Rancide

I'm team Antonio for his comments this week even if I understand previous gripes about him. Part of this show is working with people from different backgrounds (and that's part of the whole point, and yes, as the "pros," the lion's share of the work for adapting falls on the professional partner), and where Antonio comes from--football, Liberty City--what you very much don't do is make statements behind your teammates' backs implying you have doubts about their abilities. Remember when the loathsome Master P, whose level of disrespect for his partner's efforts vastly exceeded Antonio's, went off on his partner for snitching? Not equating Master P or his problems with Antonio or his problems. Just saying that at the end of the day while you may not personally agree with whatever the perceived foul might be and it may not be something that would offend you personally coming from whatever background you come from, it's sort of the pro's job to meet the celeb where they are, and I don't think it's unreasonable for Antonio to share with Sharna why, from his perspective, what she said was out-of-line and how it affected him. It's not like he was criticizing her for having an opinion or even for what that opinion was--it was just the manner of her expressing it that bothered him, He calmly explained to her why it wasn't okay with him, and I think that's fair.

I loved whoever was rolling his eyes at Chris Nunez for being pissed off at everyone for sucking before the tattooing even started. Nunez is such a douche-bag. And calling Megan Jean a "high gloss" tattooer and acting like it was tough to send her home? WTF? He's been sniping at her over really excellent tattoos for weeks. She wouldn't have gone home today--and shouldn't--except she's been living in the bottom because Nunez couldn't keep from calling her down for imaginary or minuscule errors even when it meant ignoring huge problems in other folks' work to do it. This whole season concept still sucks. They should have just done an All-Star season rather than forcing really talented newbies like Megan Jean to compete against people whose asses the judges can't detach their lips from even when they aggressively shit the bed. And yes, Sausage needs to stop whining. I did not find him annoying on his season, and I still prefer the whining version of annoying to the excess testosterone version of annoying, but dude... state your issues once and move on. The skin sucked. We get it. There's no need to try to argue your point over and over again, particularly not with the loudmouth half-brains that disproportionately populate this show, both as contestants and as judges. You can't win. Let it go.

Excess skin + gravity.

I only really watch this show with my mom, who lives in a retirement community, so I am usually mostly clueless about who these people are, what's going on, etc. I had no idea who the heck Ginger Zee was, and it (sorry, Ginger!) sounded like such a porn star name that I decided to google her. Turns out she's... 35? I honestly (no joke) thought she was 50. Am I the only one? Maybe it was the makeup (like I said, I don't watch regularly). But sheesh.

Danny Pino is extremely attractive and has a lot of charisma and charm. Unfortunately, his delivery of lines is flat, rushed, and utterly without inflection. I didn't notice so much on Law & Order where generally folks don't have to say more than one sentence in a row at a time. But on a show that is basically built around speechifying, it's already grating. I only assume it's going to get worse.

Right. And Megan Jean isn't down for sloppy seconds.

The way Nunez acts towards Megan Jean, and the generally low opinion I have of him, combine to make me suspect she rejected an (off-screen) advance of his, and he's making her pay for it now. She is, IMO, one of the most talented artists of this season and doesn't deserve the crap that Nunez keeps throwing at her. But then, this show long ago ceased to be about talent and started being about the judges' outsize egos and their love of ridiculous dick-wagging fiestas. This is a really great crop of contestants this year. Almost all of them deserve much better than this ridiculous format and these judges.

Right. It's hard for me to see how someone can demand the best when they're not putting out the best. Lupe was not doing the best she could do to be a supportive partner in their marriage, and it's hard for me to fault Gilbert for not giving it his all, either. On balance, he seemed to be doing more than she was, notwithstanding his problems. And yeah, they both need to do better. But it's like Lupe was demanding unilateral improvement--Gilbert needed to fix his flaws, while she didn't even need to try to stand up, try to work on wiping her own ass, etc. With 10 years in bed, she may have done such permanent damage to her legs that she'll never walk again even if she gets down to 200 lbs, but at least get a damned motorized wheelchair and work on disability-outfitting your home. Plenty of people in wheelchairs are capable of a much higher degree of self-care than Lupe was exhibiting.

Ditto. And no, two wrongs don't make a right, but I think Lupe's behavior is at least as big a violation of her marriage vows as Gilbert's. She kept saying she didn't deserve less because she was big, but I don't know that that's true. Less than what? Less than people who are making an effort to be present and participating partners in a marriage? Yes, she has a disease. And yes, it's hard. But eating to the point that you ruin both yours and your husband's life is not necessarily that different from gambling to the point that you ruin yours and your husband's life, or drinking. And those are really common reasons people get divorced. She's got a problem, and yes, he promised for better or worse, but the fact that someone promised you for better or for worse doesn't give you license to drive 100 mph towards "worse" in a runaway train without even trying to apply the brakes and then yell at them for wanting to get off. Gilbert could have left, and he didn't. Maybe it was all for the cameras, but he did seem respectful and supportive of her in most of their personal interactions. I have a hard time believing he was a total jerk once the cameras were off because Lupe seemed to have no problem calling him out on being a jerk whenever he was one.

