PamelaMaeSnap

Thanks, Chocolatine ... I'm still trying to stay sort of unspoiled until I rewatch the first three episodes again more cogently and maybe even with a pad and paper with me since there are so many things I'm trying to make mental notes of but in full disclosure, since a stroke a few years ago my memory is a hazy and unreliable thing so I've gone from being considered among my near and dear as being the closest thing to a photographic "don't argue with her if she says she remembers something" memory person to someone's doddering old grandma (without the good matzoh ball soup recipe). The temptation is even there to reread the book yet ANOTHER time before taking another crack at the show ... just reading the comments in this thread I'm thinking things like "wow, I did NOT remember that from the book" or "I must have missed that" or "really? that happened?" and I swear I read it at LEAST four times, maybe more. One more Q ... assuming from both vague memory of the book and my take on the exterior shots that Gilead is New England, possibly/probably Cambridge, definitely northeast. They say the only "United States" that are left are Alaska and one other (presumably Hawaii, as someone else mentioned) ... so, what/where are the colonies? Is that everywhere else? Is it the south? Has that been addressed either in the show (while I was sleeping) or in the book (in a space in my memory no longer accessible?)

Forgive me if I either missed this or it's addressed later ... I was thinking that too during the show but then I wondered ... well, we hear the shots, and in the book she does know he's shot but doesn't know if he died. Did I miss that we KNOW he died (I admit to having drifted off a few times while bingewatching the first three episodes and am going to re-watch each one when I'm more awake) or does she assume he died or are WE to presume he died ... but is it possible that he IS indeed still alive?

I am SO excited about this (yeah, I have no life ... but I only watch a few shows religiously and one just ended, Feud, and this season's American Crime and The Americans are almost over). Staying as unspoiled as possible but did read an interesting article about this yesterday (I think in the WaPo) about how, since it's a series instead of a film, they're exploring a lot of subplots more extensively, PLUS it's not from the single POV of Offred, so there are storylines that can be explored separately without her having to have witnessed them. I remembered that when my daughter graduated college and moved to LA, where she was living in a studio and focusing on her music and didn't know many people--plus, didn't want to spend the money on a full cable plan or buy a TV so ONLY had Hulu and her laptop LOL--I bought her, as one of her housewarming gifts, a stack of what I called MY version of the "great books series" -- books I thought she really should read and would enjoy (she was never a big reader but she'd have time on her hands and solitude). I remembered one of them was Handmaid's Tale. Talked to her yesterday and of course she still hadn't read it but I strongly urged her to do so before watching the series (which I know she's going to watch). Do you think I made a mistake? Should she be watching it "unspoiled"? I'm thinking, from my own perspective, that having read the book (four or five times now, to be honest) will make viewing how they handle it as a series even more compelling rather than already spoiled.

Thanks for the clarification, people! That makes so much sense and I had missed it ... fell asleep before last night's airing of the new episode so looking forward (if you can "look forward" to such a wrenchingly painful show) to watching it later today or tomorrow.

Whew ... I've been so slammed with work and stuff that I JUST settled in to watch Grey's now and saw it "hadn't recorded" (my words, not my TV's) and I freaked out. Especially since I saw it's on NEXT week so thought it had just malfunctioned or maybe done one of those things where I'd set it to record three things. I feel much better now (though I was stoked to watch an ep).

This may sound like a stupid question but it was something that occurred to me to wonder about while I was watching the scene, and could not find it addressed anywhere here (sorry if I missed it!) and then yesterday when hubby and I were discussing the episode I asked him and he said he had also been wondering about this, so here goes ... So, I understand that Shae was trying to figure out why she was making less money than some of the others. Here is how I inferred the rest of it ... from what I could figure out she was looking at Tracy's page and I guess saw all the really sexy "come hither" photos, etc. Maybe she felt her own pictures were not hot enough to be getting as many hits or "tokens" or whatever as Tracy's. This is where it kind of lost me ... But if she could see Tracy's page and her pictures on her own computer, WHY did she have to go onto TRACY'S computer and log into it? Was she looking to see whether she (Tracy) was getting a lot more hits and a lot more tokens than she (Shae) was? Or was she looking to see if she (Tracy) was actually getting pretty much the same amount of tokens but was being paid more money? Could anyone figure out why she (Shae) felt the need to go snoop on Tracy's computer to start with? Not that Tracy's reaction was rational but that's no surprise ...

