PamelaMaeSnap

Excuse me for speculating a possibility for everyone going "what the F is wrong with Joey?" Not starting a rumor. I sincerely doubt, with all due respect, that this thread has enough active readership to create a ripple on Twitter, no less "start a rumor" ... Just tossing out a possible reason or speculation ... just as you can feel free to speculate that they barely knew each other in that school of 4000 and she really couldn't care less about any of this. (And I can say from experience that even in a big school, the music geeks tend to all know each other.)

Not to make any excuses or anything, but Joey was apparently very good friends with Emily Selke which explains why she may have appeared a little bit off, to say the least, during the live show. Imagine finding out something like that while you're preparing for the show. I haven't been able to watch yet because I'm on the 1 a.m. work shift and have been going to sleep at 5 p.m. so am holding off comments beyond that until I collapse into my La-Z-Boy and fast-forward through -- I mean, watch the ep. But did want to share that for those wondering WTF was going on with her.

Thank you for the explanation re: double blind and more details about how such a clinical trial works ... I definitely did not know a lot of that! So, the patients (both those who got the active agent and those who got the placebo) would meet with "investigators" conducting the study over a period of years and only after that time would either of those two sides know who got what ... but the doctors knew in the operating room, according to the script ... But you're saying that in a real clinical trial even the doctors would not know? But what I STILL don't know is whether a second dose (or more) of the drug is administered at later dates ... I guess what I'm getting at is that a LOT of people's lives were potentially ruined by Mer's actions ... the doctors, the hospital, for sure -- and most of all other potential patients and people suffering from Alzheimer's if the drug did turn out to be a possible cure. But if Adele got the active agent, which from what I can tell she did due to Mer's actions, then in effect this should not have affected her adversely per se ... maybe she wouldn't be a participant in the follow-up, but if she got the full dose of the active agent, wouldn't that imply that the drug itself was not working as hoped?

Going back to AnitaM86's comment about Meredith ruining the trial for Adele, I was hoping someone could clarify or clear something up for me ... I'm not sure if I just totally missed this among a mass of input as I've been watching or it wasn't explained ... How was the clinical trial supposed to work? I had thought that the patients would either get the placebo or the active agent in the initial procedure, and then they would "follow up" over the next few years simply to watch the patient and see how they reacted ... Would the patients that had gotten the active agent been getting MORE of the drug? Or just be watched to see what happened? Because we did see Adele get the active agent, and yet obviously her decline was pretty precipitous ... so does that mean that it might have been different if she'd had follow up care as prescribed by the clinical trial? Or does it suggest that the drug didn't really work? If it was the latter (which is what I inferred), then she didn't really ruin it for Adele per se ... just for everyone else. In fact, much as I have no great affection for Meredith, her desire to get the drug to Adele was one of the few sides of humanity I saw in her that I liked.

Candall, one of the things that really struck me during this bingewatch was the realization that I liked Addison SO much more than Meredith. And that, in fact, I really don't like Meredith at all. The other thing is that by watching so many episodes strung together, especially the middle seasons, you see just enough moments where Karev shows his soft side with the kids that it makes his longevity on the show more understandable and makes him less of a one-trick douchepony. Oh, and also? That Loretta Devine simply rocks. That is all. I just finished watching the episode where she insists on moving into Rose Ridge. Not a dry eye in the guest room bed (I've relocated by choice during a week-long work schedule where I'm doing real-time work on the other side of the world ... oh, look. It's 3 p.m. Almost bedtime ... but first today's S8 pre-bed episode!)

