Black Knight

I'm certain she didn't fatally shoot him, because it gives a purpose to her subplot with the organ harvesting. He'll be marked as an organ donor, but she'll be waiting on the other end and will kill the other guards in order to save him. And then their escape will link them up with Gi-Hun and any other survivors trying to get out. Her existence as a character as well as the organ harvesting subplot would otherwise be entirely pointless. I wonder how Front Man would have played things out if Gi-Hun had taken him instead of his best friend. Since he was separated from Gi-Hun, it was easy for him to carry out the sabotage and then dress himself back in his Front Man outfit without ever tipping off Gi-Hun. Trickier to manage shutting down the rebellion without revealing himself if he'd been tag-teaming along with Gi-Hun. We're getting the remaining episodes this year, and they're done and in the can, so I don't mind the cliffhanger. I assume NF isn't going to hold onto S3 for that long - this is really one season dropping in two parts, and when NF has done that before (You for instance) it's not that long before the second part drops.

Strahan was unblocked because Favre called a play where the protections weren't right for what the defense was doing. That's the issue more than his laying down, which as you said was going to happen anyway. I always thought Favre did that because he expected that he was going to get sacked at some point in the game and he wanted it said that he "gave" it to Strahan. And he got what he wanted. A typical unclassy move on his part, but Favre has always been a dude with no class, and ultimately no ethics.

The Broadway version, being a stage show, can do certain things faster than a movie can, because audiences will make allowances for the limitations of the stage. More specifically to Wicked, though, generally Broadway shows get to have an intermission. It's really hard to imagine how a sole movie can go straight from Defying Gravity to Act II. Like many, I've always considered Act II to be weaker than Act I. But getting to have a full movie for Act II may well boost it to Act I levels. I was highly skeptical going in to this movie, having the same complaint as many about why a stage show needed to be made into two movies. But now I absolutely get it, and I disagree with the poster upthread who said the adapters started with the intention of making it two movies and worked backwards from that. The Wicked movie is better than Act I of the stage musical, and now I'm giving the creative team my trust that Act II will justify having its own film, because they've earned that trust with the glory that is the first film.

Ohtani injured his shoulder in the second game and dealt with it the rest of the WS, and had surgery on it a few days after the series ended. I'm not sure why the Dodgers even put him out there again at all, but it was hilarious that he got walked when he couldn't really swing a bat and had to hold his arm in place while moving around the bases so he wouldn't mess his shoulder up further. In any case, that's why the commentators talked about Judge and not Ohtani, because Judge wasn't injured.

The Raiders can't even tank properly. If they somehow squeeze out another win with the new OC, I'm going to be really mad. I'm not a big fan of tanking, but the Raiders are certainly not Super Bowl-bound this year. If they had run up fewer pointless wins last year, they could've gotten a franchise QB. The Saints play the Raiders this season, so Derek Carr could also become the first NFL QB to lose to all 32 teams. I do feel bad in that he's not a guy who's done anything to deserve that kind of ignominy. He's never been in trouble off the field, he doesn't act like a jackass on or off the field, and while he's not a great QB he's also not horrific either. But as far as that last point goes, I guess that's a large part of it - the horrific QBs wash out before they can play all these teams.

Looking at what's happening with Anthony Richardson, I wonder if his story combined with NIL will keep QBs from declaring too early for the draft in future. The Colts knew they were taking on a very raw QB who had not played many games and would be a project, but when other people's jobs and income depend on winning, it's difficult for them to have the necessary patience. But top college athletes can now make good or even great money from NIL, so there will be less pressure for them to declare really early. Was it Belichick or Parcells who said that a college QB should have at least 30 games before going pro?

I think that's overblown. Roughly 61% of her rebounds are defensive, and she rebounds plenty of her teammates' missed shots. I used to play, enough to know it's not really any easier to rebound your own shots, because other players get a chance to position themselves while you're still coming down from getting your shot off, plus when you do land your feet are not in the ideal position for moving quickly in the needed direction. And at 6'3", she's not height disadvantaged but nor is she getting any special advantages from it either. She gets her rebounds because she has a motor and outworks the other players. I do incline towards Clark for MVP because I love what a player great at assists can do for an entire offense.

I feel in some ways, the opening ceremony is more for the athletes than anyone else, and in that sense I feel this delivered. Floating down the Seine seeing the Parisian buildings and landmarks is absolutely what I'd prefer over being in a stadium the whole time. The athletes looked like they were having the time of their life, even in the rain. As far as spectators, well, I don't know that it's really any different from any other parade - you pick a spot and watch everybody pass by. It works fine. It's unfortunate about the rain, but otherwise I'd probably prefer that to sitting in the stadium, probably in a nosebleed seat. At least outside is outside, with all that lovely Parisian scenery. I love Paris and have not been in many years, so I was pretty happy with this as a TV viewer as well.

