Black Knight

And who can forget the college scandal in which some parents pretended their kids would be participants on this or that sports team precisely because the academic requirements don't matter for athletic prospects? They bribed sports directors/departments/coaches to tell admissions that this academically underachieving student was an athletic prospect for X team and so to please admit said kid. That's how Lori Loughlin got her two daughters into USC.

Poor Janine - learning to say "sit down" in an authoritative voice was one of her professional successes last season, and now it's in a commercial as a bad thing. Barbara's high-five in the commercial was great. I was glad Janine shut Gregory down when he was pulling that passive-aggressive nonsense. Loved that Gregory is still working in the garden, and his reaction to being caught in the act was hilarious. If Jacob ever catches him, he will never hear the end of it. Tariq not only doesn't know Janine's favorite movie, he can't even come up with strong guesses. I mean, Up wasn't a totally terrible guess, but Us? There is no way Janine's favorite film would be a horror one.

There are lots of bad landlords and property management companies out there who don't do what they're supposed to do. It would not surprise me if Janine has that kind of living situation. For what she can afford at her income level, it is a total crapshoot whether you will have a good landlord or property management company.

Not only was it an extremely funny and heartwarming episode in itself, I also really liked the Gareth loose end being resolved. It's been many years since I saw the Goliath episode, but I remember feeling like the ending of it didn't land right and that maybe it should've ended with Xena going off after Gareth. So I was very pleased when that was resolved in this episode, perhaps due to fan complaints. I remember on the Xena mailing list I wasn't the only one who'd felt that way about the Goliath ep.

Especially since Duke no doubt expected he'd be one-and-done, like most prospects of his caliber. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. These guys can just be plugged into the easy-As classes for their one year before they turn pro.

I don't think that was necessary. Lawrence knew the metadata from the video he sent June would be used to find the location of the Wife School. The American planes were naturally going to take the shortest route from Canada to Gilead to reach the Wife School, to minimize the time spent airborne in Gileadean airspace. So knowing where to position the anti-aircraft equipment was trivially easy to determine. But additionally, Tuello had "sources" that were clearly compromised, feeding him false information about Gileadean radar and a "window of opportunity" for the planes to fly in. I agree a win for the good guys would be nice. It's one reason I wish we didn't have a sixth season of this show to get through. A contrast between June and Serena in this episode struck me on further thought. At the fertility center opening, Serena cheerfully talks up Gilead with no qualms, because she's all about herself - she loves the adulation she's getting, she doesn't care aside from how it affects her personally that Gilead is a terrible place, and she has no lines she won't cross for her primary goals of elevating herself and keeping her son with her. June refuses Lawrence's demand to talk up Gilead, because as much as she wants to be with Hannah she has moral lines she won't cross, like promoting an evil dictatorship. She's not a saint, but she's not a sociopathic narcissist either.

Given that Rose's father is a "top Commander" per Nick, the Wife's comment was...unwise, to say the least. She's lucky Rose seems to be a nice person.

She's held onto her old name and not only remembers how to write it, she actively wrote it down in this episode in a huge violation of Gilead law. The show wanted us to see that she's far from totally brainwashed. Her age now likely helps; that's the age when children often start pushing boundaries and are not so willing to just believe what adults/authority figures say.

Yes, I posted in the last episode thread that I felt Lawrence was going to be a "big death," and this episode made me more certain of that. He talked again about his plan to reform Gilead step by step. The show wrapped up the one remaining loose end he and June had: She told him about her part in Eleanor's death, and we got confirmation that he'd always known that. (Important because it means June's confession isn't a way of causing him to drop his idea of reforming Gilead and instead going all in on the horribleness of it.) And the show established that Naomi is resentful of him for Warren's death. I think she will play a part in his downfall. The moment where she clocked that he's still wearing his wedding ring from Eleanor was interesting. My guess is he will die in the finale. If so, it was nice of the show to give Bradley Whitford this episode to direct on his way out the door. The Wheelers making Serena feel insignificant gives me life, but obviously that wasn't going to go on forever. I'm sure she'll somehow end up at June's asking her to hide her and her son and June will agree because the baby is innocent blah blah and shouldn't be separated from his mother. And we're just going to pretend that sociopathic narcissists aren't one of the worst kinds of parent for a child to have. Not that the Wheelers should be raising him either. I wish they'd explain about the Martha at the Wheelers. Is she a paid servant that just goes along with being called a "Martha"? Is she a prisoner? Judging by her looks and behavior in this episode, she does not seem like a true believer. So suddenly the border between Canada and Gilead is well-defined and enforced again, with the American planes shot down as soon as they cross. (But it's still totally easy for Nick and June to meet up wherever the hell they're meeting - Gilead? Canada? No Man's Land?) Good job on the casting for the captain of the flight. I knew he was a dead man walking, but the actor made a strong impact in the few seconds of screentime they gave him of establishing his character as a competent, good-hearted hero whose death is a real loss to the world. His poor daughter. They've really timed the arc (if I can even call it that) with the protestors poorly. It would have made much more sense if they'd been at something like a 5, appearing more frequently earlier in the season, and then the military action Lawrence referenced that Nick is leading against Canada occurs, and then the protestors ratchet up to 11. Instead they were basically introduced in the last episode (minus a brief mention or two from characters earlier in the season) already at 10 and now they're shooting at a little girl. The show should have had the Gileadean military action against Canada take place first.

