EarlGreyTea

Honestly, I think that's giving the writers WAY too much credit. If I recall, they didn't even properly plan out who Chris was when he first appeared. CHRIS, the son of one of the sisters.

I just rewatched Luck Be An Old Lady, and I'm peeved at Carrie's reaction to that one guy asking her to blow his dice after insulting Charlotte ("No, ask the HOT one!"). Carrie was never a bigger pick me than in that scene, and honestly, I can't decide whether it was perfectly in character or not for her to do that. It was infuriating for her to just let an insult to her friend stand like that. Then a few scenes later she rakes another guy over the coals for insulting Miranda, so the characterization was all over the place. Maybe because the other girls hit back first, so she felt safer knowing she had backup.

Yeah, she was definitely fired and I definitely remember the gleeful headlines that she was let go from another Spelling show. So I finally listened to Shannen's interview with Holly. I was disappointed to hear almost no accountability from either of them, as much as I like Shannen. To hear them tell it, they were worker bees and the only ones who cared about the quality of the show. To hear them tell it, they had some bad days but nothing to cause such a huge dilemma that resulted in Shannen's firing. To me, it's a case of either not remembering, or not wanting to admit, even all these years later, that all three of them behaved heinously. As vague as Alyssa has been about her role in all of this, at least she publicly apologized, and said she played a role in the conflict. I heard none of this from either Shannen or Holly. I don't believe that being late to 90210 or being too dedicated to her work on Charmed were Shannen's biggest flaws. Her firings speak to much more than that. And I like her a lot!

I think we'll never know the true side of things. I feel HMC has done a great job of playing both sides against the middle. She was publicly close to Alyssa in the early 2000s and 2010s, then somewhere along the way reconciled with Shannen and now parrots Shannen's side of things. I truly believe all three of them probably behaved heinously. As HMC once said, there were no angels. The whole relationship between all four of them seems to ebb and flow. I distinctly remember them being good 10 years ago with publicly supportive tweets. I can see why Shannen, with a terminal diagnosis, wants her side of the story finally told, but HMC's behavior has been petty and off-putting to me. The story about Shannen being kept by Alyssa and her mom from seeing Holly in the hospital is bizarre. In the first place, what gave them that power and in the second place, if HMC and Shannen were as close as they always say, why was Alyssa the middleman in the first place? I realize all of this was traumatic for all four them, but it's been 24 years. None of them seem to let anything go. Well, HMC doesn't. I really don't like her. I love Shannen's podcast, though.

This is where I'm at with this. At some level, I feel that all of us who have watched for years and gleefully consumed all the tea about this family are culpable. I loved Garrison's dressing down of Kody last season in particular. So we got our entertainment at the expense of another family's pain, and I don't know how to reconcile that. I know that the family's adults ultimately made the decision to be on TV, but they would have been off the air years ago if none of us watched. So I don't feel I personally have the right to mourn when I didn't know Garrison and got my entertainment from watching his family's troubles. I will also say how haunting it is that Kody said something like, "There will be other Christmases" in regards to the family being all split up. Not anymore, there won't be. I can't imagine the intense regret of missing so many of Garrison's few years.

Tony has no home training whatsoever! Asking his MIL at the same table as her 12-year-old kid if she's "getting to know herself?" I would want to die before asking my own mother that, never mind my MIL. Disgusting. I wish Christine had shut him down more forcefully. Hey, Mykelti, for someone who is such a proponent of getting the family back together, you sure don't seem to extend the same courtesy for Meri. Not sure why Mykelti kept bleating on about getting the whole family on Zoom. At least half were missing, unless they did not want to be on camera.

Yeah, I’m no fan of Meri, but I’d feel some type of way about my sister in law/husbands stepsister suddenly going after my husband. Especially because Janelle was such a pretty woman. I never see it mentioned much, but her wedding photo in that dark blue dress makes her by far the most beautiful Brown bride to me.

Mystery solved - I listened to Nick Viall's podcast and he said they get a hefty appearance fee at the beginning, so the length of their time there is based only on how long they want to stay. Well, THAT changes things for me. I applaud Tara for getting her money and getting out ASAP.

Is this a fact? If I'm risking my body and pride, it will be for some kind of compensation. That's why I figured Tara Reid went on. Why in tarnation would anyone agree to do it for free? Maybe there's no prize money, but surely some kind of appearance fee, right?

I really enjoy seeing all these normally well-dressed, coiffed and filtered celebs looking like absolute crap. Stars, they're just like us! BAG is such a trash human being. Kind of annoyed that he's getting the better edit over Angela, who has seemed to make some serious changes in her life. As one of my favorite movies says: I guess in this society being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time.

Also, I can't think of anything more romantic than spending Valentine's Day with my mother-in-law. Not. Shut up, Mykelti. Can't stand her constant preening. Also, I guess I'm a prude, but talking about my mother's sex life with her is not my idea of a fun time. We got almost no Robyn, which felt great, but then we got annoying Jenn. We just can't have it all, can we?

I get irrationally angry whenever Meri’s friend shows up. I am sure she’s a very nice lady and a supportive friend, but Christ, she grated onscreen. Anyone else disgusted by Kody eating and those two curls falling over his face? Janelle looked beautiful this episode. We can all agree that much of their connection was an intensely physical one, right? In so many words, that’s what I thought was implied.

I realize I am applying earth logic to the Kodster, but if I believed, truly believed that Janelle was talking smack about me to my kids, or turning them against me, no way in hell would I let her get the last word with them. I'd be on the phone to them constantly, trying to win them over and ensure that my words did not go through a middleman. And I'd buy them a fucking present.

One of the things that surprised me most was Jill actually wanting to do even more mission work. It always seemed on the surface that she was more of a passive player in it, even though she said she had a heart for missions. Reading about the danger they faced and their friend who was murdered, it's no wonder she was terrified. I assumed she wanted to get out of dodge and that Derick was the one who wanted to stay. I liked reading about her bonding with the women she met in her mission work, and when she said she missed them. I remember being touched by a scene in Counting On where she made banana bread for a small group of ladies and, even though she didn't understand much Spanish, still looked engaged and sympathetic.

Is Aurora the one who asked if Savanah's bed was the dog bed? So I can portion out my hate accordingly. I'd pay good money to see the infamous group chat. I'm so glad we waited 6 months between seasons to see Aurora's ears pierced. I'm sure it was top ten on all our wish lists.