PamelaMaeSnap

While I've felt the judges have been giving Sunshine Unicorn WAY more than her due, looking like they're chugging the crazy-cakes Kool-Aid for her, I still think that Sebastian is going to win this thing (well, 90% sure and 10% wishful thinking). I'm not convinced that she would have won this week's challenge with the usual judging team, either. Marti, the famous stylist I've never heard of, is even more ridiculous looking than S.U. so I'm sure she was throwing her votes her way. But seeing as how, as long as they're not auf'ed, everyone goes into each challenge on equal footing, S.U. won't have an official advantage as she racks up bizarro-world wins, I just can't fathom it continuing like this. I'm convinced that this is a show, a pantomime, a sham of a travesty of a sham to keep viewers on their toes and frothing at the mouth about the results, while the classy, gifted, multi-facteted Sebastian consistently turns out fabulous work that gets zero love and appears to fly under the radar. I'm calling a Sunshine-Sebastian showdown where he kicks her ass from here to Rainbow Briteville in the final collection.

Yes!!!!! She could pull off the man's suit and kippot look just as effortlessly as Okafor did this week!!!

Cousin Mercedes is my favorite person EVER on this show and quite frankly as of now one of my favorite people on "reality TV" these days. He's kind, good-natured and patient (and a good-looking guy to boot). I wondered if I was imagining some mild issues with his arms (though he still gets a lot done) ... can't help but think he'd make a wonderful caregiver and wonder if perhaps he doesn't have a full-time job but might be on some sort of disability, since he's able to come take care of his cousin on short notice. Also, her kids seem kind and caring as well. Also-also, per what someone mentioned about the stilted narration, I also noticed that with Cilla ... I don't recall the show being QUITE as annoyingly scripted. I'm rooting for Mercedes but not optimistic ... still, maybe having loving and supportive family in her cousin and kids might be the kicker here. Fingers crossed.

Two questions/topics I'd love to throw out here for clarification or just thoughts from those who might be interested or know the answers: 1) Is it totally my imagination or has the "size scale" slid upwards in, say, the last 40 years or so? One poster mentioned that she had worn a size 6 or 8 her entire life. I keep thinking that items that were, say, a 10 or 12 or 14 when I was young might now be an 8 or 6 or even a 4. I don't know if the average adult woman now versus 1970 or 1980 is bigger, wider, taller, "curvier" or whatever, or if designers are more afraid of offending people and thereby calling them a smaller size to make them feel better or it's totally in my head. I can't use my own self as a reference because, as mentioned, I have an older woman's body that has seen yoyo-dieting, baby-having, lox-like-living and gravity take its toll, so the boobs that were once horizontal are vertical and the tummy that was flat (ish) ... isn't, and where I once was ridiculously slim-hipped I now have a butt. So I can't really use my own size then vs. size now because I've gotten somewhat bigger but have REALLY redistributed. But, for example, Little Snappy is really curvy (not plus-sized, but super-generously-curvy) and she wears a Size 4, despite being way more bootylicious than I ever was even when I starved myself down to a 6. 2) I may have missed someone (or more than one person) mentioning this but since I don't really know much about just how much fabric is priced, how much more it might take to dress, say, a Kate versus a petite model, but does anyone think that that ever might factor into a designer's decision? Especially after we just saw someone (was it Bishme?) go over budget with their fabric and have to scramble at the register under the clock gun. PS Mighty Sparrow, totally with you on Renee. She is the epitome of quiet elegance. I adore her and just hope she doesn't fly TOO far under the radar.

So, after clicking the link and seeing the three designs from this season featured, all with thin and curvy models, Bishme's was the only one of the three that looked just as good on both ... Tessa's was a MESS (though the pose of that model may have been an especially unfortunate one since it looks like she's trying to find a place to "go" in the woods) ... But this makes me think that THAT would be a FANTASTIC challenge ... design an XYZ for both a thin model AND a curvy one that looks equally good on both. Because Jamal's curvy model looked awful. And I'm curvy and short and, now that I'm older, gravity has taken its toll and what would have been va-va-voom on me at 20-30 just looks like kaboom. ETA: Just want to throw this out there and feel free to ignore/shoot it down ... I actually DO think there is (or can be) a difference between "curvy" and "full-sized/plus-sized/fat (or your word of choice here)" though of course someone can be both. When I was younger, I was absolutely CURVY but went through a thin phase (DDD cup size, and skinny as a stick from there down with no hips). I would have been a huge challenge for a designer, and it was almost impossible to find clothes that actually fit from the time I was 17 (when I lost 50 pounds) until I was 30 (and got pregnant, at which point I was literally an L cup according to Lucky Lady). After that I was a little more evenly distributed even if that meant more to distribute. Now, gravity has taken its toll and all bets are off. In my mind, I guess, "curvy" denotes that they might be "off the rack" size A around the boobs, size B for their waist, and size C for their hips, if that makes sense -- something a designer can work with for a one-off but tough for off-the-rack challenges, while there are plenty of plus-sized folks who are more well-apportioned in that they are the size they are from top to bottom. And this could simply be my wacky world of size nightmares that have left me wearing tent dresses most of my life, since the girls had to fit into it and the rest was left to chance LOL. Oh, also??? I can't remember the exact words, but when Sonia was saying something about "Oh, well, I'll use the kimono in a future challenge," all I could think was ... DRAMATIC CHIPMUNK!!!