I can't begin to fathom what's wrong with Irving. But yeah, for whatever reason he buys into whatever conspiracy theories he finds and he's surrounded himself with yes men. I don't blame Nash for wanting out. Yeah, he wasn't a good coach, though it's interesting to contemplate how it might have been if two of his stars didn't view themselves as not needing a coach and didn't just want to play iso-ball all the time, but he seems like a decent guy who didn't deserve the lunacy he had to deal with. And if the Nets are seriously looking at hiring Udoka, with all the drama they already have on their hands, then they really deserve whatever they get. Udoka took Boston to the Finals last year, yet not only did they suspend him for a full season, they're now willing to let him walk, without asking compensation, to a major rival (although granted the Nets don't scare anyone right now). That tells you the Celtics are dead certain that Udoka did a lot worse than have consensual sex with a subordinate.

I just finished this episode. Sarah’s lecture would explain why the vampires are not sensitive to crosses. That’s a religious thing and the condition, as Sarah presented it, is not religious. I was struck, when the three women went to try to get the ferry , at the inversion of the Maiden, Mother, Crone archetype. Sarah is a maiden because as a lesbian, she has never “known a man.” Erin is a mother who has never given birth because her baby was wiped away by vampire infection. And the crone, due to vampire infection, is now a young woman again! I was genuinely surprised when Sarah’s mother was carried off by the “angel,” because I think Sarah is the Monsignor’s daughter and I’ve been waiting for her mother to reveal that. But I guess the revelation can still come from him. He obviously knows, it’s why he’s stared at Sarah all her life, not because she’s gay, but because she’s his daughter. I’m going to rewatch the midnight mass-acre once more because it was so good, and then on to the finale!

Mini Golf Masters sounds like a fun challenge. The possibilities for cool builds are endless. I wonder if the teams will get to pick their own theme or if they draw one. Gosh, do you think the Wrecking Balls challenge will feature teams' Lego builds getting smashed? So original!

I was wondering just this morning if, since the Bucs are clearly not going to win a Super Bowl this year, Brady would choose to retire after the season was done in order to save his marriage or if he would play again next season, likely with a new team, in an attempt to win another SB and be able to retire on top. Now that it's official that the divorce has been finalized, there's no reason for him not to return next season. I'm sure he does not want to go out with a whimper. Obviously he should have retired in 2021 after his SB win then; he'd have gone out on top and he'd still have his marriage. Let the Tom Brady sweepstakes begin. Yes, he's been a little off this season, but teams who have a contending roster and just need an upgrade at QB will be more than willing to attribute most of this season's issues to Bucs team composition, coaching, and some personal upheaval with his marriage dissolving.

An interesting point about the knee-breaking that I imagine most viewers wouldn't know - I certainly didn't when I watched it, and thought Caesar was adding unnecessary insult to injury - is that it was actually intended to spare the crucified person a long drawn-out ordeal. To put it crudely, they died faster if their knees were broken. It was a form of "mercy" not granted to every crucified person.