I'm also in the midst of a full and complete bingewatch (or re-bingewatch, not sure) via Netflix. I thought I had seen all of the show (and I know I bingewatched it a few years ago). Seeing a bunch of the late-afternoon episodes during the summer of 2012 while on a beach vacation when it was actually too hot to go out and we sat inside and watched Grey's and the Olympics in air-conditioned condo inspired me to rewatch but it took awhile to get around to it. Anyway, I really thought between bingewatch and real time I had seen all of the show but apparently I missed quite a bit here and there ... re-watching it, while I know a lot of the major plotlines (bomb in the chest, Izzie's ghost sex with Denny, George and the bus, etc.), there's apparently a LOT I either missed or forgot. Either way, have been enjoying it immensely, and it's still full of surprises for me (though a little confusing on Thursday nights when I slip in a real-time episode). I had thought I had seen them all and just chalked the surprises up to AARP-brain until two nights ago when I watched "If/Then." I mean, come on. There is no way in the world I would have ZERO recollection of that episode! Loved it. So, I'm exactly midway through Season 8 and of course I DO know basically how it ends, but am wondering now if I may not recall everyone who was on the plane and/or dies (am thinking now, hmmmm, Teddy seems to be past her show expiration date, was she on the plane? I didn't remember anyone dying other than Lexie onsite and Mark later on in the hospital ... DON'T ANSWER THIS PLEASE! It's rhetorical LOL). I know, for example, maybe my favorite scene ever in the show was Richard's memory of dancing with Adele to "My Funny Valentine" at Bailey and Ben's wedding, but I didn't remember him singing it to her from the OP table. So if I'm losing my memory (should I get that gene test?), at least I'm getting to enjoy things as if it were the first time! That's good. But yeah, watching the show makes me really bitter that Chandra Wilson has really never gotten her due in the awards department ... I'm a total Bailey lover, but she is amazing. And I understand it's hard to outshine Sandra Oh, but she is fantastic in her own right. Oh, also? By re-watching I'm able to pick up a LOT of new songs for my iPod ... I've always felt Grey's had the best soundtrack of any show on TV and I had come into this with several Grey's-discovered songs high on my playlist ("My Heart With You" by the Rescues is a standout) but I've already picked up two more just in the last several episodes ... "Bang Bang" by K'Naan and "Watching You Watching Him" by Eric Hutchinson. ETA -- if anyone is still with me here, and I'll understand if you're not -- I am really confused with one aspect of the entering new interns ... the first group was the Season 1 group, of course ... Then we got the Lexie kiddie crew, right? in 2007? (Are any of them left???) Then April and Jackson et al came over in the merge with Mercy West in 2009, so they're not considered a new group of interns -- that was just a cast replenishment/expansion. I keep thinking there was one other class of interns that was "introduced" but that none of them ever factored into any plotlines and none of them were keepers. Then, finally, the most recent crew in 2012, with Jo, Stephanie, etc. (and Mousie RIP etc.). So, yeah, it should be time for a new class but am wondering about the timing of adding new groups ... shouldn't they technically be coming in every year?

My gut reaction was exactly what Happy Harpy said, right down to thinking (and tweeting) the term "Bunny Boiler" in relation to where I think they're going with that storyline, except for the fact that my gut reactions are almost invariably wrong. So he's probably heavily involved and in love with this new chick (I just got a very strong "stalker/BB" vibe in the very brief "coming attractions" trailer). I definitely got weepy when Maggie realized it wasn't Richard who had passed along the early Alzheimer's gene and the palpable relief ... I look forward to seeing that relationship develop. I am a big fan of the Chief. I want to see more more more of Ben ... not just because he's a very handsome man but because I love his character. And I love the relationship with Bailey (who is my No. 1 favorite character on the show). I've been bingewatching the entire series on Netflix (am halfway through S8 and realizing that there was a lot I did not see originally, for whatever reason ... I mean, I am sure that no matter how AARPy my memory has become in the last year or so, I would NOT have forgotten "If/Then) and it's odd watching those episodes and then sliding in whatever the new S11 episode is in the middle.

