lidarose9

I had trouble making it through the whole reunion. What a bore. I wanted to hear from Carleigh about her hand and the woman with MS, but really the rest of them it was the usual cliches about doing this for my family and blah blah blah. I hope they can reshape this show so it's not a matter of who's fat enough to outlast the others. I found the whole season kind of dull. Why not allow them some more equipment that will make them better able to obtain food? More emphasis on shelter-building and survival skills and not just watching people starve. Zzzzz.

I was rooting for Brendan because to me it seemed obvious he was the best baker. He was experienced, knowledgeable, confident, consistent, and knew what he was doing. If he'd practiced at home, good for him. It's what you do if you really want to win. The other guys were great, I liked them both, but James seemed a little too relaxed, like it was all just a lark, and John was just not consistent. I was shocked that he won. Also I got the feeling Paul liked James and so cut him slack, and didn't warm to Brendan and so tended to ding him for being old-fashioned or lacking creativity. As to Brendan's seeming smug or overly confident, I interpreted his comments as defensive. He knew very well he was much older than the others, maybe felt the need to bring up the fact that in some regards his age could be an advantage. Also it's impossible to know whether they are prompted by certain questions: "So Brendan, obviously you're much older than the others; will you be able to keep up with them?" Maybe I am sensitive to this since I am getting up there myself. ETA: I don't mean defensive in a negative way, like hostile or combative. Just saying maybe he meant Sure I know I'm older than the rest of these people, but I'm not ready for the old folks' home quite yet. Also I wanted to say his manner of speaking may seem kinda stiff and cold to us today but I think he was brought up at a time when that's how well brought up, well educated people talked. People were much bigger snobs about how people talked back in the day.

It would not surprise me if Jace ends up shooting David. Ali is experiencing lung problems and Leah smokes. Ali will eventually need oxygen, more than likely. Oxygen + smoking? Bad. Ali's fatigue may be cuz she is not be getting enough oxygen, so breathing properly is vital. Ali's attitude about the machine was awesome, thinking of it as a robot. A mother with some maturity would find ways to make Ali's medical situation into an adventure as much as possible. Why does the wheelchair have to be a bad thing? Ali was delighted when she first got her motorized wheelchair. It was her hot rod. I agree that Leah and Corey just really don't understand this disease. Yes, Ali is going to die from this disease eventually. At some point she will no longer have the muscles needed to breathe. Leah's job is to make her life as comfortable, calm, happy, and painless as possible with whatever time she has. And stop trying to make her fit into the "normal" box. Ali will never be a "normal" little girl. Both Leah and Corey need some counseling on this. I am surprised the doctor does not urge them to connect with some therapists who specialize in this or support groups. Maybe he does and they ignore it. In any event, Ali is a smart little girl. In spite of Leah's obvious shallow bias towards physical attractiveness and popularity, Ali is a good student and a reader. She seems very mature for her age. She is her own person. She may end up teaching Leah a few things. On the other hand, I truly felt for Leah as she stood outside the car trying not to cry in front of Ali. She didn't have a husband or friend there to keep an eye on Ali while she went to the bathroom to bawl her eyes out in private and then compose herself. I know what it's like when the tears come and you just can't stop them.

That is what I meant. In this regard, Clarisse is representing all humanity. Self-obsessed? and ultimately insane? Or capable of seeing what's really happening? We'll see. Survival depends on it.