I was also kind of taken aback by how Becca went OFF on Floyd with the passport issue. I mean, yes, he screwed up but I thought her reaction was extreme. I'm glad they (he) weren't (wasn't) eliminated but am wondering about how many Becca personalities exist there. And while I have not read spoilers or speculation or anything so have no idea if anyone has either suggested this or not, but somehow I got this sneaking suspicion watching the most recent episode that at some point in the not-too-distant future they might throw a wrench into the works with the pairings ... Since, unlike previous seasons, there are no real "relationships" or loyalties that would be compromised once taping is over, perhaps they'll either force everyone to re-team or give one winning team the option to choose new partners and see what the trickle down effect will be.

Watched the first two episodes and am LOVING this ... hope it can keep it up ... having covered minor league baseball for 30 years (yup, saw a few games at Luther Williams Field back in the day) I love the line it is managing to straddle between completely awesomely ridiculous and completely awesomely accurate! I tend to be very overly picky about films/TV shows that purport to be about the minors because they so rarely get it right (Bull Durham was close, the underrated and relatively unknown Sugar was my personal favorite and closest to hitting the mark) ... since this doesn't pretend to be "real" I am not being picky and yet there's still (ironically) a lot of realism ...

After seeing how much I am loving this season, I absolutely will! Thanks! BTW ... am I the only person who finds the similarity between titles American Crime and American Crime Story really confusing?

Because of some of the trailers and previews, we already know that things are going to get worse for Gabriella. I had thought we were being led to believe that Nick was the "bad guy" but realizing now that Clair is at best batshit crazy and at worst pure evil ... did anyone else get a sense that perhaps "little Nicky" is not the result of mazillions of dollars of IVF treatments (not that she didn't spend the money on them) but perhaps was "acquired" in other ways? Also, as someone who grew up (many many moons ago) with French being the mandatory primary language learned at my school starting in 5th grade (in NYC in the 1960s), and Spanish an elective starting in junior high, I find it so odd that someone would be so set on making sure their child learned FRENCH at an early age rather than Spanish. My biggest regret is not having taken Spanish because I was afraid I'd mix up the two languages. Finally, when Shae opted not to go through with her abortion, I was surprised that Kamara did not at least consider the possibility that she might still consider giving the baby up for adoption (especially if she could set up some sort of open adoption where she could still have some sort of communication down the line with the child). It just went from no abortion to her raising the child herself, which she never actually said she wanted to do AFAIK ... just that she didn't want to go through with the abortion. I did not watch the earlier seasons of this show but while some of the stylistic decisions are bugging my film-fanatic husband, I'm totally hooked based on the characters and the acting.

My three all-time favorite teams were, like many of you, Chip & Kim, as well as the Globetrotters and, finally, Gus and Hera, who caught my attention at the get-go of their season because they are VERY local to me. I've seen several folks reference them in this thread, so thought I'd share this news, giving them at least a tiny bit of closure in an unimaginable tragedy: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/joaquin-rams-found-guilty-in-2012-murder-of-15-month-old-son/431029497

THANK YOU for starting this thread ... I can attest that I am anticipating madly, as are my daughter AND my husband ... and it's a very rare meeting in the middle of that three-way Venn Diagram when all three of us fall madly in love with a pilot. That it was a Palladino production certainly gave it cred as GG was a huge part of my daughter and my history, but I really cannot remember a pilot or single episode of anything I enjoyed as much as I did this, and I think it has so much potential to spawn so many different side plots. I grew up as a (maybe not so) nice Jewish girl in Manhattan in the 60s (and 70s) so there's also that nice bit of familiar nostalgia for me. Getting the text from our daughter with the announcement it had been picked up for TWO seasons was one of the highlights of 2017 for me so far ... do we know air date yet?

