ribboninthesky1

LISTEN. I just caught up on the episodes, and this was a consistent thought for me. And it makes me wish that all TV black actresses on their respective shows had a great team. In a world where terrible lighting, wigs, and extensions are legion, I imagine Dana Owens was like, "Nope! Not on my watch." *cue Iyanla gif* *whispers* I liked him on Gilmore Girls way back in the day. That was...awhile ago. He seems to show more affection and regard towards Robyn, but maybe that's just the Queen's charisma rubbing off on everyone. I wonder if that's a script decision, or purely Goldberg. Harry and Mel interact more like siblings than spouses.

The scene between Bobby and Eddie was well done, and I know I should feel bad for Eddie. Then I remember how Ryan Guzman and the actress playing his wife had terrible chemistry, and I can't get there. I'm happy he's moving on with Ana, even if it's not forever. Because the actors definitely have chemistry. The cast makes all the difference, and this one gels very well, always has. And this type of fun episode really highlighted how well they play off each other. Oliver Stark and Kenneth Choi in particular have great comedic timing. My favorite scene was Buck stuck in the fire suppression chamber, or whatever that was. 2nd place to Chim and Hen's befuddlement coming out of the burger joint with a bunch of food, only to discover the firetruck was stolen. There were lots of fun moments in this one.

I thought Maddie's "they're not bad people, just bad parents" from the previous episode was interesting, mostly because I believe it's difficult for (even adult) children to think of their parents as "bad." Particularly in the absence of physical abuse. Then, in this episode, the father reveals they moved away due to the disapproving judgment of their friends and neighbors. So they were getting quite a bit of side eye from their peers as well. I wonder if some of that judgment was based on how they treated Maddie and Buck. I read a flashing sign of "narcissism!" around the mother. She had the entire household walking on emotional eggshells, for most of Maddie's life, all of Buck's, and who knows how long of that marriage. I doubt therapy would have made a difference, even if she agreed to go. The father enabled her. Daniel's illness and death might have exacerbated issues that were long-simmering before, and Maddie might have been too young to truly understand it.

Super late to this, but thank you for the correction! I would sure like to know what she was thinking in writing that part of the episode.

I got the impression that child Buck getting injured was the only time the parents paid any attention to or showed any concern for him. Which fueled his reckless behavior. What Buck said to Maddie about forgiving them seemed to parallel this. He said something about it was hard to feel betrayed by someone you never counted on anyway. I interpreted that as he preferred to move on, not because he's invested in them emotionally, but because he isn't. In addition to Maddie, he has a family of his own via the station crew.

I watched it - definitely dystopian. There was plenty to handwave, particularly a man with presumably late-stage cancer walking across the Arctic tundra in sub-freezing temps alone. Oh, and surviving a fall through ice into frigid water. I really rolled my eyes at the only surviving ship including his daughter. I wondered how she was allowed on a mission while pregnant. Great production values, though.

Nolan's mom explains a lot about Nolan. He can steamroll over people, much like she does. It's "different" presumably because he's trying to do the right thing, because he's nice. But there's a level of narcissism there, too. Which is why I LOVE that Harper called him out on trying to slide out of his reprimand. I laughed out loud when scuba guy opened fire on him, just because my initial thought was, "Not every one is in the mood for small talk, Nolan." I thought Bradford's actions/reactions in this episode felt much more authentic than whatever the show was going for with Nolan in the season opener and episode 2. It was very easy for Bradford to ignore fellow officers' bigotry because it ultimately had no impact on his life or career. Not like he would ever have to worry about being passed over for promotions primarily due to race or be off-duty and treated like a criminal by said bigoted officers (this has happened in real life to black cops). What affected me the most was the exchange between West and Grey. There was a lot going on there - West's frustration, generational differences, blatant disrespect by West partly because Grey is black (I don't think he would have been so cavalier towards a white sergeant), Grey's anger, the complexity, burden, survivor's guilt of black people in white-dominated occupations. Not to mention the implication that the black family hadn't filed a complaint. Whew! Well done by both actors. Shame that the attempt to highlight healthcare discrimination faced by black women was so sloppily done. I suspect there wasn't a black female writer in the room. Chen isn't my favorite character, but I appreciated the follow-up to the gun range subplot in that she expertly took down the would-be assassin at the college campus. I'm kind of over the Bradford/Chen dynamic.