I have no problem with David Straithairn's accent, and I agree about Belter dialects being different. It's part of what makes the Belters who they are: they are not one people. They've always been individuals and now they have to find unity, a common identity. I noticed Naomi had lapsed back into a broader Belter accent after having spent some months on the Behemoth. Earthers and Martians have different accents. Look at Bobbie. Look at Avasarala. The only way you get a uniform accent is by regimented schooling in a class system like the British used to have. Also I think he called himself Captain to give the impression of strength and unity. Right now the Behemoth is in a position to save the day for a ton of those people. That ship will have to become a kind of DS-9 space station for all the others, since it's the only one that was originally created for lengthy space travel. The Belters can be the heroes in this situation and he instinctively knows to play up their strengths. Also I think he has been addressed as Captain and referred to himself as Captain for so many years, it's probably second nature. Plus he's got a lot on his mind like his fucking punctured lung that just somehow stopped killing him. I do like him as an actor very much. I was having trouble with the swashbuckling pirate thing (expected to see an eye patch and wooden leg), but I can forgive that now. The pacing of this show always throws me off. Each season seems to reach a turning point around episode 4 or 5, so that the season feels like it has a first half and a second half. This season is no different. The events of the last two episodes could easily have taken up four episodes. It kinda kills me how they all go barreling in there and nobody really stops and takes a look around, tries to understand it. Nobody investigates and describes or records or measures. They are in a different reality. They are experiencing a new set of rules for what they can and can't do. They should be tip-toeing, but instead they (with the hubris of humans) dash along with their own myopic dramas. Silly Clarisse is a great example of this. She's in the middle of a new reality where the laws of physics don't apply. Some people feel it's miraculous, a life-changing religious experience. She's also just survived a major disaster, had to wade through dead and injured hip deep. She's committed murder not once now but twice. The enormity of ALL that is completely lost on her. She just blindly pursues her stupid (and mistaken) vendetta against Holden, as if any of that matters. Only a person who is obsessed to the point of insanity would do that.

I am so pleased I managed to find this post again! I read this post weeks ago and thought it was so insightful and spot-on -- I should have commented at the time, but got sidetracked... But as time goes on, I have found myself remembering this post, and wishing I'd said YES YES I AGREE, YOU HAVE NAILED IT. So now I'm going to do that. Very insightful, very apt, very well put. Thank you! This problem felt much more evident to me in the show than in the book. Not sure why.

Thank you!

Either of these, adapted to arctic conditions with white or off-white fur, could have been a Tuunbaq: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/terrifying-mammals-that-may-have-greeted-ear/

Just want to add, re comments about random spelling and capitalization. The English language was not standardized until the mid-19th century. There literally was no correct or incorrect spelling until Webster's dictionary, which was first published in 1828 but didn't sell well and wasn't widely used until the 1840s. It wasn't adopted as any kind of authority for a couple more decades. That practice of capitalizing nouns was a fad in the 17th and 18th centuries, which later died out. (Some think it originated with English's German roots, but there is no evidence for this.) Those of you who have read non-fiction accounts of the rescuers and/or modern investigations, would you please share the names and authors of books you recommend? There are so many, and I want to read the ones that are the most inclusive and up-to-date. Thank you!

Another general observation about this show: When it began in 2013, relations between the US and Russia were pretty much OK, and the show seemed kind of quaint, almost nostalgic. But things are VERY different now. Throughout this season, I found myself experiencing a lot of inner resistance to watching the show. I had to harden myself inwardly. I think I only did it cuz it was the last season and I wanted to see it through. But there is so much now that resonates with our current situation with Russia. It's fucking terrifying. A woman I know from Russia remarked a few weeks ago that while Americans see Gorbachev as a heroic figure, people in Russia at the time thought he was insane. The whole good guys vs. bad guys thing, we've seen plenty in my own lifespan (I am 61) to know how often things are not what they seem. Everybody in this show believed they were acting for the greater good. Right now I've never been so afraid in my whole life, not even during the Bad Old Days this program portrays. It's all too real.