The mop dog was actually a wise pick, so long as a team knew how to do that look, which that team did. The mop obscures so much that sculpting the face and body would be easier, plus the mop itself is distinctive and difficult enough that as long as you don't blow it completely you will stay comfortably out of the bottom 2. I've seen enough videos of dogs who didn't want to leave the dog park yet being dragged along the ground by their leashes to allow the dalmatian crouch for that reason alone. LOL I wasn't sure if the teams whose dogs fell apart on the runaway who then made the decision to just carry the dog without trying to fix it first weren't allowed to try to fix it, or if they just knew after the first team's experience that five minutes wouldn't be enough anyway and so they chose to skip it. I am the farthest thing from a Lego expert, but from the way teams have talked over the years I've always had the impression that structural issues like that simply cannot be fixed quickly. I appreciated the teen team explaining the SNOT technique. More of that, please.

SJP plays the sexpot witch of the trio. Her character's also the one who sings the "come little children" song that lures the kiddies, so maybe Barbara's church is taking that one lunatic mom who was ranting about the power for spells to come through the TV too seriously.

I loved the way they played on horror movie tropes with the sugared-up kids as the "villains" necessitating all the running around, searching, hiding and so forth of the teachers. And also big props to Quinta Brunson for getting this bit in. I loved that she did it fast instead of calling attention to it. Of course Jacob's costume was wage theft. LOL

That's usually more along the lines of having character actors do one minor role after another, though, as opposed to re-using people who had major roles and were extremely recognizable. I think they just wanted to make it fun for the audience. Using the same guy for Caesar and Cupid is hilarious.

When June was running joyfully back to the house, I honestly expected she'd arrive to find that it'd been firebombed and Luke and/or Moira were dead. Since that didn't happen, like you I now assume something terrible will happen during the raid. I liked Luke's point about not bringing Nichole into Gilead, and I noticed June didn't argue it. I think Lawrence is misjudging Nick's POV a lot here. No, Nick would not like to have both his wife and June in proximity, and I'm guessing he would also probably prefer that his daughter with June stay safely away from Gilead. It's hard to tell, with the real-world references when the show is set in an alternate timeline, what exactly is going on in the THT universe. Like the point about Gorbachev being followed by Putin. Plus Lawrence was using Hong Kong as an example of how New Bethlehem would be, and was arguing that the more modern New Bethlehem would spread into Gilead, but as we know, in the real world that's not how it's played out with his chosen analogy. Has it not been the same way in the THT universe? Or is the point more that the writers are giving foreshadowing about what we should expect to happen with New Bethlehem? Lawrence was going on about his "400-point plan," which combined with the real world references makes me think he's going to be a big death soon. I'll miss Bradley Whitford, whose delivery of "Do you have an irony deficiency?" was priceless. (And in classic narcissist style, that didn't deter Serena one bit from saying essentially the same thing that provoked Lawrence's comment to June later. I liked the contrast between Lawrence and Serena, between actual self-awareness and narcissism, between genuine remorse and self-pity.)

TMZ says some kind of medical emergency while he was driving. So sad.

I’m no expert, but I figured it had to do with kindergartners not being able to hold it in as well as older children. Hence, proximity.

Not always. Henry VIII is one prominent example, dumping Anne of Cleves immediately after their wedding because he wasn’t attracted to her, and otherwise always marrying women he was really interested in. Victoria famously was hit by the lightning bolt when she met Albert. And it was usual for monarchs to be presented with portraits of prospective partners if they lived far away. In regards to Alicent, she did encourage both Viserys and Rhaenyra to engage with each other, which heightened the chances of Viserys telling his daughter he was considering her BFF as wife #2. I do wonder if that was her way of trying to deep-six the possible marriage. Or to at least give Rhaenyra the heads-up that Viserys had implicitly forbidden Alicent from giving. It seems like Rhaenys would have been a better ruler than Viserys.

Now that the first season is at an end, I’m finally watching so that I can just do a binge! The one comment I have for this episode that I haven’t already seen mentioned is the nice bit of character-building for Alicent at the tourney. We see that she sincerely cares for her brother, and is upset when Daemon pulls that shitty maneuver that might have really hurt her brother. But when Daemon then asks for her favor, she sucks it up and gives it to him with a smile. She is very politically-minded already.

Since Janine irritated them by showing up to their meeting, maybe they decided to sabotage her efforts...

I expect the guy in gloves is Ciprien, the Michael+Aaron combined character. But as for Mona, if I remember correctly she didn't come until the second book. Rice might have name-checked her in the first book as one of the many Mayfairs floating around, but I don't remember her having an (execrable) storyline until the second book. They'll have to cast her at some point because she's critical for combining the Witches and Vampires universes into one. But Louis and Lestat are pretty busy for now. It seems like Mona wouldn't be needed for a couple of seasons.