Ridiculous elimination panel. They had to call four people down just because, as per usual, they judges completely disregard the opinions of the pointless human canvas jury and because asshat Nunez had already announced he was going to pull Megan Jean's pigtails. What a waste. I don't disagree about Picasso and Alex, though I would have sent Alex home because technical flaws and all, I'd rather be tattooed by Picasso than by the guy whose designs are dumb. But one or more of St. Marq, Matti, or even possibly Sausage, should have been down there. But once again the vets just seem to be skating on through. This season is terrible. I feel bad for real talent like Anthony, Megan Jean, and Christian who, in any other season, would be already be laser-focused on aiming for the finals but in this season keep having to fight week after week just to remain in the already small and continually shrinking newbie pool while the vets come in and hog up all of the "safe" spots for no particular reason that I can see other than that they are the vets. These poor newbies may not even make it halfway through this season when in any other season they would have been among the final 3-4. If every one of the vets was really just so clearly superior to any one of the newbies, I would still think the format was a bad idea and reflected poor planning, but at least it would be fair within the show's own (stupid) rules. But I don't think that's the case. The talented newbies really do just seem to be getting randomly shit on because the judges have a hard-on for their faves from prior seasons regardless of whether those faves are actually delivering.

St Marq should have been out the first week he came back, and Cleen should have gotten a hard look (instead of laughing wave-off) for elimination this week. There's no point to this format when the vets just keep getting passes. Just have another normal season (this season's non-vets are a pretty talented group) and then do an All-Stars season ferchrissake.

Color me shocked, but I actually sort of like Fitz (for the first time EVER) now that he's actually doing something instead of just mooning after Olivia, moping about how unfair the world is, and completely absolving himself from all responsibility for being a massive asshat. I like Scott Foley, but Shona Rhimes writes the WORST plot lines for Jake. First B316 and now... whatever this is. Ugh.

I'm a lawyer, and when I was in law school I did SSI appeals (administrative hearings for people who had been denied SSI benefits based on their paper applications) as part of my law school clinic. Basically, there are a couple of ways you can get SSI. Either you can have an outright disability that would prevent anyone from working (e.g. stage V cancer and bed-bound), or you can have a combination of factors, none of which taken alone would render someone disabled but when put together, combined with the personal characteristics of the individual make someone incapable of "substantial gainful activity." MOST people who get disability are getting it because of the combination of factors and not just outright medical condition. For example, a paraplegic with a college education would probably not qualify for SSI because there are a lot of jobs for the highly educated that can be done virtually entirely from a seated position. If someone is a paraplegic and a high school dropout, it's going to be much harder to find a job because of a lack of abundant sedentary jobs for people with no education and no particular skills. Or maybe someone has schizophrenia that can be controlled with medication, but the medication makes the person extremely lethargic, makes it really hard for them to concentrate, and causes them to need frequent naps. The doctor's report is part of the SSI package, but it's not all there is. And honestly, unless someone's condition is extreme (brain damaged and non-verbal), it's very hard to get a full picture in the medical report. So lots of people who should qualify get denied and end up having administrative hearings to determine their eligibility. These administrative hearings are great because they're in-person and gives the officer a chance to evaluate in person. The first client I represented was someone who had been turned down because her diagnoses were almost all mental health related (depression, anxiety, dissociative tendencies, paranoid thinking), and she really didn't look THAT disabled on paper, but no one who talked to this woman for even 30 seconds could ever imagine she was employable by anyone doing anything. At these administrative hearings, there is a representative for the government, and that person looks through a jobs book and has to come up with examples of jobs the person could reasonably hold. If they can't do it, the person wins. There is no job that Sean can hold. The fact that it's "his fault" that he can't stand or sit up or move around at all is not relevant for SSI consideration. Unless someone from the government can find some job he is qualified for and can physically do that exists in substantial numbers in the US economy, he's disabled for SSI purposes. And add me to the list that thinks Sean was mentally challenged. I wanted APS (or whatever the acronym for CPS for adults is) to come do an intervention. It wasn't clear to me he was bright enough to be making decisions for himself, and mom seemed like she was possibly guilty of adult abuse. Given his seeming low IQ and self-reported insatiable appetite, I was wondering if he had Prader Willi Syndrome or something.

UGH. I like Scott Foley as an actor and, B-316 stuff aside, have liked Jake as a character. But new asshole Jake is not likable or interesting, and Scott Foley is not good at playing a mean guy. Fitz is still horrible. The scandal of the week was boring. Just UGH.