Honestly, though, if he thinks the two most "marketable" are Maddie and/or Nick then we're all in trouble ... Nick, IMHO, is more boring than the rest of them put together ... or maybe I should say "forgettable." Every time I try to remember the Top 12 (11, 10), he's the one I have to actually look at the group photo to figure out who I'm forgetting. And he may be reasonably attractive, but Scott is showing his own age if he thinks this guy is a hot young sex symbol. I have already stated my less-than-stellar opinion of Jax, but I think she's much more musically current and relevant than Maddie and Nick put together. I just don't happen to like her voice, but I could totally imagine her being quite successful with the right material, the right producer and the right auto-tune equipment. Maddie may be reasonably cute and reasonably pretty and reasonably reasonable (and she is his only country option and I don't know if he can operate very far outside his own wheelhouse and ego), but she's got squat compared to 95% of the pretty blonde singers in Nashville who are waiting tables and asking if I want fries with that. I'd like to be able to say "well, happily, Scott Bruschetta doesn't choose the winner" but who knows? Maybe he does. If he really wants a marketable winner who could have a long and successful career, he will do whatever is in his power to make sure Tyanna wins this thing. Now maybe I'm completely underestimating him and he's watched the show long enough to know that pushing a TCO at this point is the best way to get that person/people booted, and that deep down inside he has a few stealth favorites that he could actually have a hit record with. Because he can't ride the "I discovered Taylor Swift" train forever. That one-trick pony is saddled up and leaving the corral.

I'm not a Maddie fan but I do feel bad for her ... it's possible they were not thinking appendicitis since one of the current flu bugs going around starts with severe stomach pain (yay me, I had THAT one! And even at the ripe old age of AARP-plus I seriously pondered an emergency room visit) ... and it appears about half the cast (or maybe more by now) has been felled by different levels of fly, strep throat (I had THAT checked on my flu list as well! Woo hoo!) and other maladies. That said, if it didn't come on zero to 60 then I do question why her MOM wasn't bringing in a doctor to check her out or SOMETHING. That's why the teens have parents/guardians with them (well, one of the reasons) ... someone has to take care of their well-being because they'll all be just "suck it up and don't give up because this is my ONE CHANCE IN LIFE TO DO SOMETHING OTHERWISE MY LIFE IS OVER AT AGE 18."

BLUE AND BLACK LOL!!!!! Oh, also, last night I finally yelled at the TV (it takes a lot to get me to that point since I'm usually really vegging out when I watch this) ... Bride who wanted a slightly blue gown with the (I think) twin sisters of which one never spoke (I guess they didn't want to pay SAG rates) and the other one was a complete twit who couldn't get past "it's BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." Now, perhaps said sister felt it was her right to decide what her sister could/couldn't not wear because she herself was never ever ever going to get married because she's just horrible, annoying and homely to boot. But when bride actually finally bought an IVORY dress instead of a blue one, I felt like she was giving in to sister on this (and younger sister as well). I just can't imagine a) giving up your dream dress because your stupid younger sister doesn't like it or b) bringing stupid younger sister along to start with. I know we see this kind of draaaaaaaaaamallama a lot but usually the bride wins. Personally, I loved the blue dresses. And the gorgeous blushy sherbet dress Toronto bride chose. And I thought the flowered dress of the third bride was kind of ugly but more because of the design and fit, not so much the flowers. And I'll say this here and now, although my daughter would never in a million years go on a show like this, when the time comes she gets married I hope she'll bring me with her for dress shopping but she can choose whatever her heart desires and if she chooses plaid, that's fine as long as it makes her happy. Luckily, my daughter would be horrified if she saw the prices here. When she heard my dress cost $750 way back when -- and I designed it myself and found a tailor on Queens Blvd. to make it from my sketch -- she couldn't believe I'd spend that much on a wedding dress LOL. No Pnina for her, even if that is her Hebrew middle name --with an extra E for Excellent Spelling.

So, I've been watching a lot of the reruns since I happen to have both SYTTD and SYTTD:A on my Ti-Faux (don't judge) ... have been watching a stretch of episodes which I think are all from early-mid 2014. One had a sports theme, with one bride marrying pitcher Liam Hendricks (so I guess that makes three MLB brides featured on this show -- him, Chad Gaudin and Freddie Freeman, yes?), one who had the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins with her, and the third who was having a "baseball themed wedding" and was looking for a second reception dress that she'd lace up the back with red ribbons like a baseball (damn, I worked in baseball for 25 years and never went to a wedding where the bride dressed up like a baseball). So here's my observation, and maybe someone else on here has an episode on tape that they can confirm or deny ... the third bride, the one who was going to dress up like a baseball ... her maid of honor, sitting on the far right ... is it my imagination or is she actually wearing The Dress? You know the one I mean. I thought it was a recent phenomenon but I swear she's wearing it in an episode from a year ago. Maybe when it comes back on in its endless rerun marathon loop someone can check for me?

