulmate? On the plus side, I did like the Ben and Michaela scenes. That sibling bond feels realistic, and the actors work well together. Finally, is the show really going to have Cal needing to be rescued every other week? That got old really quickly. If that's their plan going forward, no thanks, show.

When the show has to work this hard - and in such an obvious manner - to try to sell this "love story" to us, then there's a real problem. Like many of you, I've never liked Georgia, and this episode just solidified that feeling for me. All I saw was that a certain trend has carried through from the beginning of the relationship up to present day: he's smitten (for some inexplicable reason), while she smugly sits back, watching as he jumps through hoops to try to prove his devotion to her. He's evidently always been upfront about how passionately devoted he is to medicine and helping people, but it seems like she's never been particularly pleased about that - likely because she wants to be his only priority - and it has always been something of a bone of contention between them. It should've been a giant red flag for him that he felt the need to not even tell her that he'd applied for the Medical Director position, while a second - huge - red flag (as also mentioned by judyri) was that she opened the FedEx package that was addressed to him. That whole relationship seems unequal and forced, and imo, it's not necessary and it drags the show down. I think the same holds true for Georgia, because the character isn't interesting or sympathetic, and the actress simply does not have the necessary chops or chemistry with Eggold. I truly don't understand why she was cast in this role. (For what it's worth, I continue to see much more of a connection between Max and Helen, given how obviously upset the latter was throughout the episode and her noticeable relief and happiness when he woke up, and the little smile he gave her when he first noticed her standing there.) As for the medicine (well, "medicine") in the episode, I'm not a medical professional, but even I could tell how off the mark it was. This is another thing I don't understand: why a show based almost entirely on medicine is so very, very bad at it. Surely there are medical advisors on the payroll who can tell them how wrong all of it is. I just . . . don't get it. This show is also really doing its level best to waste the talent and charisma of several of its actors by bogging them down in dreck, and I will never understand that, either.

I cannot stand Grace. I just can't. She's resentful of Ben basically coming back from the dead and wanting his family back, when she's the one who immediately made him believe such a thing was even possible, given that she let him move right back in, started sleeping with him again, and playing the "happy" family. And the entire time, she's been angry at him and has blamed him for everything under the sun. I haven't seen any love from her for him, or even proof that she missed him all that much (or even at all). Perhaps we were supposed to see those things, but the actress has ensured that that hasn't happened. Meanwhile, Danny refuses to recognize boundaries of all kinds, has what seems increasingly like an inappropriate connection with Olive, and expresses some anger at Ben for, you know, existing! Olive doesn't seem to care much for dear ol' dad at all and is openly showing that she prefers new guy to him. I'd had some sympathy for her, but that's gone now. Meanwhile, as Grace is railing at Ben about how he can't just get his life back, how problematic his return has been, etc. etc., Cal is right there, and mommy dearest doesn't seem to care at all about the kind of impact some of her more callous words could have on her son. An additional problem with Cal is that he's evidently supposed to be integral to this whole plane conspiracy mess, yet they chose to hire a young actor who is simply not capable of handling the material. I feel sorry for Josh Dallas that so much of his screentime has to be spent with those ill-equipped actors in the midst of such a horrible family story/love triangle trash heap. As for Michaela and Jared, he absolutely should have told Lourdes that he wanted out of the marriage because, as per the things he told Michaela, he's not at all conflicted - Mic is the one he loves and has always loved, she's the woman he wants to be with, period. End of story. For him to have said those things and slept with Michaela while not cluing his wife into the fact that he at the very least needed some space to wrap his mind around what's transpired was a horrible, cowardly thing to do. That said, I do buy the Michaela/Jared chemistry and connection, and the scene where he confessed his feelings was well done, imo. That bit at the end with him gazing at his wife didn't read as conflicted to me - it seemed to me that he knew he'd have to break her heart and was dreading it, even though he's emotionally all-in with his "soulmate". Of course, that means that the second he mans up and tries to tell her the truth, Lowkey Lourdes will reveal that she's with child. I really hope they don't go such a cliched soap route, but I think they've beaten us over the head with Lourdes wanting a baby for a couple of episodes now for a reason. Ugh. So what will we be stuck with: all three adults agreeing that the marriage is untenable, but Jared will still be there for the child? That would be rational, so it won't happen. Jared and/or Mic feeling guilt at what they did, forcing the former to stay in the marriage, while angst and tortured glances abound? That's more likely but sounds so incredibly boring, and would probably eventually end with Lourdes realizing that she's coming between twu wuv and willingly bowing out. What would be ideal is Jared is confessing all to his wife, and Lowkey (not pregnant) Lourdes decides to pack up and leave town, never to be seen again. The character isn't necessary, having two triangles on the show is just stupid, and the actress has always been so awkward and low energy that she hasn't brought a thing to the role, imo. I do think the show's biggest downside is terrible writing and often subpar acting converging. Grace, Olive, Cal, and Lourdes have been written terribly, and their respective actors don't bring any kind of nuance or real likability to the material. Josh Dallas has been mostly good, but he's trapped in some truly shoddy material. The Mic and Jared actors have been hit or miss, but I do think that both have improved somewhat since the pilot (but there's still needed improvement, especially given the graveyard scene). I know that the ratings had been good, so I'm not sure that cancellation is an option. I just don't know that I'm interested in sticking around for the long haul if the writers don't fix some of the show's glaring issues that are making it increasingly unwatchable.