Thanks for this. I have enough trouble keeping all the storylines straight from week to week, no less season to season (brain injury which affects memory) but as a sportswriter, I SHOULD know team nicknames and I got hung up on "What Kings?" We have lived in the DC metro area since 1989 but I'm pretty sure we didn't have a local Kings team in this area that someone would refer to so flippantly even before that ... the only Kings I could think of were Sacramento ... why THIS bugged me I have no idea. Oh, also, re: the comments about Margo and Gabriel? Not to sound completely creepy or inappropriate but as someone who had a huge crush on Frank Langella as a tween, I'd still hit that. Finally ... and I can't imagine this hasn't been discussed to death in other threads but ... I had been wondering why Henry had been just ignored the first few episodes and then here I was absolutely convinced this couldn't be the same actor ... but given the cast list it is ... has any TV teen ever gone through such a rapid and stunningly extreme puberty in one off-season? He looks NOTHING like Season 4 Henry IMHO ... and he shows none of the wear and tear of awkwardness. Maybe they just held off a few episodes to let him finish his emerging from the cocoon?

My hope beyond hope is that since this is a one-and-done and "The Americans" has re-upped for at least one season after this, they'll re-explore Martha in Moscow NEXT season.

Actually, I think Jackie Hoffman is playing Mamacita ... she's kicked ass in all sorts of character roles, most recently as Esther, one of the two employees Rory Gilmore "inherited" when she took over as editor at the Stars Hollow Gazette. Funny thing, when I saw her I first thought it was Rose Abdoo (Gypsy in Gilmore Girls) but knew I hadn't seen her name in the credits. ETA Anna Marie Brinke was actually the REAL name of Mamacita, and that Germanic feel probably explains her comment about "1937 -- Hitler." But I agree, she is coming as close to stealing a movie from these two as anyone could.

Also? Hannah looked SO much better on the show with her hair kind of messy in a bun, looking like a normal person, than she does all "glammed up" in that photo ... I didn't even recognize her. Meanwhile, I've got "Second Chances" lined up ready to roll on my DTV. DAMN my daughter for turning me on to this show.

I agreed with you for about six hours ... until I saw the post right above this one. All "respect" (being a relative thing) for Tyranny gone bye-bye now. Maybe we can start a petition to make Jaylan the next "Bachelor"?

Was it just me, or did they take FOREVER to reveal the biggest (not)-shocker re: Alicia and Eddie? I figured they should have LED with that. It seemed to me almost like an afterthought. I'd watch a show just about Jaylan and Tyranny. They need their own spinoff. I'd also watch a show that did nothing but show still photo montages of Oswaldo. Yes, I apparently am a dirty old woman but that man is FIIIIIIINE.

Especially since, at the point she was shopping, she didn't know if she'd get the pork bellies or not so she might have wanted to rethink the iffy dessert (she seemed to know from the get-go she was taking a big chance with flan since she admitted later, IIRC, that she had never actually made it!) ... now I may be overthinking this or misremembering the order of what they did, and giving too much credit to the possibility of being able to change direction on the fly like that. But if I'm shopping and realize that one of my planned courses may have gone in the crapper, I'd probably shift gears and go with a dessert that I could make in my sleep.

This! I understand (I think) why Shirley didn't choose Sylva to be her sous chef, if she was still smarting over the agave snafu, but I was surprised that neither chose Jim. That trio was also my favorite three and I would have been happy with any of them winning as well. Also, Brooke just won me over a little with her using "vagina-block." LMAO.