Count me with the ones disappointed. I felt the whole last two episodes kinda went off the rails. It began with the flashback where teenage Elizabeth is told to always be true to herself. I groaned aloud: OH COME ON. What a joke. Give me a break. Did they join hands then and sing Kumbaya? I was expecting some kind of emotional breakdown from Elizabeth -- they'd been signaling it all season. She had blood up to her fucking elbows in this last few days/weeks, some of the most horrific killing she's ever done. How much is too much? They'd built up a solid narrative arc with the dying artist, yet she is so unmoved by this woman's death/murder/suicide, she calmly photographs sensitive documents while the husband grieves. I guess her change of heart about her mission was the result. All that agonizing, staring into the distance. But when it came, I didn't buy it for a minute. Her sudden realization she was fighting the wrong people didn't work for me at all, especially after the really vicious arguments between herself and Philip. She was even more bought-in than ever. I didn't buy anything concerning Stan. I didn't buy how suddenly he starts suspecting his best friend, after all these years. I didn't buy him sneaking off in the middle of a major operation to go do some random stuff. I certainly did not buy him letting them go, not for one minute. Up until the time they left, I kept thinking he would shoot someone in the leg. I kept thinking of poor Nina. He sure did forget about her, didn't he? And John Boy Walton. Didn't buy the coincidence with Paige witnessing the young intern's drunken meltdown, and her reaction. I didn't buy Agent Aderhold breaking down the priest. I did enjoy them trotting out all these people who knew their secret and kept their secret, including Pastor Idiot in Argentina. One of the truly nice moments was where Philip realizes the Russian guy at work had them pegged all along. But after all the incredible shit P&E did, this is what Philip's losing sleep about? Laying off people at work? There should be a drinking game for the final season where you take a shot each time Philip is poking his adding machine staring at papers. He sure didn't get much to do all season until these last couple episodes. A real disappointment, since he was by far the best actor of the crop, in my opinion. Margo Martindale got the best scene, imo. She was consistently great, and her character was true to itself. I honestly could not keep track of why the FBI was investigating who for what, and by that point I really didn't care. P&E's escape and all that came after seemed like just so much hokum. This show deserved a better ending. I agree with those who say it should have ended after season 3 or 4. Season 5 was a TOTAL waste of time, and this season was all just build-up for the finale. They could have done this in 2-3 episodes. Most of these episodes felt like padded-out music videos, with storylines that were just rehashing old material that had been handled better earlier. I really really got sick of that. As their cover came unraveled and the turmoil back in the USSR (Beatles song!) became evident, all of the shit that kept them propped up disintegrated, P&E found themselves unsure of who was friend or enemy. I expected Philip would turn himself in to Stan and go into Witness Protection, that Elizabeth would refuse, and they would literally have to go their separate ways. I expected Philip's moment of truth would be deciding whether to turn in his wife or protect her until she could escape. I think she would have gone back to Russia, but Philip would stay with the kids and do his best to try to create some kind of decent life for them. Elizabeth would become a factory manager in Kiev and would be too proud to ever admit she'd been wrong about anything, including leaving her husband and kids. In fact, in my own mind, that is how I'll end their story.

Thank you! One last thought: This concerns the 1972 incident where the plane carrying the soccer team from Uruguay crashed in the Andes. I read a book about it in the 1970s, and there was a movie made about their ordeal called "Alive" in the early 90s. They survived by eating the dead. A few years ago, I saw another film about it called "Stranded: I Have Come From A Plane That Has Crashed On The Mountains." Somebody found the survivors now, years later, and brought some of them back to the site of the plane crash. Some of them brought along their now-adult kids. These people had not just been part of a soccer team together -- they'd been lifelong friends, many of them growing up in the same neighborhood, some married into each others' families. Obviously, the experience devastated the survivors. Generally, they have not remained in touch in the years since their ordeal. But each of them echoed the same sentiment, looking back on the experience: that to them, surviving by eating the flesh of their dead friends was an intimate, almost spiritual experience. It was done, in many cases, with the permission or even with orders from the dying. Those who were dying very much wanted the others to survive. The survivors all spoke of this with great love and gratitude. They were all horrified by the media circus upon their return. Their own (adult) children knew they owed their own lives to the dead, and so also the lives of their own children. It was very touching. It was the opposite end of the spectrum of the cannibalism we saw in this show.

