huahaha

Rebecca's lying is consistent with borderline personality disorder. That's one of the things I loved about this episode. Rebecca's illness was an actual obstacle, with past insecurities coming back to roost. Instead of coming clean, she added a new layer of lies with their own impending consequences. The show went back to its old hijinks as well, which made this my favorite episode in a long time.

Michael is the only actual character. She's in a cube on Picard's desk, and I am here for her stories.

Krystal grew up believing her parents didn't want her. (Dad left and mom was only emotionally available to a parade of boyfriends.) Her brother was also screwed up from the experience and is on the streets. Krystal definitely snapped over trust and attachment issues, so her story could very well be true.

I feel like that wasn't the last of Krystal, but maybe I've just seen too many lifetime movies. She is perfectly cast to show back up with a bloody wedding dress and a vendetta.

To me, the mediocre white man who's taken over the show is Daryl, not Nathaniel. The actor is much loved and apparently very talented, but I don't think his potential translates on the show. I never cared about Daryl's unlikely relationship with WhiJo, and I certainly don't want to watch a fifty year old man have a second baby. Just, why? Josh and Valencia deserved a lot of that time instead.

I'm not sure if the Rebecca-Nathaniel story line can have a good ending. The show has set out to subvert tropes, but at this point, it's ridiculous for the characters not to be together. Only on film do two attractive, nonmarried, in love people having great sex not give it a go. Those chances don't keep coming indefinitely, and many people never get a chance to be with a gorgeous intellectual equal who's gaga about them and accepts them mental illness and all. The show will more than likely go another direction, but if they do, it will be as forced as any other will-they-or-won't-they plot from an 80s TV show.

Apparently, mirror universe does not have the Evil Overlord list. Pretty sure this episode fell prey to 2, 6, 10, 19, 25, 26, 29, 39, 41, 53... And the big one:

I think reasonable people could disagree on this. I don't personally consider egg donation any different from giving a baby up for adoption. Many kids want/expect a relationship with their bio parents at some point.

Yeah, they need to fill in the blanks on this. I had been assuming that Voq's consciousness had just been implanted in the real Ash. And then the prayer would've activated it, so to speak. I don't even know what to do with the idea that Klingons are so good at impersonation that they can rebuild an entire body through plastic surgery and ALSO copy the personality and memories. This is some Scooby Doo shit.

I'm REALLY hoping there's a brilliant plan for Ash/Voq. The reveal wasn't a surprise, but I am surprised that the transformation was basically achieved with a chainsaw. Please. Sure, it's canon that Klingons know how to impersonate humans. But that was established with beings of roughly the same size. Voq's skull is the size of a watermelon. What, exactly, is left of him at this point? If the show runners wanted to do this twist, why change Klingons so much? Worf to Riker is believable. This strained my suspension of disbelief too much.

I'm surprised fifty-something Daryl deciding to have a baby on his own while he works full time isn't being discussed on the show. (Maybe the actor is playing late forties, but still.) The plot made some sense with the much younger White Josh in the picture. Viable sperm is hardly the only issue in deciding to have a baby that late in life, though. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it should've raised a question or two.

Oh, January. She can basically have her pick of men but always goes for the smarm. Can't blame Nick for calling her though. He'd have been a fool not to.

Oof. I've been enjoying this season, but this episode got way too dark and ugly. Rebecca sleeping with Greg's dad didn't feel in character at all. The writers obviously picked borderline personality disorder for Rebecca's illness and are now retconning it a bit with the Robert backstory as well. If the show wants to take mental illness seriously, that's great, but it's not super funny. I don't think Friends and Seinfeld would be considered the classics they are if everyone's antics got a diagnosis. What next, Valencia has Paula imprisoned for the GPS tracker? That's what would happen in real life, and there wouldn't be anything funny about it.