Ha! I think he had just buried it the day before? So not enough time for mold. Plus, Lopez dug it up in like 30 seconds, so it basically would have been a pit stop for Armstrong. He could have left the car running! He completely wasted Wesley's time. I guess the only point in hiring him was to bide time? I thought Wesley's point about Nolan being a white male was appropriate in context. Still, Nolan is the lead and "moral center" of the show. There will never be a time when there are lasting consequences to his actions. The writers clearly didn't think of the racial subtext of making Armstrong a dirty cop last season, so it's basically lip service. Even Sgt Grey's speech about Nolan's reprimand and no future beyond patrol officer will be rendered moot when the writers decide it's promotion time for Nolan. It is what it is.

I enjoyed this one more than the first film, mostly because I actively disliked Diana by the end of the first one. I agree with others that Barbara/Cheetah should have been the main villain. I guess the Max Lord as the Dreamstone plot was meant to up the stakes, but it came off convoluted and contrived. I kind of rolled my eyes at two intelligent, attractive white women commiserating over their struggles. But at least Diana's was more profound - being the only one of your kin (as far as she knew), watching your loved ones age and die over decades, almost a century, must be agonizing. It totally made sense for her to become a loner. I didn't see enough of Barbara's....struggles to sympathize much. Not being liked by your co-workers is rough, but by her own admission she'd only been working there a week. If anyone deserved a flashback of a traumatic past, it should have been her, not Max Lord. I hadn't considered the Steve body snatching factor until I read it here. I didn't care about Steve and Diana's relationship. They hardly knew each other long enough for me to be invested in this great love, plus I never saw much romantic chemistry between Gadot and Pine in either film. Nevertheless, great points made about body autonomy, sexual assault, and consent. In hindsight, I don't think the guy asking Diana out would have made things any better. I thought the young Diana and Alistair actors did very well in their roles, heck better than some of the adults.

I've been watching this since it was added to HBOMax, and while I never cared much about the teenage angst (especially the romantic relationships), I found some of the darker themes interesting. I wish we could have seen more of the psychological fallout from the meta-human trafficking. I also thought the League going covert vs The Light was very smart and strategic. After all, it was how they were able to simultaneously take down multiple operations. I found the "save our ideals vs save people" argument dumb and pedantic. It'll be interesting to see how season 4 handles Jefferson Pierce leading the team because I found him annoyingly self-righteous (Diana too but she's barely around). The only real problem I had with the divide and covert tactics from season 3 was keeping other team members in the dark. I would think Dick and Kalder, more than anyone, would understand why that doesn't work.

Yeah, I had to hand wave a lot of the plot. But by the time Enola had the Marquess going back to the family home knowing that a family member fully intended to murder him, I threw my hands up. I'm not really sure what she thought would happen. It would have been an interesting, albeit sad, twist if the Marquess really died to Enola's poor decision. But hey, all's well that ends well. I feel like Netflix original films tend to meander about 30 minutes longer than they should. This one was no exception. I found the Eudoria mystery more interesting, and while I appreciated the social commentary surrounding the Reform Bill, I started to lose interest when Enola willfully abandoned her pursuit of Eudoria to help the sheepish, handsome young male. The two actors were adorable, I just didn't care. Still, Brown was great and carried the film. This was my favorite scene of the film. Not just because of the aforementioned chemistry, but it's satisfying that Edith read him like a book. Her line about Sherlock's lack of interest in politics because he's never known what it is to be without power and the world as it exists suits him so well was spot on and more pointed social commentary. I thought her summary of the Holmes family was hilariously concise as well - a lost child, a puffed up misanthrope, a revolutionary, and....Sherlock. Ha!

I recently binged season 1 and 2. Even though I'm extremely late to the party, I get why there wasn't much discussion. Getting to watch the sumptuous scenery and fashion was certainly refreshing in these times! But as others stated, there's no logic to the plot at all. I think I'm supposed to feel for Georgina, especially with the brief look into her past. Eh, I didn't really care. But it sure was a nice escape to watch all of the gorgeous landscapes and stare in awe at the actresses' ability to trance around such rugged terrain in stiletto heels and lovely clothes, all in high definition.

I thought Armstrong was a "breaking the rules to get the perp" type, so I always assumed it would be revealed that he did something sketchy to get Rosalind and she might walk because of it. To be a mole and murdering fellow cops seems to be a whole other level. It's definitely a weak plot because he hasn't been in the department that long, and it sounded to me like that precinct has been after the Darriens or whoever for awhile now.