Thanks, Kromm, for sharing that second "All About the Bass" video ... coincidentally, the amazing Mario Jose made it as far as group rounds during Season 12 before being cut (some may remember that as the "we will do anything to get a female winner this year" season of Candice Glover, where some great guys fell by the wayside before getting to the voting rounds) ... he was a total star (and all-around good guy) during his time at Berklee as well. Understandably.

UNDERWEAR GREMLINS!!!!!!! Them and the minute-builders. My two favorite fictional tiny household characters.

So, question: When Owen is on the phone and trying to figure out how to transfer it, he looks at the sign for Trauma Room 2 and it gets blurry. Why? Did anyone else think, "Oh, so now the storyline will be that Hunt has a brain tumor!"? (Which actually would be sort of ironic FOR ME since "I Feel the Earth Move" was the first song played at the funeral of my mom, who died of a brain tumor ... and actually, it's kind of a funny story ... well, the funeral music, not the brain tumor so much). Not sure how they're going to write themselves out of the "Derek is cheating" implication, but the first thing I thought was that there was no way in hell that A) Derek's cel phone doesn't have a special ringtone or something for Mer so he'd know it was her, and B) that he'd leave it where his secret squeeze could possibly know who it was and answer it when he wasn't around. He's too careful for that. Also? Ethan!!!!!! Hope he's not a one-shot deal.

I would love to see PMJ perform on AI ... and ironically I got turned onto them by seeing a clip of their version of "Stacy's Mom" with Casey Abrams singing lead ... so I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility that the shoutout on the show and Joey's use of their arrangement is not 100% coincidental. Maybe they'll revive "Big Band" night and feature them? One can dream ...

I'm "of an age" to have listened to not only Paul McCartney's decidedly-inconsistent solo material upon release (hell, I actually bought all of the Beatles albums in order upon release dating back to "Meet the Beatles" -- okay, my mom bought that for me) and I'm not sure I could have told you exactly what "Jet" meant. Maybe next week Qaasim can do "Monkberry Moon Delight" and try to explain the lyrics of THAT one. I'm sure many people would thank them for it. That said, looks like the strep throat/flu bug has hit half of this cast ... Maddie has it, Qaasim tweeted a few days ago that he had strep, Savion had it during his last performance (Savion Mary?) ... between the stress, exhaustion (even this early) and close quarters, couple with this year's killer flu (I had strep/flu and was down for the count for almost three weeks), could continue to take its toll. I'll give Qaasim a pass for this week based on that and because I DO find him entertaining and fun and likable and certainly, "suffragette" or "giraffe" (which I swear is what I thought they both said) or whatever, more watchable and listenable than either Maddie or JAXblerg or boring Nick. Tyanna is all that and a bag of chips. And so is her mom. I think we saw the real Jax last night. The one who actually CAN'T sing a pop song or anything outside of her ooooooky odd breathy whispery genre. I can't hate on Daniel quite as much as everyone else does, though I agree he is going to go much further in this competition than he should be all rights. But that is not his fault. He's been perfectly humble and surprised and all that jazz since Day One. The judges have no business pulling the constant "you're too young, you aren't ready, yadayadayada" when it's 100% THEIR fault he's there. They could have and should have taken him to the Green Mile and told him WE LOVE YOU, come back in two years and you'll get a pass right to judges audition and given it to him in writing. Once they kept moving him along to voting rounds, they basically greenlighted the fact that every tween and grandma will vote for him right to the end. QUENTIN entrances me. I'd love to see him perform just one week when his nerves haven't already gotten to him as he remains one of the final candidates for a spot because I feel like the occasional pitchiness may be tweaky nerves but I may have actually jumped up and cheered when they called his name as NOT THE LAST PERSON last night. Love Joey. Love Joey. Sorry. Obviously she's polarizing but I love her voice and her style and seeing what song she'll choose next. Clark bores me. Someone said something about ugly facial expressions which I agree with but mainly he's technically excellent but boring. He'd be the star of high school talent shows and voice lesson end-of-semester showcases. Adanna keeps surprising me with a really great powerhouse voice but distracting me with her outfits. Basically, I confess, when I try to go over the list of finalists in my head I keep forgetting about her, Maddie and Nick. Oh, and apparently Rayvon, since I had to go through this post twice to figure out who was No. 11. Sorry, Rayvon. Nice hat, nice voice, just hasn't done anything memorable for me yet. The anti-Qaasim LOL. Finally, just like it's show's "fault" that Amurika is stuck with Daniel for the duration, it's also responsible, I think, for Sarina-Joi's early departure. You'd think with her being there for her FOURTH audition they would have given her a little more pre-HOB camera time, more backstory, more love to familiarize the voters with her. If they did, I missed ALL of it. I did not see her until the episode where they basically trotted out the finalists. And by that time I think a lot of the "power voter" types already had their favorites. My perfect-world Top 4 would be Tyanna, Quentin, Joey and Qaasim. The Top 4 will be Jax, Daniel, Clark and Maddie (hell, SOME big fanbase has to be voting for her, because she's sure not making it through on voice or talent).