I have to confess that a vast majority of my medical knowledge comes strictly from watching television, yet even I sat there watching last night's episode and seeing so many wildly implausible things happening at all once took me right out of almost every scene. (I do think the actress playing the heart transplant patient did some good work, though, and she and Ryan Eggold really tried to eke out every bit of emotion in those scenes that they could.) I was not a fan of Shay. At all. The temper tantrum and subsequent social media post(s) only served to immediately and fully prove Frome's point - it was imperative that Shay wait a year in order to develop more a maturity standpoint (amongst other things). I also did have the thought already mentioned that perhaps Shay was more intent on getting follows and likes than getting that surgery, but ultimately, I think both things were true: Shay wanted the surgery but the utter dependence on validation from strangers on the internet was proof positive that more mental and emotional growth needed to happen before any medical procedures could be undertaken. (This is not to discount the support that was garnered from those people online because that was undoubtedly incredibly important.) I liked the scenes with the cafeteria worker and Kapoor, and I think we all knew what was going to happen once she relayed the situation with her beloved dog. The rapport the characters are developing is nice to see. I absolutely loathe the storyline with Blum's pill-popping and the nurse knowing about it and letting it continue, even as her mental processes are becoming increasingly altered leading to bad - even dangerous/potentially deadly - decisions and mistakes. For lack of a better way to put it, it makes me ragey. I was not a fan of seeing the wife again. At all. And the ridiculousness of her yelling for help instead of picking up her cell phone was . . . ye gods. I didn't mind the addition of Sendhil Ramamurthy, though the character walked a fine line between charming and smarmy at a few different points. I get the feeling that him entering the mix is another attempt to further a slow burn between Max and Helen. As for Max, for such a knowledgeable, almost selfless man, he certainly does make some exceedingly moronic and deeply selfish choices. Others have delved into the nonsensical nature of his decisions re: his health and treatments, so I won't retread that particular ground, but it definitely makes it difficult for viewers to sympathize with someone who knows better and has so much to lose, yet persists in making the worst decisions possible at just about every turn. Finally, I fully agree that Ryan Eggold deserves better than this show. I'd actually go so far as to say that a good number of the actors in the main cast deserve better. I guess I keep watching in the hopes that the writing will somehow, someway eventually give them the kind of material that is commensurate with their talents.