It had not occurred to me during the opening scene of the 1st episode, but I would not be at all surprised if Elena burned her own house down. As for Mia, I do feel some sympathy for her. That her mother forbid her from attending her brother's funeral was very telling, and also that her brother alluded to the mom implying "hooker" once he realized she and the professor were beyond teacher and student. One can argue that overly strict parents were considered normal at the time, but that's a slippery slope. I didn't see enough of the family interaction to assume stability. I assumed surrogacy was more like in-vitro fertilization and another woman carries the child to term. But I don't know enough about it, and this was the 80s. As ridiculous as the turkey baster was, I thought it was the father's semen inserted into Mia. So I assumed that Pearl was the biological child of Mia and creepy Jesse Williams'. I didn't think Nicole Beharie's character contributed her eggs. I guess that's why I don't think less of Mia for keeping the child, especially when I can't see a reason why an otherwise healthy, financially stable couple wouldn't adopt. Speaking of Nicole Beharie, it was good to see her and I wonder what she would have done with the Mia role. I don't find Mia to be angry per se, just guarded with no desire for being polite. Elena made the decision to rent to her and (temporarily) hire her despite Mia's disposition.

I didn't think there was a significant age gap between Beth's oldest and Ben. Even more than that, I think a scene or two of the kids interacting together wouldn't have detracted from anything. Heck, Ben could be seen babysitting Beth's youngest. I've learned that watching spliced, curated videos of popular pairings tends to distort what actually happens on a show. In any case, different strokes - I thought the chemistry between Manny and Christina was unique to them until I saw Rio interact with other characters. I never cared much about Brio.

This is interesting to me because the showrunner assumed the chemistry was an explicitly Manny/Christina thing. It really isn't. At that point, Beth was pretty much the only character Rio interacted with. But as Manny Montana has shared scenes with others, it's patently evident that it's the way he's playing Rio, and he's charismatic to everyone. I'm not familiar with the actress, but reading that Beth was originally intended to be more frazzled and haphazard makes so much more sense within the context of the show. From the beginning, Beth made little sense to me. I never understood how someone who was supposed to be this "together," responsible, excellent household manager....would be utterly clueless about the family's finances. Also, Retta and Mae Whitman nail the comedy. Christina Hendricks plays it a bit too straight, and she's not funny to me. The "straight man" should be funny, too. I also don't know why they bothered to make Beth and Annie sisters. I'm trying to think of a time when their children have ever been seen at their respective aunt's house, even in the background, and can't think of one. Does Ben know he has cousins? Nope.

I've read the criticisms of Mia, and totally understand why most don't like the character. Yet, I still prefer her to Elena. I'm not really sure why they're drawing out Mia's past, as it presumably explains why she's so guarded. Was surrogacy a thing in the late 90s? I assumed she was raped by Jesse Williams' character. Elena is in a gilded cage of her own making, and I have no sympathy. She's had PLENTY of advantages and privileges, and is miserable anyway. She clearly doesn't love Bill, so just get divorced already. I assume she contacted Jamie some ten years before, though we don't know why or what happened. I wondered if Izzy might be his daughter, but the timeline doesn't seem right. Elena could have ended all of the drama by firing Mia and evicting her, so I'm not understanding the obsession in the context of the show. I've no interest in the book. Reese is playing Elena like a 90s version of her Big Little Lies character. I'm not seeing much complexity there. I feel like I should like Izzy. But beyond feeling general sympathy for her being bullied, she's as obnoxious as Lexie in a lot of ways. Moody seems to be the only decent one among them. Pearl is more than naive. She seems to be a doormat. Which is interesting, given that Mia seems to have raised her to be more of a critical thinker. I guess she's caught up in the "glamour" of the Richardsons. Don't really care about the adopted baby storyline. Objectively, it's rough on either side, but the ridiculous coincidence of Linda's adopted baby being the same child that Bebe had to leave at the fire station is too overwrought. Presumably Linda and her husband are relatively affluent, and (super adorable) May Ling was the only infant available for adoption?

Right? I watched a few episodes of this show the first season, and immediately disliked Beth and Annie. My sister likes the show, and she's my roomie now so I watch. Beth and Annie are still annoying. Words cannot express how dumb this show has gotten. I get it, the Rio actor is really popular. But there's no way to square this unless this is all a dream or delusion because Beth was traumatized by killing a person and this is her way of coping. I always roll my eyes at the "Beth is the responsible one" spiel because she's just a different kind of trainwreck compared to Annie. Ruby is a doormat, and I actively wish for a Ruby/Stan spinoff to get her away from the dumb sisters.