Most of you have said anything and everything I would want to say but I'll throw in a few comments ... I actually follow Qaasim on Twitter (don't judge) and he had posted beforehand that he had strep throat, so that may explain why he was light on the lyrics. Or it might not, but it's something to consider (apparently it's been going around ... I think Savion had the flu on the night he was eliminated). I keep forgetting Nick is there. I am more and more entranced, for lack of a better word, with Quentin every week. I'm hoping that he has one of those "arcs" where the longer he lasts the bigger a fanbase he develops (I think that happened with Joshua Ledet). I still can't stand Jax and barely tolerate Daniel and think, like I did from the first time I saw them both during Hollywood week, that they will be the final two. I still hold out hope that Tyanna will win the whole thing ... And finally I still really enjoy Joey ... though I wish she'd done Moxy Fruvous' "King of Spain" instead of Tallest Man in the World (and how are there two different songs called "King of Spain"?) ... and while it is more than possible that indeed her quirky twangy pronunciation is affected, I'll add this: We lived in her hometown for five years and my daughter attended pre-school there (for all I know, she may have overlapped with Joey, LOL -- they're a year apart in age). And a LOT of the folks there just have a strange accent ... kind of southern crossed with West Virginia crossed with some other stuff and part of the reason we moved (kidding, sort of) was when our daughter picked up a very similar accent at age 3 or 4. It's not quite southern but it's really twangy.

I also think that, while he is by no means the best singer (though neither is he near being the worst singer of the Top 12), Qaasim is tremendously entertaining, which is something this show has been HUGELY lacking in recent years IMHO ... he's a great performer and fun to watch and clearly LOVES to be on stage and I think that connects with a lot of voters. Especially since there have been way too many "deer in the headlight" finalists of late. Whatever happens from here on in, I think he's probably regained some interest from TV, etc. ... maybe he'll wind up featured on a Nickelodeon show instead of in the backup band, but whatever the case, I think he's jumpstarted his career with this arc and good for him.

So who was skeevy meal-server inmate and what was his connection to everything? The one who threatened Pritchett not to say anything (so, we know that the inmates knew SOMETHING, but I'm not sure if we were supposed to assume they knew about the fight club, the death of Devon White, or who killed the guards -- or all three)? How many "factions," so to speak, were we dealing with here? Were we to assume that there were two sides -- the guards and the inmates? Or were there also separate factions within the inmates (either divided racially or otherwise)? Skeevy meal-server (he's the one who got killed AND scalded, right?) clearly was no friend of Pritchett's ... and we assume, I guess, that he was killed by the same people who killed the guards, right? Or do we take the next leap to think that he was killed by the Captain to make it LOOK like he was killed by the same people who killed the guards, when in fact he might have been one of the killers? I'm confusing myself now. But that scene (where he served the lovely box lunch) made me think that even within the inmate population there were definitely divided camps.