I can't speak about gaining weight to the point of immobility, but your body can really just reach a breaking point. I spent a few months a few years ago on a medication that caused to gain perhaps 30 lbs over a period of about 6 months. I never stopped going to the gym during that time period, but my normal treadmill workout that I'd been doing for years gradually became just not possible. One day I could do it fine, a little bit down the road I could still do it but it was a lot harder, and one day I just couldn't do it at all. I either had to ease up on the speed or run less far. It was not physically possible for me to complete no matter how much I wanted to. Once I got off the medication, I lost the weight I was able to go back to my old workout just fine. I figure it's probably the same way with becoming immobile. One day you're able to go out all day and do your job and go home. Then it becomes a huge struggle (swollen feet, needing to take more breaks, aching joints) but still technically possible. Then one day you just can't. Plus, with some of these folks, I can imagine a situation where there is a precipitating event that sends them to bed and then they just never get up. Like, they get a knee injury and go to bed for a week to "rest" it, or they get the flu and are bed-bound for a couple of weeks, and then that's that. I doubt anyone goes from working an 8-hour day one day to pee-pee pads the next. Probably more like transitioning to being in bed except for going to the bathroom, then needing help to get up to go to the bathroom, then starting to use the pee pads in case there's no one around to help you go to the bathroom, and then just not even bothering.

I imagine both Milla and her husband, and probably at least the youngest kid (unless I'm mistaken and he's not really special needs) receive disability. If Milla and/or her husband ever worked, that amount of money, while not overly generous, would probably provide more financial support for the family than we often see on this show. Even if it's just the two adults and the youngest kid, that could total somewhere in the rang of $2500-$3000/month. Not rich, but probably enough to be considered at least lower middle class, particularly in a low cost-of-living area like Houston. Also, the oldest kids were old enough that may have had jobs as well. I did not quite understand how Milla lost 50 lbs in her month in the hospital, 50 months in her first month at home, and then only 50 lbs in the 10 months that followed. 50 lbs in 10 months is a pretty reasonable total for someone who was only 50 lbs overweight to begin with. And that doesn't even take into account that she had... 40? lbs surgically removed. It seems like Milla basically stopped losing weight once she had her first surgery, yet we only heard praise for her "efforts" from Dr. Now, no lectures about how she wasn't committed to the process, no voiceovers about how Milla has been "trying" but has "fallen back on some of her old habits." Lots of unanswered questions in this episode. Very disappointing. Especially when they seemed like such a nice family.

I'm disappointed that Chris went home. He had some issues with the theme, but that drawing was at least cool and outside-the-box, and his canvas loved it. Ashley can't draw and is really whiny about it. I really don't need to see more from her. Cleen is annoying, but at least he brings it with his tattooing. St Marq adds nothing but mouth. I'm pleasantly surprised at how few trainwrecks there are among the newbie contestants. Most of them are at least solid, and a few seem like they have the potential to be exceptional.

I second that Randy needed a good family lawyer. I get that there are many personal qualities that people might have that might make one parent reluctant to want the other parent around, but that's not a decision that one parent gets to make unilaterally without input from a judge. I don't know too many parents who don't have flaws. Whether the flaws are so egregious that the person's child should not be exposed to them, even under supervised conditions, is a decision for family court.

I'm bedridden with the flu and have finally caught up with every show I actually care about watching and may resort to some GH this week. Am accepting bets on whether it will make the nausea better or worse.

Olivia and Jake are the opposite of hot. Notwithstanding the terrible B316 plotline, I liked Jake because Olivia was his Achilles Heel--proof he was human. I just don't buy Jake in love with some other woman but still sleeping with Olivia. That whole thing needs to stop. Olivia can just be alone for awhile without either of the two guys she was stringing along in her life. And yes, I'm also a "no" on the Fitz/Abbie. The only positive I can see in it is that it would almost certainly mean that Fitz and Olivia were done for good. Hopefully.

I doubt anyone who weighs 600+ lbs spends more than a few minutes at a time out of bed. Even the more mobile folks we see on this show tend to start their exercise regimes with things like walking to the mailbox and back. I'm not trying to be snarky about this at all, but with respect to why they're always in bed when we see them at the hospital, I doubt many of them could stand long enough to have a medical consultation in an upright position.

I feel like this is, like, half the people on this show. Teretha was just an extreme example. Dr. Now is always pretending like he won't give people the surgery unless they do x, y, or z, but then when they don't, he just lowers the goalposts. Or locks them in the hospital so that they have no choice or whatever. I'd like to see an episode where he actually says "no." I'll believe his little threats when I finally see him follow through even just once.

Ugh, at the hate fucking. I'm Team Jake instead of Team Fitz (at least as long as Team No One doesn't seem to be an option the show is willing to entertain), but that was stupid. Not only is it pointless, but neither Scott Foley nor Kerry Washington does it particularly well. Major second-hand embarrassment.

I thought I would come back to this show with the new writers. But every time I try, it's just a mix of people I don't recognize, people I don't care about, and people I can't even fucking believe are still on this show (Nina and Franco?? REALLY???) This show just isn't getting any better, is it?

It's a sign of how terrible this season is that I'm rooting for a team whose names I don't know and who I don't think I realized were even on the show until halfway through the last episode when one of them started talking about how she usually has to do her own make-up for TV. Go, Team Anonymous! If you've been acting like heinous human beings for the last several weeks, at least you've been quiet about it, which means you get my vote over the other two.