I would love to see a rules tweak ... since they score all the designs, maybe a rule that if a designer with immunity ranks on the bottom, no one goes home and ALL THE SCORES go towards the next week's rankings, so the immune designer is already trying to dig themself out of the bottom. Or better yet, screw immunity and just give the winner each week a cool prize (I think that's what they do on Top Chef, right? I can't recall if they get immunity but they have great weekly prizes).

😄😄😄 MORE FOR MEEEEEEE

I really wish that on one of these All-Star editions, instead of recycling some drama mamas for the third or fourth time, they'd bring back Chip and Kim. My favorite winners ever (my favorite team was Flight Time and Big Easy).

I don't mean to sound snarky here but I honestly don't know ... what on earth is wrong with her mouth? Botox gone wrong?

Right on the button with that. I have some truly unfortunate photos of myself from the early '80s with the super-popular Laura Ashley-esque "LFotP" dresses and crimped hair. Or had. Burned 'em. Also, re: the age issue ... I'm definitely not even close to a fashionista (I gave up on that a long time ago, having an impossible figure to dress well and, more recently, no budget or reason to) ... but I've been caught in this wringer the last few months as I needed to find a "Mother of the Bride" dress that didn't look like the "Mother of the Bride" dresses I tended to find when I searched online or in stores ... straddling the border of not looking, for lack of a better word, "frumpy" but also not trying to look like I didn't know I was pushing 60 and that I was, indeed, the mother of the bride. I finally found one, hallelujah, that somehow fell right into the sweet spot ... fits great, really flattering, dressy enough for a Saturday night wedding but not so dressy it will look out of place at a wedding where the bride is wearing a jumpsuit LOL ... it was nothing like I was looking for but exactly what I wanted without knowing it. Now if every PR designer could hit that mark I'd actually go out and look for their items on sale at wherever the winning designer has their wares! Also, PS ... while I would never have chosen Sunshine Unicorn's design as the winner this week, she wasn't quite as obnoxious as usual. I'm still on the Bishme train. And despite it being admittedly costumey (glad he had immunity), I actually thought his design was the most beautiful of the bunch.

We can see from the coming attractions that Ripley is not dead yet, but I do fear they're going to keep this teaser going in the off-season (has this been renewed yet? And is the May 2 cross-event the season finale for both shows???) I actually love the Vic/Ripley pairing. I think the chemistry is great. I'm finding that with most of the characters, my famed willingness to go into non-snark-zone on Grey's spills over to this show as well. But, that said ... here is what puzzles me. Andy is obviously the "main character" around whom the show is built. Is she SUPPOSED to be such an absolutely unlikable character or did the writers/creators just miss the mark with her? She's The Worst. Also, hoping Nikki becomes a regular. Then we'd get more Dean too. Dikki.

I saw what you did there. LMAO. (That said if ANY contestant ever performed FA's "Love Ridden," I'd throw them votes just because.)

If only to bring Afa back I'd be all in. But seriously it sounds fantastic! The last pseudo-international All-Stars season was BS because they may as well have all been from Peoria. I'd love to see an emphasis on "show your culture in your designs"!

As much as I hate to "defend" Rakan, because I'm just not a fan and he seems like such a slobby schlub that it amazes me he's in design, when he first explained his concept, if I understood it correctly, it actually not only made sense to me but sounded like it could have potential ... If I'm misremembering or misunderstood, then totally my bad, but I thought he was saying that at the Syrian "street markets," people bring their goods to sell them ... I imagined, when he was describing it, peasant women dressed in their native garb with their wares, how they'd dress on THAT street, the one with the local markets. I thought it sounded really cool, honestly. It got shorthanded to "farmer's wife" which seemed more like the woman still on the farm milking the cow.

That happened with The Divide! I love this show and would be really disappointed if it's not renewed ... but it seems like no news is NOT good news ... anyone heard anything???

The Colin/Evie of PR!

Is it just me or did they totally make West out to be a real jerkwad this episode? I may be overthinking, but I feel like they kind of have to make at least one of these key characters less sympathetic (with possible character boot before S2) and I worry he may be the one on the bubble.

I wondered about that as well ... at first I thought there just weren't enough sewing machines to go around and that sounded ridiculous ... has there always been a situation in the work room where people had to share certain pieces of equipment? Sounds like a GREAT way to create friction.