Well, if that's the case I bet Alexis will not be smiling tomorrow night LOL! I am also curious to see how they handle wild cards ... if it's really pulling wild card singers ONLY from those that get eliminated this week (out of the Top 16), that means they only have SIX to choose from to start with so, really, where's the drama in that? IMHO they lost a few better contenders LAST week than they're likely to lose this week ... I know the spoilers say that only the eliminated contestants from THIS week's cut will sing for a wild card spot but my knollish (but jaunty) tin foil cap thinks (hopes?) that they're disseminating misinfo on the spoilers (especially since they haven't announced ANYTHING yet) so they can have at least ONE surprise up their sleeve, and we might see at least a few of the first eight cut come back to sing for their supper (again, this could be my wishful thinking of getting back Savion and Katherine). But TPTB know exactly what spoilers are out there ... would be interesting to see them spoil the spoilers.

By the way, re: my earlier comment about the contestants already knowing the results going into the Top 8 Perform? Watched the ending again and when the final 5 girls are sitting on stage waiting, Alexis is smiling and the other five look decidedly unhappy. I am absolutely convinced they know the results somehow. Maybe they know well ahead of time, maybe they find out at dress rehearsal, or maybe they figure it out by the configuration of the band for that last number, but if you go back and look, those five all knew before Ryan announced it.

There were actually a few guards who got knifed ... I was referring to the first one, who got knifed as soon as the inmates all came out of their cells. He was black. But yes, the guard (Tom?) who was worried about his daughter because the captain had actively threatened her and who spilled the beans was white and he did get knifed during the melee later ... did he die? I thought maybe there was more than one guard spilling beans. Yeah, I'd like to see a script on this ... I thought I was just missing something but maybe whatever they implied was not that clear. I definitely assumed that Butler was being framed with them planting the weapons in his cell. The way I read it, he had been friends with White which was why they thought it would be "fun" to make them fight to the death and that incident really messed with his head (what a shock). So when the captain/guards came to him to threaten him not to say anything to the BAU, I guess he felt he had nothing left to lose which is why he asked "will you just disappear me too?" or something along those lines. That's when they killed him. My assumption was because they couldn't scare him into not saying what he knew. Because if he'd killed the guards, wouldn't he be in a lot more trouble than the Captain would be for having the fight club? So why would the Captain be so worried about his saying anything? And why would he have to set him up? I didn't think it was that he had killed the guards or knew who had, but rather that he knew what the guards were doing to get themselves killed. That's not to say that he didn't kill the guards. I hope he did. I just didn't infer that from the script. BUT ... yeah, maybe the fact that the beatings and fights were going down in Cell 34 was to imply that the killers were the inmates being forced to fight, as payback. And Butler would have been one of them. And now I'm even more confused than I was to start with!!! The whole part with the inmates streaming out of their cells and rioting, that just seemed so random, like they had been pre-programmed or something. I love this show, and I bingewatched the entire first nine seasons leading up to the beginning of Season 10, but I have to say I'm overall disappointed with S10 so far. This episode, actually, was the first one to "move" me at all, but on the other side of the coin SO many unanswered questions and sloppy scriptwriting.