Same here. I miss The Brave so much. Sigh. As for this show, at least Missy eked out a teeny, tiny bit of emotion, so that was a nice change of pace. I agree with basically every comment on this thread, and I think the overall problem is that the writers aren't really developing the characters individually or as a team. We don't have background info as to how new this partnership is with OA and Maggie, so that argument did seem to come out of nowhere and didn't play organically at all (at least to me), and his utter unwillingness to even consider a point of view different from his own about the issue(s) until the very end was at least borderline irritating, though he remains my favorite character. I continue to not understand how a show has Jeremy Sisto and Sela Ward in the main cast, yet doesn't do anything with them. At all. That just doesn't make any sense at all. So the bottom line seems to be that the cast is mostly comprised of skilled, charismatic actors (with Missy being the weakest link, imo), but the writers don't seem to have a clue what to do with them, at least not yet. Here's hoping that changes sooner rather than later.

I'm having the same issue with this. Everything is so dark, so dire all the time. The show desperately needs moments - however brief - where that darkness is relieved. Aside from that, I really like the partner and Jeremy Sisto, and Sela Ward did well. I'm having problems with the star, though. I watched Missy on Rookie Blue, and I don't recall her being quite this bad. As it is now, though, they could get a block of a wood with a ponytail to stand in for her during her scenes, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Two episodes in, and the show is just okay, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll tune in to something that revels in all that is bleak.

That was certainly . . . earnest. The writing was often cloying and borderline abysmal - the incessant repetition of "How can I help?" was grating, but I imagine it would make for one hell of a drinking game. That said, I thought the acting was actually pretty good, and I find Ryan Eggold to be extraordinarily charismatic. I'll likely keep tuning in unless and until it becomes it nothing more than a retread of all other medical dramas (even more than it already has) and/or it becomes so treacly that my constant eye-rolling leads to me losing consciousness.

^I wholeheartedly agree. This has gone from Lethal Weapon to being just another buddy cop show now, and I really don't think it's going to work. Also, the idea of Scott portraying someone with the Riggs surname is...awful, imo, and will make an already bad decision even worse. This isn't a premise where anyone with that last name can play Murtaugh's partner and everything will be hunky dory. I guess it will be watchable if they rein in Scott's tendency to be an unadulterated ham, but for me, it certainly won't be Lethal Weapon anymore.

^I think that's it exactly. It will be touch and go, but a version of Riggs survives (while the Clayne Crawford version is apparently dead), thus paving the way for how the experience makes him a "whole new man". Insert meta jokes here. I have to confess that I haven't liked much of anything about this season. If they do recast and move forward, then it will be interesting to see how things progress, if they can recapture some of season one's glory, etc. That said, I do think ending on that particular note was a pretty crappy thing to do to the fans - the bts situation has been going on for apparently quite some time, so the notion that the show might not continue wouldn't be news to the producers, writers, etc., yet they chose to go that route for what could conceivably be the last scene we ever see from the show. Maybe it was their way of killing Crawford's version of the character and perhaps referencing how his behavior might have actually killed the entire show (which turns a blind eye to how the powers that be allowed things to devolve to this point in the first place, but I digress). Regardless, for me, it was an unpleasant way to cap off a less-than-satisfying (in my opinion) season. It will be interesting to see what happens next in this saga.

This is all so incredibly disappointing. The rapport these actors had in the first season was just stellar; to devolve from that point to this is just...awful. (And infuriating - I absolutely agree with that.) Riggs did have the vision in the last episode of an explosion in the Murtaugh kitchen, so it wouldn't be surprising if the season finale tonight ends with some kind of explosion or we hear a gunshot or something like that; of course, that would be more useful if they were just going to end the character. Since they're supposedly trying to recast, I can easily see them dealing with the change in appearance next season (if there is one) with a meta joke or two and then being done with it. Recasting, though, is going to be so difficult - not only does the actor have to tackle the ins and outs of the character, but the chemistry with Wayans has to be absolute perfection if they have any hope of moving forward successfully with this. I thought the initial casting was pretty much lightning in a bottle territory, so the odds of them being able to do that again.... I do think they're going to give that a real shot, though, at least in terms of trying to find somebody; otherwise, I'm not sure they'd even be mentioning the idea of a recast at all - they'd just say Crawford was out and the show is done. It's a risky proposition, though, but at least the other actors and crew members aren't without jobs (at least not yet). This would allow them a chance to capitalize on season one's potential and to perhaps explore some more of the noteworthy movie plots and characters. Another possibility is that they do try to find a recast but can't, so the show ends anyway. That would also be a good excuse for the studio and/or network to end it - they could just say they tried and it didn't work, and it would be too costly a proposition to move forward. And I do wonder what happens to Crawford's career. These are serious issues and being booted from a lead role in a show like this is not a small thing. The bottom line for me, at any rate, is that it's all just sad (and unnecessary, stupid, infuriating - there's that word again - shameful, and ridiculous) in every sense of the word.