A few wrap-up thoughts (and apologies because one of them is about LCK and I know there's a separate LCK thread but I think this is more relevant to this convo) ... I like the idea that something like LCK exists because sometimes a really deserving cheftestant will get eliminated for something(s) like one small mess-up, or someone else having immunity, or any variety of events when they've otherwise been consistently creative and strong. I'd hate to see that keep someone out of the mix. That said, I'd also like to see something a little more even-handed in how LCK is handled ... maybe blind judging (because I think one thing we can all agree on, or ALMOST all of us can agree on, is that TC absolutely has his favorites and TC's opinion at panel tends to outweigh everyone else's in the long run) ... Or maybe having some sort of "point system" based on finishes while still on TC that could be used closer to the middle-end to rank the eliminated cheftestants (say, A points for each quickfire win, B points for each QF top 3, C points for each elimination win, D points for each elimination Top 3, and XYZ points deducted for being B3 in either round) who would then compete in bigger group competitions (not unlike the final two four-course meal) to make it back. I know that sounds confuzzled but it just might be able to work if better minds than mine worked out the details. It could also provide a great two hours or so of prime time TV between the pre-final elimination than making us go watch it on our laptops. I was not a fan of Brooke but I'm not really sure how much of it was because of her personality and how much was because the nanosecond I saw she was one of the cheftestants I KNEW she was going to win it all and that colored my perception. I certainly can't say who was/was not the best chef because I didn't taste the dishes ... I can say who made dishes I'd want to eat, but I also have a VERY picky and limited palate (only getting more adventurous in the last few years) so it's not you, it's me, Brooke. The one thing I can put my finger on that she said that kinda bothered me was something along the lines of how close it was when she lost to Kristen, when my recollection of that season was that Kristen was the slammiest-dunkiest of slam-dunk winners I've EVER seen on the show and everyone else was battling it out for second, her LCK visit notwithstanding (I still think that was planned to give the rest of the season a little more drama). So, no, Brooke. You were a DISTANT second at best. I don't know how much of it was the editing monkeys at work, but MAN did they make Shirley look bad the first half of the show (and pretty much most of it). Maybe they knew that there was NO anticipation about who was going to win once Sheldon was eliminated, because I think he was the only one who could have maybe edged out Brooke in head-to-head battle. But they did her (Shirley) no favors at all. So glad Sheldon won Fan Favorite ... he and Sylva by far my two favorite cheftestants and I'd been splitting my votes between them but once Sylva was gone they all went to Sheldon. And I rarely if ever vote for these things. As always, thanks to everyone here on PTV ... I love reading all of your insights and thoughts after episodes! And thanks to the patient mods! See y'all (or most of you) next season!

Without buying into whether there was or was not a conspiracy theory per se, I can't agree with this particular comment ... mainly because my own version of a "conspiracy theory" is simply that TOM wanted Brooke to win from the get-go and in the end, I think, what Tom says goes. He didn't need to "bully" the panel once they were that far into the eliminations and trips to Last Chance Kitchen. He knew he could just wave her through there and get her back into the final 4. No harm, no foul, and she even gets the redemption edit.

I didn't think that Sheldon had a sour puss but rather that now that he wasn't "on" competing, he was bearing down to get the job done. I also wonder if he was still having issues with his back, but that is strictly conjecture. When they were picking sous chefs, Mr. Snap said he was surprised that Sylva was not chosen, but I am guessing that the "vanilla snafu" may have kept Shirley from picking him. I think he's been a great team player and thought her choice of Katsuji was just weird. I know she said it was because he spoke Spanish, but I can't help but think that even more it was because he might have more familiarity with Asian-inspired dishes. I guess my theory that Brooke had an awful childhood (based on her apparent refusal to use "happy childhood memories" for a challenge and not to even be called out on it) was somewhat disproven by the presence of her parents there. And count me in as having gotten visibly teary when Shirley's mom told her she was proud. That was right out of a movie. And HOW OLD IS HER MOM AND HER SISTER or did they just win the genetic pool? Also-also, still think Jimmy is the cutest thing ever ... hoping they can indeed start a family now (hoping Shirley is younger than she looks).

I'm thinking Joey and Cas are one of the matches but what do I know? I also thought Andre and Taylor were a match. I also think Jaylan and Tyranny are a match. And totally agree with whoever said that he'd be a great catch ...