It has taken me some time to process this finale and this show. It is rare that a TV show has such an effect on me emotionally. I was in a kind of daze for several days after the final episode, sad, but thoughtful, sorting out my reactions. I appreciate so much the comments here. So here are some thoughts: Although I loved the Tuunbaq, when I think back on this show, I won't remember the monster. To me it was the least important part of the story and although it functioned as a handy device, this show still would have been absolutely spellbinding without it. There was PLENTY of horror and monstrousness in this story without a monster. I think they did the right thing not letting us (or anyone) get a good look at the creature until very late in the game. When they did, well, it really did not work for me, I'm sorry to say. I'm not going to hold this against the show. It was a very challenging task. I think they failed, not just in the quality of the cgi but in the design of the animal. They worked too hard to give it a human-looking face. When I visualize it, I see Gollum's face superimposed on a polar bear's face. Also, I prefer to not see the creature as anything supernatural. To me, it was the last of its kind, a species on the brink of extinction. The people living there had had a relationship with these animals in the same way they did with the caribou, seals, walruses, and the woolly mammoth, if you go back far enough. They'd created rituals around it. It's what they did. The British explorers happened to bumble onto the scene just as one of the last creatures was spending its last days on earth. Thinking of the last white Rhino that just died. (Also, someone asked about caribou in an earlier post. The Inuit of that region definitely hunted caribou. That's where they got the skins for their dwellings and clothes. The caribou have annual migrations north and south from above and below the tree line. The Inuit knew where and when they could travel south to intersect with the herds. It was an annual ritual.) Most of the super powers attributed to the creature could have been a misunderstanding, in the same way you'd freak out upon seeing a crocodile if you'd never heard of one or seen pictures before. Or seeing a flying fox, believing no mammal could fly. The Inuit must have thought those people were all insane or maybe possessed by demons. I imagine they pitied them. I have no trouble understanding why Silence helped Crozier. She'd been hanging out with these people for a long time. She knew who the good guys were. As LS took Crozier back from Hickey's camp, I was so grateful they did not show us the deterioration and last death throes at the other camps. Seeing the aftermath was bad enough. You knew what happened. I have to admit the whole sequence from Cozier's arrival at Hickey's camp up to the death of the monster, that whole section seemed kind of a mess to me -- with the exception of the business about Goodsir. I see him as the secondary hero in this story (Crozier being primary). He knew they would all die a lingering, painful death anyhow, so it could be looked at as a mercy killing. But also they had gone beyond the point of no return morally, and the only thing to do was end it if he could, possibly arranging Crozier's survival. To the end, a good heart. Call him goody-goody if you will but I contend Goodsir was the most "civilized" man on that expedition. I'm reading the book and what may not have been as evident in the TV show: by the time the men left the ships, they were already dying -- not just sick, but dying of scurvy, lead poisoning, and starvation. Part of that was losing their fucking minds. Nobody was thinking straight. Many were moving through hallucinations in a dream-like state, like poor Jopson. A man may have been holding a shotgun in his hands but simply forgot to shoot. That is where we see that being pushed to their absolute extreme revealed their true character. With Hickey, Tozer, some of the others, they descend into brutality, cruelty, selfishness and, in Hickey's case, utter madness. With Crozier, Goodsir, some others, their innate goodness takes over. Crozier spent that whole last couple episodes just trying to make people feel better. That really was the only