In fairness, the notion of recasting Murtaugh was mentioned less as a real possibility and more as simply a comparison of what each of the two roles entails. For what it's worth, given the premise of the show (and movies) and how everything depends upon the Riggs/Murtaugh dynamic and each character being strong in his own right, I don't think recasting either one is an actual, realistic option. I think the show moves forward with both Crawford and Wayans or it ends, and that's as it should be, imho. Though the rumors about Wayans are, by comparison, nowhere near as serious, I do think that he could play a role in jeopardizing the show's future if his relationship with Crawford deteriorated to the extent that they weren't any longer on speaking terms as a result of dueling egos or something of that sort. If Wayans' part in that is a direct result of those safety concerns, etc., then that's certainly more justifiable. I think what it all boils down to is that quite a lot has transpired to which we are simply not privy. One doesn't have to pay damages and be forced to deal with anger management issues solely due to one isolated incident (unless it was even more serious than we know). If it were that serious, one wonders why Crawford wasn't fired at the time, or at any time since then before this point, especially if the issues are on-going, people on that set don't want to work with him, he has put others' safety into question, and the list goes on. (Though that may be at least partly due to the union looking into everything.) If all of that is true, that makes the support cast members have shown him even more interesting - sure, they don't want to lose their jobs, but they could also rally around the idea of a recast or some other solution to the problem that doesn't involve them having to seek another source of gainful employment. One likely scenario is that they, too, realize recasting won't work, so they've decided they'll deal with the behind the scenes issues and put on a happy face for the public in an attempt to ameliorate all of this ugliness and the idea that that set has become toxic. In other words, they could be trying to show that they can all get along so that tptb will perhaps not be so inclined to cut their losses and end the show. Even if it were to continue, one wonders if the damage has already been done, so the odds that it will return to even a fraction of its season one glory aren't great. I have to go back to my original thought: unless they can all sit down and hash everything out, and the people in positions of power actually start to do their jobs and rein in all of this inexcusably unprofessional behavior, then they might as well put the show out of its misery.

I can really see that being true. It's fascinating to me how all of this played out - it was all hush-hush, then all of a sudden a blind item, within a couple days it was confirmed, then Crawford's statement and the tidbits about Wayans. Why keep everything quiet only for it all to come out in very short order? Are they trying to avoid fan campaigns and the hue and cry to renew the show if they cancel it by throwing all of this out there as justification for ending it? Did they make it known that renewal will only happen if one of the leads is fired, so the influx of info was dueling smear campaigns (to a certain [arguable] extent) and/or a way to gauge which actor is more popular and how fans react to the notion of a recast? Either way, it's both interesting and deeply stupid that the situation is what it is. Then, too, we have some cast members very, very recently saying nice things to/about Crawford - granted, it was for his birthday, but if he's so horrible, would they acknowledge him at all? As others have mentioned, Hilarie Burton seems pretty fond of him, and even if she didn't directly witness his behavior, she certainly would've heard about it. Given her experience with a hostile work environment in the past, one would think she wouldn't look too kindly on someone who was is currently fomenting just that kind of situation. That said, he's clearly screwed up big time and more than once, and I'm guessing far more has gone on than has been publicly acknowledged. In comparison, Wayans' behavior is egocentric (again, the degree is arguable), and I could see some cast and crew members not being overly fond it, especially when it comes to things like nixing their ability to do table reads. Is it possible that he's not a fan of the fact that Riggs is seen (by some) as the most popular character and that Crawford has gotten more and more involved behind the scenes? I can see that being true, too. The thing is, of the two, it would be far easier to recast Murtaugh, since with Riggs, they'd have to find someone who can juggle the edge, charm, rakishness, and emotionality, all while having that all-important rapport/chemistry with his costar. When they first cast these two, it was lightning in a bottle - I'm not at all sure they can do that again when it comes to recasting. It would actually probably be easier to recast both, and start the first episode of next season with two guys looking at a script, saying they can't believe that's how Scorsese sees them, and that he needs to pay better attention to them and start over. Anyway, I'm actually kind of bitter that this has happened. They gave us such a great first season, got us excited for the potential of things to come, and then all of this bad behavior just ruined it. Unbelievable.

