candle96

Vicki's gift that keeps on giving, at least from a reality tv standpoint, is her complete lack of self-awareness. You'd think being on tv for, what, 10 years? would clue her in to how she comes across to others, but nope. It's a quality most of the Ho'Wives have to some degree, but Vicki's really is top notch. Terrible in person, great for television. What I can't figure out is how her business continues to grow. I would never buy insurance from someone who either purposefully lied to others about her boyfriend's cancer diagnosis or was too stupid to sniff out the truth. Honestly, when I saw all the moving boxes at Coto Insurance, I thought for sure she was going to say her business was downsizing.

She's filming for a show, and goes to all sorts of "social" events without him for it. In fact, my guess is that it wasn't really her birthday at all. Or she had a real celebration with him off-camera, and just filmed this somewhat near the date of hers.

Thanks. I know I miss a lot. I usually consider myself a pretty astute tv viewer, but I find myself missing a step with this show all the time. I don't have that problem with other shows I watch, so I blame the writers and acting decisions on this one. They seem to be unnecessarily opaque at times.

Like many, I was not a fan of this season, mostly because it spent so long on the election that we knew would ultimately have the Underwoods winning. And it was boring. They did a complete retcon on Conway from the previous season. He went from being able to competently negotiate the release of terrorists to a PTSD mess who was simply the front man for the likes of Usher and the VP candidate. Huh? It made no sense. So many open questions - what about Cathy Durant?? Surely she will wake up at some point, or are we to assume she's suffered some type of brain damage? And NO one was suspicious about her being with the president when this "fall" happened? There was also a scene I didn't entirely understand. Usher shows Frank a folder and says something like, "two operatives." And Frank asks "And the body?" Usher says, "it's on ice." Was this referring to Tom Yates? And possibly that Usher has kept his body around to bring down Claire if necessary? I didn't get it. I thought for sure Doug was going to kill himself, maybe even with the letter opener he took from the Oval Office. As despicable as he's been, he really could be the one to bring down the Underwoods, and I'm hoping he does.

Was I supposed to know what Frank was burning at the end of this episode? My memory around this show is not that great, and I was wondering if it was a call back to something I had forgotten.

ITA. Plus the idea that Claire Underwood would fall for someone so wooden and boring is ludicrous.

ITA. To me it had a very King Solomon vibe. They were the "lucky" ones on that side of things, because most of the family (minus Nora) was intact. They had grieved her, but had moved on.

So if Cyrus planting the seed in Luna's head started this whole thing off, what was the point of those episodes with him seeming genuinely shocked and saddened by Frankie's death or his whole tortured stint in prison?? I mean, yeah, I get it was written that way for the viewers, but seriously, he did not play that role like a man who knew what was up. Which I thought was the point, that Olivia knowing for sure that Cyrus did all this was wrong. Ugh. What a strange and tacked on copout the ending was. Olivia went from wanting to take Cyrus down for killing Frankie the first time, to toasting him and laughing about it the second time. And what happened to the supposed mole in OPA, the one who had eyes on Olivia at all times? I thought for sure that was going to be revealed. TBH, I thought Jake was going to be behind the whole thing. That would've been more interesting and plausible. I adore Scott Foley, but his character is beginning to feel unnecessary at this point.

And, of course, when Fitz was leaving the White House, in the middle of what would be January, it was sunny, with lots of green grass and trees surrounding him.

Don't forget the part where Eli has the gall to tell Fitz he doesn't know what it's like to have the threat of his child being murdered, and he couldn't know the pain he's gone through. And after Fitz doesn't react to that he TELLS ELI HE ADMIRES HIM. FFS. Are the writers drunk? Do they even try to remember what happened in previous episodes? Speaking of which, I laughed at myself, because when Fitz was talking about how he negotiated with the terrorists who kidnapped Olivia, I realized I have no recollection at all as to who kidnapped her and what was the motivation behind it.