Right there with you on the bolded. I'm agnostic on Rob as an actor, but I think he's a bigger miscast than Liv Tyler. At least the show seemed to course correct on her storyline. There's an ever present "And WHY is Judd not captain again?" thought when I watch this show. It's not like the franchise has never had a captain with PTSD, heh. Yeah, when he immediately dismissed Michelle's warning as "a woman scorned," I actively hoped that Billy Burke's character would turn on him. This seems to be a blind spot for the show's writers. The importance of his physical health shouldn't be an understatement in this context.

Yes, Foghorn is an excellent reference to Craig's accent in this film!

I don't know how this goes in real life, but within the show logic, I assumed that Vic not being a direct report of Ripley's made a difference. Plus, Vic wasn't up for a promotion that I can recall. I still like Maya. I don't care about Jack, and I was actively rooting for Andi's temporary replacement to punch him in his boy band face. I never cared about their pairing, but I had forgotten the show went out of its way to establish their "deeper" connection last season. Which went the way of Travis' arrest - the place where it doesn't serve the current plot, so it's forgotten. Grateful that the episode had all the male firefighters introduce themselves to the new chief. I think I'll remember their names now. Fingers crossed.

Owen is a FATHER, you see, and could empathize in a way that Judd could not. Never mind that he could have tried to persuade the father to get checked while they were looking for signs of life from his children. This episode made me realize that Rob Lowe annoys me more than Liv Tyler. Don't care about cancer vanity or the possibly alive sister.

Yeah, I was like, "what fool in the writer's room wrote this mess?" For Owen and Michelle to be leaders of their teams, they are rather annoying and immature. I can't believe the show had Dustin and Michelle "bond" after Michelle's 3-year harassment and Owen's physical assault. I kept waiting for Owen to be arrested. #justiceforDustin I have zero desire to see Dustin and Michelle be cordial, and certainly not friends. She hasn't earned it in the least. Agree with others that Liv Tyler is a miscast. That and the terrible writing so far for her just makes Michelle an asshole. I think the same of Rob Lowe. I don't buy him as a leader of any team. I think Peter Krause is one of the weaker links of original recipe 911, but he's much more convincing as a captain. Yes, the filter for this show is odd. I assumed the Owen/Dustin assault was to showcase Owen as a badass. Can't say it was successful. I don't have strong feelings for Buck either way, but I've disliked TK from the jump. Feels like this comes down to the actors. I didn't dislike S1 Buck the way I dislike TK, despite the shenanigans. I didn't care much for Judd in the first two episodes, but I liked him here. Perhaps Rob Lowe will quit after this season, and the show can make Judd the captain. Carlos is hot, and can do much better. It's awfully fast to have him hung up on TK already, but eh.

'Tis! I watch on Hulu, and I've seen maybe 2 episodes of Grey's ever. I was watching the previouslies like, "Wait...when did Vic hook up with Jesse Williams? Jason George's wife was pregnant and lost the baby...when? And who are these other people at the bar?" As the episode progressed, questions were generally answered. I only remember the female firefighters' names. I always have to look up the names of the male characters, heh. True. And yet, I was still rolling my eyes when earlier she said something like, "I fell in love with you, and you didn't discourage it!" I get the power imbalance and unfair, inherent sexism that puts her career at risk. But I mean...how did she think that was gonna work if he hadn't put a stop to their coupling? I don't think Vic is completely okay, but I appreciate her sentiment about leaning into grief in order to move forward. Andi barely knows the man, and all they did was some kissing and dry humping. Yet, she's all heartbroken. Whatever. Plus, for someone so sensitive about being judged who she's sleeping with, Andy certainly came off judgy about Vic and her hot doctor lover. I appreciate Maya being direct: "Sex was great and all, but it's time to end this. We have nothing in common and this was never going anywhere. Friends?" Yes, girl, cut to the quick! I don't care about...*checks imdb*...Jack, he's always come off as sort of an asshole. He'll be alright. I thought the freckled firefighter entering the home of the couple from the car was more creepy than heartwarming. Good thing the dog was friendly, I guess.

Original recipe 911 has a few weak(er) actors, so it all comes down to cast chemistry and this cast doesn't have it. Yet. Maybe it will develop. Perhaps I'll let a few episodes pile up and check back in later. Right? I was truly perplexed why the catering bill for pasta salad and sandwiches for *maybe* 15 people was that much. If that was the common pricing, no wonder they didn't tip the man. Pretty much.