Wow. I had been wondering why on earth this show went so rapidly downhill this season, and why the lightness, charm, chemistry/rapport, and progress in all things that we saw last season were thrown out the window. I guess this explains it. I don't know what it is about actors on television the past few years, but it seems like actors' disputes with one another have been allowed to derail - or at least noticeably (and negatively) impact - numerous shows. I'm sure things of this nature have gone on since the birth of television, but between The Good Wife, Castle, NCIS, and now Lethal Weapon (to name just a few), this has gotten out of hand. It is the actors' jobs to, oh I don't know, act. If they don't like a scene partner, they are paid to act as though they do. All of this stuff leading to actors not filming together, wanting one another fired, not speaking, and the list goes on, is absolute garbage, imho. That this particular situation has gotten to the point where cancellation seems to be a very real possibility - and this comes after they have (in my view) thoroughly tanked this entire season - is ridiculous and inexcusable. That said, as others have mentioned, the fault doesn't just lie with an overly passionate, prone to outbursts actor, or with another actor whose head seems to be firmly implanted up his own posterior and whose ego basically sucks all of the oxygen out of the room - the powers that be, with the show, the network, etc. - are all to blame for this; none of them has done his or her job since things have deteriorated on that set to this extent. For what it's worth, I think there needs to be a sit down with all parties involved, authority from the higher ups needs to be asserted, and the showrunner, et. al., have to be held accountable and have to take control of things. If that won't or can't happen, then I say the show is done. Yes, a recast is possible (and it's happened on other shows), but this one was so utterly dependent upon the Riggs/Murtaugh dynamic last season, and with everything that's happened since.... I'm not sure a new partnership (between lead actors) could capture the necessary chemistry to not only keep people watching but also perhaps woo back those who have given up on the show. Either way, what a mess. What a shameful, utterly unnecessary mess.

This episode really made me wonder if Blake is who she appears to be. She was laying it on so thick with the earnest, saccharine, schmoopy speechifying, and thus far, she can appear to do no wrong (albeit in a totally bland, boring kind of way). At this point, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she betrays Roman in some way, either revealing that she's all in with her father's evilness (hence the joint schmoopfests that stopped just short of the three of them holding hands and bursting into a rousing rendition of "We Are Family"), or as mentioned ^^ that she's some sort of law enforcement asset/spy/whatever. (Either of those scenarios would actually make it possible that the text messages of doom to the assassins were a misdirect of some sort, and we wind up seeing a flashback that shows that message came from Blake [or Crawford, or both] and Roman was doing...something else.) So it all ends with her true nature being revealed to Roman, which leads to either a.) a Roman who has lost absolutely everything and then dies, or b.) a Roman who feels like he's lost everything, only for Jane to swoop in and save him, thus showing him that - regardless of her words to him in this episode - they're still family. If any of the above is true, it would be nice if they show this is all part of Roman's plan, and he hasn't thrown everything (including his brain) away and been supremely duped for true love. Also, Avery can go away any time now.