Yes. And the spotlight is just so much brighter in general. If you ask the average American who doesn't follow gymnastics much to name some gymnasts, they'll come up with multiple female gymnasts through as far back as they've been alive and probably no male gymnasts at all. As a Gen Xer, I can go all the way back to Nadia Comaneci, Olga Korbut, and Mary Lou Retton, as well as many others down to the present with Simone Biles. The only guy's name I can think of is Paul Hamm, and that isn't even so much because he won gold as because there was that whole controversy with the other country complaining. Otherwise I'm sure I would've forgotten his name like I've forgotten the name of every other male gymnast I've ever watched compete, whether they won medals or not. Looking up Nadia Comaneci just now to see what she's up to, I see she married an American gold medalist a while back, yet I only know her name, not his. The levels of fame female vs. male gymnasts achieve in America are just not comparable.

Cats vary wildly and I'm sure their humans know which ones can handle being at such events and which ones wouldn't enjoy it at all. A lot of the cats who were brought out probably participate in cat shows too (many have a household cat division). I go to a local cat show every year and the cats are very chill in their carriers and crates despite all the hubbub and people. Some people let you pet their cats, and there's a costume show at lunchtime.

Yes, they were possible reviews. At first I wasn't sure, but then Cicero showed up talking about how a bad review would cause him to pull the plug on the restaurant. It's interesting in that it showed Carmy's concern (even before Cicero showed up) was about the restaurant getting a bad review, while Syd is not concerned about that and is instead simply worried that Carmy is going to get all of the credit. I know Syd said she doesn't have a lawyer, but it was unethical from the start for Natalie and Carmy to say that Pete should look at the contract for her. Pete is part of their family, not Syd's - it's a huge conflict of interest. A little too much of the Faks. And Claire remains a symbol instead of a person.

Yeah, I pretty much took the woman Richie called at her word when she said it seemed like Terry woke up one day and just didn't want to do it anymore. The restaurant business is a grind, she's accomplished everything, she's ready for the next phase of her life. I haven't minded the Faks up to now, but the new dude they brought in right after having the new dude that was played by John Cena was too much. If they're going to bring in another Fak it needs to be the woman Sugar hates, not yet another Fak man. What Carmy and Syd have at this time isn't a true partnership, but neither is what Shapiro is offering, and what Shapiro is offering doesn't have any potential of turning into a true partnership. I think that's what'll tip the balance for Syd towards the restaurant with Carmy, because I assume Syd is not leaving this show. Later in Syd's career I could see her wanting to be the sole decision-maker/creative voice, but right now she wants to bounce ideas back and forth with someone. Carmy doesn't always listen to her enough, but Shapiro wants to be totally hands-off.

Awww, my heart! I loved every minute of this episode, although poor Tina. I think it was important that this took a full episode. So much of The Bear is about capturing the rhythms of life - inside a busy kitchen, inside a dysfunctional family, and now inside the experiences of an older woman who's just been laid off and is trying to find another job. About two-thirds of the ep was spent on that and the final third on her conversation with Michael, which was important in multiple ways, from showing us more sides to Michael to how it wasn't actually a pity offer from him. I was a little surprised in that she was such a natural part of the crew from the pilot on that I thought she had spent a lot of years at the restaurant, like Michael and Richie. Although, she started in 2018, so I guess it was some years. I worked in my stepfather's restaurant in my high school and college years and now that I think about it, it doesn't really take a lot of time for people to bond and become part of the group (unless they're just not going to work out at all) because the hours are long and so much teamwork is necessary. I've also really enjoyed looking again at certain key moments from previous seasons and considering how this episode has added to my perspective of those moments. Specifically, when Tina did a little kitchen hazing of Syd in S1, her reaction when Syd offered her the sous chef position, and going out with the younger people from the chef school. Awww, my heart!

Yes, I was totally with Syd. As for Carmy's new ambition, I took it as he feels he lost Claire over this, so now he has to get a Michelin star for it to be worth it. Plus throwing himself into the restaurant is good distraction from his heartbreak. Glad to see nearly everybody else remains obsessed over Claire Bear.

It's not so much that I don't like Claire, it's that I'd like her to be an actual character instead of simply a point the show is making. She's been written to have no dimensionality outside of apparently being awesome, and the reason I have to put "apparently" in is because the show just told us instead of showing us (though I suppose the little vignette of her giving a kid a shot is an attempt to correct this). Because again, they aren't interested in writing her as a character, they're just writing her as a point they're making about Carmy. It's the same basic problem as when writers fridge a character or write a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I'm not really sure why they don't want to actually write for Claire, though. They can still make their point, and actually make it more effectively, if they write for her. Even most of the tertiary characters get more dimensionality. It's an odd failing on the writers' parts.