Agreed. First cousins share 12.5% of their DNA on average. Fifth cousins are down to 0.05%. Also, aunt and nephew is a closer relationship than first cousins. Jon and Dany share about 25% of their DNA -- as much as half-siblings. That is pretty squicky. Their case is made worse because their shared DNA is a result of generations of inbreeding and clearly has developed issues already.

What a fanficked mess this season turned out to be.

I always thought Kaitlyn and Shawn and Jojo and Jordan were real couples, actually well suited to each other. Even if the relationships blow up, they're legit. Nick and Vanessa never had anything going, even during the actual proposal. Basically, he thought she was hot enough that her poor personality could be overlooked and she thought he'd move to Canada. Obviously wrong on both counts.

I guess this episode proves no incredibly stupid, bone-headed, pointless plan goes unpunished. What a waste.

No, the exact dialogue says, "All the gold's safely through the gates in King's Landing." I don't think it could be more explicit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQtGZYEvFhA&t=220s (0:18)

Catelyn calls them the "knights of summer" for a reason.

I'm surprised how many people wish that Dany would just nuke Cersei and be done with it. The whole plot is based on the War of the Roses. What would we be watching for the rest of the season if the Lancasters/Lannisters just fucked off and died? The White Walkers haven't even gotten to the Wall yet. Dany has the equivalent of nuclear weapons. Having them gives you a lot of power, but actually using them is fraught with issues. Cersei's victories have actually been well-plotted and earned, in my opinion. Highgarden has always been known for its wealth, not its fighters. Book Euron has nearly supernatural abilities, so I'm not surprised he's ruling the seas. Even Cersei's destruction of the sept was set up in the earlier wildfire scenes against Stannis. What Cersei lacks is the ability to foresee the long-range consequences of her plans, and she is punished for that in-show (losing Tommen and now half her army + the spoils of Highgarden). On a separate note, you know you're watching an impressive battle when you want one side to win and still empathize with people on the other side. Dickon was developed out of nowhere. Nicolaj Couster-Waldau really impressed me, showing Jaime's realization of what was about to happen, leaking shame and indecision. I also thought it was very important to have Tyrion there. He may not have realized it before, but he's openly declared war on the brother who saved his life. It was one thing to try to depose Cersei, entirely another to bring the dragon lady to flame your brother to death. One more thing: whose idea was it to make the dragon-slaying machine out of WOOD??

Because he's a king, not a warden, and she isn't interested in a divided realm. If she'd like him to lay down power, so to speak, a marriage is the easiest way to do that. I don't necessarily think the books/show are going to be that predictable. Just that that's how Dany thinks.

She doesn't want a purely military strategy. Any realm she can take bloodlessly is a huge advantage. She's already won over two of the seven kingdoms (Dorne and the Reach). Jon comes with the North and the Vale. They can deal with the White Walkers better as a united kingdom. Obviously, if the zombie snowmen come before Cersei is beaten, everyone's priorities need to change.

Dany was pretty clear with Daario that she's planning to marry in order to secure the realm. Jon has the north. I can't think of a more advantageous alliance at this point. He may be thinking of White Walkers, but she isn't.

Agreed. I thought we were in for the big reveal of Jon finding out who his mother is, because of course Littlefinger would know somehow. And LF was definitely angling to marry Sansa, in exchange for saving Jon's neck. As for Euron, I kind of like the character but he's almost comic relief. So campy. His life plan cracks me up as well. Plan A: Offer giant cock and fleet of ships to blonde queen. Plan B: Offer giant cock and fleet of ships to OTHER blonde queen. I guess you gotta go with your strong suits. We won't be rid of Littlefinger until he serves some major plot purpose. Same with Theon. Their characters have been set up from book 1 as spoilers in this whole mess, based on longstanding resentment and weirdness with the Starks.

Just saw that the quotes are from a podcast Ina did with Katie Couric. Ina's part starts at 3:10. She goes into some personal topics, including explaining her decision not to have kids, starting 22 minutes in.