thing he could do. I loved that about him. The moments of kindness and human feeling in this show were what completely broke me down. I love how nobody was who they seemed to be, and all pretense, all layers of personality were stripped away by the relentless misery and hopelessness. Hickey of course actually is an imposter, but it took time for his essential character became clear: a man who would literally do anything to survive... Crozier is the respected captain but also a lifelong drunk.... Fitzjames starts out looking like kind of a dick, but turns out to be a good guy... Franklin pretends to be a great leader, a wise man, an Arctic legend in his own mind, but really he's a fucking dumbass. Even minor characters have their secret stories, like Peglar and Bridgens. (I absolutely love how the show gives us no actual backstory for their relationship, but it is evident from Peglar's death that they loved each other very much.) Someone asked why they were dragging those huge heavy boats: they were headed for a river, where they could travel by boat many times faster, plus it would put them in better position to bump into potential rescuers, and also take them where there was more game. If they'd been smart, they would have ditched the boats and built canoes when they got far enough south to find trees, but these people were not thinking straight, obviously. Closing shot: agree, he is seal-hunting, with great patience. He may not be happy but now has a kind of inner peace: the man who was drunk most of his life, now clear-headed and sure-handed enough to sit motionless for hours. The hole in the ice isn't really a hole, it's more like a thin spot, where the seal can easily poke up its nose. They don't poke up their whole heads, so the actual opening may be crusted over with thin ice covered with snow -- so it's hard to see. The spear has a hook on it so they can drag the seal up onto the ice and kill it. And he does it with one hand, this guy. I agree, this final tableaux was several years in the future. I think his hair and beard was longer. I have no trouble understanding why Crozier remained with the Inuit. Some things, you just don't recover from. Crozier had utterly and thoroughly lost his faith in "western" civilization. He stayed there where people were sane. The thing that grabs me most is the juxtaposition of the sense of extreme isolation, countless miles of empty nothing, in this hostile environment where humans have no business being at all. They could have been on Mars! VERSUS the feeling of claustrophobia, not just the men crowded inside the ships, but also the danger of being even out on the deck, creating even more psychological tension, of needing to crowd together to protect themselves. The ships on the ice were like forts, where the men could defend themselves, but were also prisons. It reminds me of how in lab experiments, when rats are crowded into small spaces they turn on each other and kill each other. I was relieved the final episode didn't attempt to cover the rescuers or more Lady Franklin shit. Seriously, who cares? Especially in contrast to what was going on for the men of the expedition. I am slightly horrified by talk of a second season. WTF? Unless it's an anthology series and they take up another expedition somewhere else (Shackleton?), what on earth is there left to tell about this story? The hardest thing for most writers to do (imho) is write a good ending. This show had a good ending. I would urge TPTB to leave well enough alone. I want to say this is one of the most intelligent, well done series I've seen in years, maybe ever. Masterful script, masterful acting, especially Jared Harris, holy cow that guy was great. And the look of this show was absolutely gorgeous, so vivid, so stark. It is visually so memorable, emotionally so moving. I have been fascinated by the Arctic all my life, thanks to having read a children's book called "Two For The North" by Farley Mowat (called "Lost in the Barrens" in Canada) in 6th grade. And there is something about those 19th century explorers that fascinates me. So for me this show was a bonanza all the way around. Also thank you to all of you who wrote here. It enriched my viewing pleasure to read your thoughts and reactions.

