Kierstyn

When the Commander asked Chris "where do you want to end up?" (or something to that effect), my mind immediately flashed back to the Wire. I'm pretty sure it was Lester Freeman (and it was a delight to see that actor in this episode) who told McNulty that he knows he is in trouble if he get asked where we wants to land. Lester just wanted to be a beat cop, but since he expressed that, as a punishment he got stuck in that evidence room for a dozen years. And McNulty used that wisdom from Lester to get his job on the boat, when he got tossed out of Homicide and Major Crimes. So now I am terrified for poor Chris - without a Lester to give him advice, did he just lose any chance of ever becoming a detective? Is this a call back? Or am I reading too deeply into it?

There are definitely gods in this story who can turn into birds, but don't assume they all can. But based on who Wednesday is, he has two specific birds - crows - that are part of his power. So when Sweeney is gabbing at the crow, he was passing info back to Wednesday via that specific crow.

My husband just nominated this for the NONAC, and I can't disagree.

Looking at it I wonder that it inspired Prince Charles to use (have custom made) a similar sapphire and diamond engagement ring when he proposed to Princess Diana. That ring is currently being worn by Prince William's wife Kate Middleton. Thank you for the clickable link. It's from a great website. I'ma total Splendor junky! I'm usually a lurker, but I do participate whenever she has one of her polls, or 'readers favorites' events.

I am loving how well they are handling the jewelry on the show. That sapphire brooch Victoria is wearing in the big picture at the top of this article, is a great replica of the actual sapphire jewel that Albert gave Victoria the day before their wedding. Queen Elizabeth still wears it, regularly.

I'm sorry to be that kind of internet pedant, but the royal character is not King George III, it's his son. I believe this is set in 1814, during the reign of George III, but he was already deep in the throes of dementia by then. The Prince Regent, aka Prinny, the man who would become King George IV, was depicted in that scene. Taboo did a pretty good job of depicting him as a grotesque, which is how many historians depict him. It's worth it to check out the political cartoons of the day - they have a lot of say about his appearance (he wore stays to hold in his belly), his intemperance, and his vanity. http://www.thamesandhudson.com/George_IV/9780500251270

That was some impressive voice work there, David T. Cole! Very nice Dr. Claw!

holy crap, Joe and Sarah, I am so excited about Love/Hate in the afternoon! (hope I got that name right) Can't wait to hear it! I may no longer watch soaps, but they still hold a very special place in my heart. Yay, soaps! Yay soap podcast from my favorite podcasters!!1!! (exclamation point, eleventy, etc)

Since Nick brought it up, here are some numbers, for what it is worth... Diana Gabaldon's been working for longer, and indeed much harder (by page count and book count) then George arr-arr. So let's agree that she has some standing from which to throw that shade! George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Books: first published - August 1996 number of books - 5 number of cumulative pages - 4,451 Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books: first published - June 1991 number of books - 8 number of cumulative pages - 7,212

Nice chart, Nancybeth! And good point - I want to see the treatment of the the Princess Margaret/Peter townsend situation as well! That should be juicy... And teddysmom - you are right that she just doesn't go out and "hang." I would imagine there are considerable security concerns with that, and with hundreds of engagements a year, I doubt there would be time to do so. But that said, there are a number of chances for regular folks to meet or get a handshake or a few words in. Many events conclude with her doing a bit of meet-and-greet. Granted, it tends to be just a few front row people on the way from the event to her transportation.... but she is out in public.

oy - couple of typos in there, sorry! Kind George VI and Queen Mary didn't "have their residence hit"... that makes it sound like it was on purpose. They lived through a bombing of their home is what I meant.

teddysmom - not sure what you mean by the Queen is not seen in public. Last year she had over 350 public appearances. She does not travel internationally very much anymore, the last time (if I remember correctly) was last year to France, for the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe... which was fitting for a last trip, as both she and her husband served/volunteered during that war. She does have a lot of the other royals perform duties abroad. But she is out in public ALL the time... and so are a number of the other fulltime royals in the UK, like a few of her cousins, her children, daughter-in-law Sophie, and now her grand-children (who are not quite full-timers yet, but who are being groomed, certainly). When there is talk about the royals having a duty to serve the country, these days it seems best to see it as a image of the nation's morale, or perhaps as a role model. They give their time to charities, pick causes (like Princess Diana famously did with land mine awareness, Prince Charles has done with environmental issues and sustainability, and Queen Elizabeth has done with the health and continuing relationships within the Commonwealth). They serve on boards of organizations, and bring attention to those causes by their presence. They even fundraise for their charities. And example of what I means as image of morale is found in the time of the current Queen's parents: they made a point of continuing to reside inside of London, during the blitz, even having their personal residence hit, to show solidarity with what the people of their nation were experiencing. And as for the Queen herself, she is the official head of the state religion, and takes those duties seriously. As for myself, of COURSE I will be watching this series - it is completely up my alley. The reproductions of the jewels looked smashing - particularly the Grand Duchess Vladimir tiara! I am a little worried about the dynamic they are showing of QE2 and Prince Philip... looks like they are really amping up the drama/conflict between them in a way that does not appear to reflect reality... I can see myself getting irked by that. But other than that, this looks great. The lady they got to portray Wallis had the hair and head tilt down like a champ! Can't wait to find out the release date. Can you say binge?

My husband has an amazing theory about Donna's weird eating style. He thinks that they probably had to do a million takes, and it would have been easy to fill in the middle of a tart shell and pop a cherry on top for each new take. But if Donna chomps down on the pastry shell, then they have to get a whole new one. One can imagine someone with Tori Spelling's "stuff" skills needing more than a dozen takes on a scene, and maybe they only bought a dozen tarts.

There was a lot of commentary on EHG this week about the lack of humor on this show. I finally got around to watching it last night, and I thought there was a quite a bit of humor, but it was all in the fight scenes. Bits (like the guy ending with his feet by his ears; or the caught bit of glass flung back into Ajax's eye) were so silly that it caused out-loud laughter, which released tension and made the rest of the grimness easier to handle.

I feel like that Dan Florek bit was filmed within the last two weeks, once they knew the show was cancelled. And I think that the one writer who was pulled back to sketch it out got bored of working on it and just sat around and happened to listen to Dan Savage's Lovecast a few weeks back (follow me, here). Savage's advice on talking dirty for beginners was "say what you are doing, say what you did, then say what you will do." That is the EXACT construction of Dan Florek's scene. First he laid out what was going on with the 'debriefing', then he recapped Barbie's goofy account of what happened, and then he told Barbie/Big Jim the story that was going to be released to the public as soon as people agreed to commit to it. Voila, no need to work that out with any greater complexity when you can apply the advice of a sex advice columnist to your season finale! That's some nice work, guy.