Re: the question about the prisoner who steps in to defend Morgan and Kate, I think he was the very first guy they interviewed ... he had been a recent arrival, around the time the murders occurred, so they thought that could be a connection. And I also thought ... Oh, man, no, not Devon White! I LOVED him when he played baseball! I also had a few areas where I was confused ... The guard who gets knifed after the captain unlocks the cells ... someone mentioned they went straight for the guard who was spilling the beans, but had we already seen him spilling beans? I didn't remember having seen him before this so I didn't make that inference. I might have been in the bathroom or something (though since I watch via TiFaux I usually stop the tape) ... Also, did the guard who was worried about his daughter end up dying? I thought he did (the white light) but wasn't sure. And finally, did we ever actually find out who DID kill the guards and the redneck prisoner? Was it the Captain on all three? Or was he just in on it? For some reason, by that point I was confused ... so if it was the Captain, then it wasn't someone who was getting revenge but rather someone who wanted to keep people quiet? I thought while much of it was predictable from a whodunnit POV, it also made me very sad ... especially the fact that they highlighted the fact that both White and Butler were non-violent criminals.

I'm taking this post and moving it straight to the Grassy Knoll before mods get mad at me. But, on a Non-Knoll note to preface, I am pretty sure the wardrobe budget does not come until Top 12 (or whatever, Top 13).

True ... good point ... but I think in most cases people liked THEM and would have liked more from the performances (in many cases Savion was bashed for song choice, though apparently that is one of his "go to" songs in real life, while people liked Katherine but thought she seemed nervous and forgettable). I wonder if they had gotten negative feedback from "you don't know me but I discovered Taylor Swift" ... hmmmm. Maybe that's why Katherine didn't get good feedback from him. "I discovered Taylor Swift and you're no Taylor Swift (thank Dog she isn't ... I like her voice and style MUCH more than TayTay). The interesting thing with Savion is how many people seem to have said in their critiques of him things along the lines of how he wasn't singing songs that were "his style" which I found kind of interesting and ironic ... that song is VERY MUCH his style. He's an indie singer-songwriter BGWG. He was planning on doing "What's Going On" this week ... I really would have liked to have heard that. Maybe he'll put up a YouTube of it ... ETA two days later but to avoid the dreaded double post ... re: a lively convo on the Top 8 girls thread about how Jax ended up with The Dress ... IIRC contestants do not get wardrobe allowances until Top 12. BUT ... ... but I have a feeling that the advising and mentoring etc. has already begun ... I think that would explain some of the oblique Twitter references by some contestants, the style of their social media presence, etc. ... and perhaps -- especially for the underage contestants -- some not-so-subtle help in the styling "find who you are" departments. And I am also guessing, if that's the case, that they may be giving more advice to some semifinalists (i.e., the ones they'd like to have there for the long/longer haul) and less to others. SOMEONE obviously thought The Dress would be a great idea ... now, thinking in terms of their potential "chosen ones" that would be likely candidates for it, some would obviously NOT have been good fits (Joey and Tyanna come to mind immediately). So who has the attention-whoring personality, who would appeal to the Twitter generation (for the most part, the only people who would immediately recognize The Dress), etc.? And since they already knew who the Top 8 were, let's take out Shi, Shannon, Katherine and Lovey from the equation. So: I'd say The Dress candidates would have been Jax, Loren, Maddie. Maybe Adanna. They WOULD NOT have been Joey, Tyanna, Alexis. And Sarina-Joi, well, we've seen her for 5 minutes total. I have no idea what her personality is like. And in fact I had to scroll up through this thread to even remember who I was forgetting, which is sad given that she is so good. My gut says they'd want to use The Dress on the semifinalist they wanted to get through but thought might be on the bubble and needed something to sway the Twitter Universe in their direction. OTOH, I have felt Jax has been TCO since Day One (IIRC, wasn't she the first featured eventual finalist shown auditioning during the Hollywood Week episodes? And hasn't there often been a correlation between first one featured and contestant who has gone VERY far in the mix?) I would have thought Loren would be a good candidate for The Dress but I guess not. Hey, maybe ALL 12 of them came in with The Dress and they had to settle a cat fight behind the scenes. It's bad enough if two sing the same song (though it's happened occasionally) but to have multiple people wearing The Dress? No, that was something that I think was more than just a "Jax decided to buy the dress and it was no big thang, she just wanted it and wore it, end of story. Why is everyone making a big deal about it?" thing.