I roared with laughter at that. IIRC, Mario 2 says something like "it'd be better to take them out than replace the doors," and she takes that to mean he's saving her money. He wasn't even trying to lie to her at that point. Although the way she was torturing him, I was totally on his side. Get every penny you can out of her, Mario. Count me down as another person who just can't quit Bethenny. I totally get why people hate her, she's selfish, self-centered, crass, rude, and greedy. But she's also really funny, says what others are thinking, and makes no apologies for who she is. She herself has said she doesn't blame "editing" for her behavior, and mostly owns what she does. That's the reason I like her, and dislike fakey fakester Luann. (the only version of Luann I liked was the morning after "be cool" Luann) I'm not saying I'd want to be close friends with B, but she is reality television gold for me.

Interesting! To me, it was obvious that wasn't Adam Scott's voice, but I was completely fooled by James Tupper. I figured it really was Zoe Kravitz because of her father.

I believe it was actually Maddie, after she confessed her affair to her daughter, and told her all the ways that she wasn't perfect. Abigail was vague in who helped change her mind about the project because she didn't want to reveal her mother's confession.

Stephanie vs Richard was, what, the 3rd or 4th season? Still early on in the show. I think it's changed. The All-Stars season was the first time I became suspicious of Colicchio and his supposed integrity around judging the dishes. It was obvious to me that he wanted Richard to win the whole thing from the beginning, and it became more apparent as the season went on. It was RB's "redemption," and I thought the judges were in the tank for that from the beginning. (save maybe Gail) And now we have 3 likeable people who almost made it the first time around end up at the end. I don't doubt they are talented and deserving, but it all seems packaged a little too neatly for me. Tom really didn't seem to like Shirley's vanilla steak or drink at all, and yet John went home. I personally would love to see more blind judging, because basic psychology tells us that a personal relationship affects how a performance is judged.

I live in Chicago and have met her a couple of times. (one time she was getting her hair cut next to me.) She could not possibly be nicer or more humble. AND all of her restaurants are fantastic.

Interesting, thanks. I didn't watch the credits. I never thought he and DS had similar sounding voices, but I guess they do. At least to my ears.

I think this show is moving a bit too slowly for my tastes. I'm interested in figuring out what's going on, but don't feel like we've really made any progress. Yes, David has powers, but he may also be mentally ill. I don't feel like we've gotten any farther than that. I'm in for now, but felt like most of the memory stuff, while interesting, did not advance the storyline very much. We already knew he was a junkie, we already knew he has some unknown traumas in his childhood. I'm not sure I trust Syd. Did anyone notice that the coffee machine telling the story about the woodcutter was Dan Stevens using his natural British accent? At first I was confused as to why David was slipping into a British accent, as I thought he it was his memory, not the machine actually talking. (and perhaps the voice of Jean Smart's dead husband?)

:) I don't think it's anything that malicious. It's probably mostly for the same reason legal trials and court on tv and in movies is totally inaccurate - the real thing is nowhere near as exciting or dramatic. A lot of times, therapy is pretty boring to the outside observer..

Perhaps my love of Mr. Robot made me feel more comfortable with being all in from the beginning on this show. I was confused and questioning "wait, what?" throughout it, but I was intrigued. Similar to Mr. Robot, you have a completely unreliable narrator, which I'm okay with, assuming they don't pull too many "it was just a dream/hallucination" moments. For now, though, I'm okay with the mystery, rather than it just being a more straightforward superhero story. Those are fine, just not my thing. I personally loved the weird styling/mix of eras, it gave it a very distinct feel. I think the making of the psychiatric hospital in more of 70s/early80s vibe was on purpose, because people in there are cut off from the world, and may feel like they're being left behind. The clothing and lighting being behind the times narrated that quite well, I thought. I'm a psychologist, and no, the whole thing was not accurate at all, but at this point in my career, I'm used to mental illness and mental illness treatment NEVER being portrayed accurately, so I've learned just to go with it. (Among other things, people are rarely in inpatient units for more than 1 or 2 weeks at a time. The long-term institutions are mostly gone. I won't even get started on how all psychiatrists/therapists are portrayed as either evil or incompetent.) I guess safe to say Matthew Crawley is officially dead. I wasn't sure how I'd like Dan Stevens in this part, as I found his acting to be lacking sometimes on Downton Abbey, but he did well here.