I just tried to give them "feedback" on the Syfy website by filling out their "Viewers Voice" bullshit thing. After providing all the info they asked for, I was told that I don't qualify to participate. WTF.

I honestly can’t disagree with anything said here condemning Cate. But I just watched "The Hours" again recently and keep thinking of Julianne Moore's character in that movie, one step away from suicide with an adorable kid at home and one in the oven. I was thinking about books like “A Thousand Acres” or “Ladder Of Years” where women abandon their children. Why? How? I think Cate has grown to absolutely hate her life, but she can't walk away from it cuz too many people make too much money from it (including her and Tyler). So she has to keep playing this role: the brave little girl with the fucked up childhood and awful parents, pretending to be happy with Tyler, pretending to be happy being a mother, constantly having to rehash the decision to give up Carly, etc. etc. She lets down Nova. She lets down Tyler. She let down Carly, she let down Brandon & Teresa. Now she's the brave little depression-and-anxiety poster girl for MTV. She is an object that everybody makes judgments about. Even being unhappy, she is judged for. She feels intensely guilty for being unhappy. The only place where she is allowed to actually feel her real feelings, so far, has been at rehab ,so that's where she runs. Cuz she can. Now that MTV breaks the fourth wall, we can see the way the producers lead them into storylines, no doubt when the cameras are turned off, feeding them lines. The others may be fine with this, but Cate is a damaged little girl that never grew up, never developed into a real person. She learned as a child, the safest thing is to reflect back what she thinks people expect to see in her. She's spent her whole life trying to be what others want her to be. She has no idea who she actually is and she’ll never find out til she gets away from this sick, toxic farce of a life. She needs to get the fuck out of Dodge, with or without Tyler and/or Nova, and start a new life of her own somewhere else, away from her fucked up family, away from the TV cameras and the Twitter followers and fans. My heart absolutely breaks for Nova, but it's apparent that Cate is simply not capable to being a good mother to her, at least not now. Nova is just one more person pressuring her to be a certain way, expecting things from her. Nova is the ultimate person she is not good enough for. Sometimes people who come from childhood trauma form coping mechanism that manifest in cold-hearted behavior towards the weak and vulnerable: “Hey kid, nobody rescued me. Nobody picked me up when I cried. If I could live with it, you can too.” Cate is enacting what April did to her, even thinking it’s for Nova’s own good. It may be the best thing for Tyler and Cate to split up and for Tyler to get custody. Not everybody is cut out for parenthood. Every time I see Cate turn away from Nova, I see April turning away from Cate, and think about how Carly doesn’t have to experience this. Nova would be better off with a mom like Teresa or Kristina. I’m sure Tyler could find a nice boy who wants a family. But that will never happen cuz it’s not in the storyline for Cate and Tyler’s happily ever after MTV life. It makes me sick the way MTV is making money on the backs of these tiny people with no rights. I suspect if she can't break out of this prison, Cate will turn to drugs or alcohol or make good on her talk of suicide. There is nothing Tyler or anyone can do for her in this, except set her free, give her permission to go off and be miserable and try to find her real self and a new way of living. My ex-husband used to work with juvenile felons. It was pointless to help these kids develop life skills and empathy and such, only to send them back to the cesspools they came from -- the family system is sick. This is why Butch can't get sober. You can't go back to the same situation that created the mess and expect everything to suddenly be different. In a fantasy world, a new house or a new baby would please everyone, make everything OK. Cate desperately wants to figure out what that is and be it, but she just can't. I can imagine how elated she felt when she realized her MTV money would provide welcome $ for her family. She was no longer Cate the Survivor. She was Cate the Hero, all by getting knocked up and giving up the baby. Now all these years later, it's plain that throwing money at people doesn't solve their problems and in many cases makes it worse. So much for Cate the Hero. Now she's Cate the Failure. The miscarriage was an externalization of what has been eating her up inside for years: I can't do anything right. I am not good enough. Anybody else would be happy with my life; why can't I be? You pretend to be happy to keep up the facade, but inside it is killing you. Cate has the means available to run away to rehab, so she does. You know what’s NOT in rehab? MTV cameras. I’m telling you, if I had someone following me around filming my life, I’d run away too. You take a girl from a seriously fucked up family who has learned from early childhood that her value is determined by her ability to keep people around her happy -- then put her in front of TV cameras and give the whole world access to her private life so that literally everyone gets to evaluate her, judge her, snark on her. Then you pay her a ton of money to do it. It's like torturing an animal in a cage.