Hi, Lorbeer ... I'll do my best here and hopefully you can try to imagine it ... For starters, here is a Wikipedia entry that explains "New York-style pizza" quite well ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York-style_pizza Growing up in NYC in the 60s and 70s, there were dozens ... nay, hundreds ... of hole-in-the-wall pizzerias that lined the avenues. While you could, of course, buy an entire pizza, the more common practice was to buy a slice or two (or more), with whatever toppings you might want (my order was always "two slice plain"). You'd get the slices (or the whole pizza) on a big old tin tray, sitting on slices of waxed paper, hot and bubbling. The slices would be very thin (especially in comparison to the franchises of today a la Dominos, Papa John's, etc.) ... what a lot of people tend to think of as the unique aspect of NY pizza was that you'd pick up the slice and fold it in half, with the tip dipping down and usually dripping oil onto the waxed paper. The cheese would just ooze and stretch (the official slang for it is "cheese pull" but I I seem to recall use of the term stroozle) ... the perfect slice (for me) was the 50-50 combo of hard crust (not like matzo crust but kind of slightly chewy) and bubbling cheese, with just enough tomato sauce underneath. The big danger was "pizza palate," when you couldn't wait long enough for it to cool off to dive in and you burnt the crap out of the roof of your mouth. Thousands have tried to replicate this outside of the greater NY metro area and few have succeeded ... I'd say NYC, Westchester (Roma's in Tuckahoe, which I believe still exists, made killer pizza BUT ONLY SOLD WHOLE PIES, not slices), and northern New Jersey dominated. New Haven pizza is very popular and I like it but it's sort of a different variety. There has been some theory that what makes NY pizza different is the water that's used but I am not sure that "holds water" (sorry). All I can suggest is if/when you come to the US to visit, don't worry about all the tourist traps in the city ... treat yourself to a true great tasting trip ... I bet a lot of us could put together lists of our favorite old-school pizza places (and I'd ALSO throw in a trip to Papaya King hot dogs on 86th and 3rd Avenue but that's a different topic). Anyway ... watching Amelia and Linc at that pizzeria, it looked SOOOO legit my mouth watered (it didn't hurt that I've been on a liquid diet for a few days because of a tongue contusion so seeing two of my favorite foods in one scene was torture). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York-style_pizza

I really and truly thought we'd get a double elimination of Kovid and Jamall and they'd bring back Afa after realizing that they had not taken into consideration that his design last week did in fact do a good job with the challenge in relation to where he is from. They could have looked good by righting their bad and gotten rid of dead weight.

I think my favorite part of this episode was Linc and Amelia eating that pizza. I fess up to being REALLY judgy-judgy when TV shows have people eating "New York pizza" when it is CLEAR that the pizza is nothing of the sort. But in this case, that looked like legit NYP and I loved it and hated it (hated it because I grew up and grew fat on Mimi's Pizza and now, in DC, it's a black pizza hole ... and SO MANY PLACES advertise as having "New York-style pizza" and don't. I can't ask for my money back but it pisses me off. The ONLY place I've ever gone outside of NY/NJ that lived up to the claim was a tiny hole in the wall in Bethany Beach called Pomodoro's (just named the best pizza in Delaware by eatthis so they may not be as obscure soon). On a similar note, I'm totally on the Amelia train for plain glazed donuts. That's on my short list (along, of course, with NYP) as one of five things I'd eat if I could ONLY eat five things for the rest of my life and never get fat or clog my arteries. No sprinkles, no chocolate, nothing else. Just perfect hot plain glazed donuts that melt in your mouth (hence the ability to stuff the whole thing in there). Loved the last scene with her "real" sisters. Wish she'd brought them a box of donuts.

My daughter is an unbiased source because she never watched 90DF, has watched AI since the very beginning (we have friend involved with the show), works in music industry AND is remarkably unsnarky (where did I go wrong?) She's bummed I'm not watching this season because she thinks the finalists are really talented (she likes Madison and Jeremiah to go far). I asked what she thought of Evelyn ... her reaction was that she couldn't stand her style or voice and fast-forwarded through all of her performances and that's without knowing what a smug prig she is

I was on the same page as you but attributed the shots wrong ... I thought he shot the gas station attendant THREE times (the first one didn't kill him and Maddie was trying to help him, then Doug shot two more at him quickly which killed him) and then shot AT Maddie once there and twice while chasing her later ... but DID think at first when he pulled trigger and nothing happened that they had seven shots fired so glad I was wrong. I would be disappointed if they screwed up something that major. RIP Gas Station Attendant. One of the world's most dangerous jobs (I'm not being facetious).

Thanks so much ... I wonder if the episode was written/filmed before the more recent spate of fires and might have been considered a trigger of sorts! One thing I enjoy a lot about the show (as well as "The Rookie") is how many places I recognize (I don't live there yet but spend quite a bit of time there since my daughter moved there in 2011) ... and we'll be moving there in 2020/2021 ... so not a big fan of "LA in flames, film at 11" subplots LOL.

I thought this was a great episode and I cried like a baby. Watched it twice. No shame here. I will snark on 99% of the shows I watch but I am Grey's bitch and go into snarkfree zone for it. Loved that they seemed to focus for just that extra moment on Bokhee when they showed the lineup of women in the hall. Anyway, here is my question which, for whatever reason, occurred to me both times I watched this. I LOVE the relationship that Ben has with Tuck. But does Tuck Sr. have any presence in his son's life anymore? I really liked him ...