I think the main problem with the revival and ASP hanging on to those "last 4 words" all these years, is that being pregnant at 22 is a lot different than being pregnant at 32. Even if you're not in the best place, at 32, plenty of your peers have had kids and you'll get a less sympathy about not having your shit together. No one outside those close to you are going to feel the need to rally around you as a single mom at 32, because there are lots of single moms in their 30s. Logan at 32 should not be equated with Christopher at 17. Rory's entire storyline would've made a lot more sense if she were 22 - 25. It feels like they mostly shoehorned in what they had planned for the last season, save a few details. Did I miss something about that letter Emily mentioned in therapy? Was it ever discussed again? I thought for sure there was going to be some reveal about it. Emily was convinced Lorelei wrote it to her, Lorelei swears she didn't. Emily said it was on her birthday, and then Lorelei talked about her own birthday in that phone call about her dad, but nothing about the letter. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong.

Eh, you know more than you did at 16. I am curious to see how people's perspectives of the show change with age. I was about 30 when I first started watching it (in reruns) and have always found Rory and Lorelei to be kind of selfish assholes to some degree. Emily has never been without her faults, for sure, but I never bought into the idea that Lorelei was usually in the right. She's never quite outgrown the sarcastic teen persona in her family. A good coping skill when you're 16, not so much at 35 and beyond. I'm glad they're at least addressing some of this (was always disappointed about the lack of closure in that final season) and hope we find out more about this supposed letter Emily thinks Lorelei wrote to her.

I forgot about that, but I never watched it. Honestly, I didn't want to, because the idea of watching work after a work day wasn't very appealing. And I'm sure the inaccuracies would drive me nuts. But I heard it was good, at least for non-therapists.

Oh yeah, I gave up a long time ago on any movie or television show accurately depicting therapy. I'm sure doctors, trial attorneys, and cops can also relate. Probably lots of of other professions too. Therapists are usually played as stupid and incompetent or evil and unethical. Good times for those of us who are none of these things and just trying to help people. The only show I can remember getting it somewhat right was The Sopranos. At least the GG's therapist seems like a nice person. As for another profession, freelance writer, one of my best friends is one. She rarely leaves New York, where she's based, so I have no idea what the hell Rory is supposed to be doing. Particularly given, you know, the internet and other forms of technology/communication, traveling so much just to write is rarely needed. I guess unless you're lucky enough to be a travel writer!

Therapist speaking here. Silence is sometimes very effective. You can ask questions, but you can't make people answer them. And yeah, trying dealing with a sullen teen who doesn't want to be there. I'll do everything I can to make someone feel comfortable, but you can't MAKE them talk. We're not magicians. Sometimes by just being silent you're conveying to the client that it's their hour to do with it as they want, which helps build trust and safety. Did you not see Good Will Hunting? My experience is largely that after you make it clear that it's their hour to do with as they please, they begin talking. I think both Emily and Lorelei assumed they were there for the OTHER person. So they were both waiting for each other to talk. It was a showdown, and the therapist knew it, waiting to see who would cave first. At the moment, neither thinks she has done anything wrong. It's not until they both realize that they're both responsible for the problems in their relationship that they'll be able to get to a better place.

I assumed from the beginning that it would not be a Middle Eastern terrorist group, but rather some conspiracy amongst some shady high-powered types, a la that group X-files or from within the U.S. government. That lends itself to better drama, and years of potential episodes.