This show completely sucks. Let me count the ways: 1. The show is called "Alone." These people are not alone. The whole premise is now fucked up. They should change the name to "Together". 2. They picked terrible pairs. The only couple that seems remotely up to this is the father-son team and the married couple. (Like others, I can't be bothered to even learn their names.) I predict the ginger brothers will not last cuz they will get into ego battles. Whoever was responsible for choosing the contestants really screwed up. 3. These people act like they've never seen this show before. All this horrorstuck anxiety about a typical blustery autumn day. Did we not know this would be terrible weather & nonstop downpours? That everything would be soggy 24/7? Did we not know the fish don't bite this time of year? Did we not think about high tides and flooding (especially after last season's experiences)? Did we seriously think we were going to last under a tarp for X months? Not only do these people act like weekend state park campers, they seem completely blindsided by Vancouver Island. 4. As soon as the Ginger guy started building a boat, I knew he hadn't watched the show before. We all know what happens to the guys who build boats. 5. Whatever happened to his boat project anyhow? That seemed to just disappear. 6. So far we've seen nearly NO details about survival strategies. The most interesting part of the show is MIA. When I think back to the way past contestants have come up with inventive solutions to problems, it makes these people look like a bunch of amateurs. (Exception the married couple who seem to be the only people actually qualified to be doing this.) I'll keep watching, but WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT.

Does anybody know of a US release date for the DVD for Season 2?

I bailed after the third episode, and am glad to find your comments here. So it wasn't just me. They completely forgot to make any of the characters likable. And everything was cliche or some predictable trope we've seen a million times, done better elsewhere. Cardboard cutout characters. It could have been a really interesting show, like Foyle's War or Home Fires but with the added twist of the setting in Northern Ireland, which really was in a very unusual situation at the time. Was there anything to distinguish the experience as being particularly Northern Irish? No. I found the accents horrific. A regional accent in an area like that would have been VERY broad, nearly incomprehensible to an American. The little boy was a placeholder, nothing more, zero character development. And since the show was named for her, I expected Rose to be something deeper, more complex. She wasn't. And OK, I realize the actress is British so this should not have been a problem, but I found her accent really annoying. She sounded like an American trying to fake an upper-class British accent. Anyhow, after reading the comments here I am glad I decided to quit.

Agree that this was not a strong season, with a disappointing conclusion. In addition to a whole slew of other reasons, I found Gloria Burgle to be a cardboard cut-out impression of the Fargo stock character Sensible Female Police. The writing was OK but the actress blew it. Her deadpan delivery was too lifeless. There is a very subtle but important difference between the understated delivery of past versions and this one. I was pulling for her, of course, but in many scenes, her line reading was off. The best thing about her was the friendship with her pal Winnie. I also grew to care about Nikki, but nobody and I mean nobody could get the shit kicked out of them like she did, then get bashed up in a bus accident, then get out and run like hell for miles across late winter Minnesota woods.

How can there be so many Iowans and Nebraskans here!? I used to live in Des Moines and have cousins in Omaha! Deb would be a weirdo wherever she lives. So did Doctor Weirdo give her a fake engagement ring with no diamond first? And then came back later with a real one? Cate and Tyler basically have absolutely nothing going on so they just borrow storylines from other people. Next they'll want to open a frozen yogurt shop or start selling t-shirts.

In the scene where Amber was shushing the noisy dogs, the camera was looking down onto the front entry area from above, probably on some stairs, and it looked like there were dark stains where the floor meets the walls. Like probably from the dogs pissing on them? In their fancy rich people house. Different strokes for different folks, surely, but to me, any woman who allows the man to "hold" her personal documents, DL, checkbook, keys, whatever -- something's not right. If someone is sick or injured or there's extenuating circumstances, sure -- but in ordinary day-to-day life, this screams of dysfunction.

I am up to Chapter 34. Holden and crew are back at Tycho after defeating the thing in the cargo bay. The incident on Venus has happened, but Avasarala and Bobbi are running on a little different timeline. They've just arrived on Mao's space yacht.

Seeking advice. I've just reached the point in Caliban's War where I'm more or less caught up with the TV show. I'm tempted to stop reading now and wait for Season 3, then continue reading after that season has aired. I know - it's a long wait. But though I'm DYINK of curiosity, but hate to ruin the surprise. Those of you who've read the books, what is your opinion on this?

This is what I assumed. He lasted 45 seconds.

I think some of the regulars here are fans of the old "Roseanne" program -- I just saw an article that they're doing a followup show with the original cast -- and both Beckys -- and John Goodman.