STOPSHOUTING

It is very realistic that together they'd earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $600-$900k. It is NOT very realistic that they'd be earning $4-6 MILLION, which is what the lifestyle they've been leading in the last few episodes would require, especially not when Bow had quit her six-figure job and they've been without that most of the year. To have this all happen off screen, without characters we know and have grown to love is ... ridiculous and cheap (don't want to pay Beau or Daveed, obviously). It's also beyond ridiculous that such a thing would ACTUALLY repair a marriage so broken they officially separated, and have been for some time according to the timeline. Does tragedy bring estranged spouses and other family members back together? Sure. But usually only in the very temporary way, because the problems you had—unless they were as fake and stilted as this storyline—still exist and usually become AMPLIFIED by crisis, not muted. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. These actors, and these characters we've grown to love over many years, deserve SOOO much better.

The 1940s-era, all-glass pharmaceutical cabinet also seems like a solid choice. I mean, without a key, how would anyone with bad intentions EVER possibly get to the drugs? ? Also, everything you can see, through the all-glass walls, is a liquid, has Donna gone from antique pill boxes to shooting up in a single episode? Lastly, I still miss chunky platform heels, and I don't care who knows it. (Who am I kidding, I still wear some every now and again; old lady privilege.)

That's ... That's not how organ transplants work. You don't pay in advance. (In fact, that would be buying a human organ, which is HIGHLY illegal.) You don't have days to "come up with the money," and they sure as hell don't start keeping tabs on sick people who may die and give you one. Oh my god this show! It's like they think they're shopping for a really hard-to-find handbag, not replacing a little girl's kidney. And why did she need a phone with her "at all times" if in this universe you've got DAYS, or weeks even, to leisurely saunter over to the hospital to get your new kidney installed? It's not even about realism, so much as ... How stupid do they think we are? Like, who is writing this? I'm a housewife in the midwest and I have a better grasp on both medical protocol and organized crime than the writers' room of a network drama? Seriously? I mean, I get that Hendricks has a truly spectacular rack but it's not that distracting, y'all. Yep, and how did a single mother living in what looks like close to poverty already spend the $20k, probably 2/3 of what she'd normally get in a year, they gave her IN THE LAST 5 WEEKS, to the point she now can't even afford groceries, when she appears to have upgraded absolutely nothing else in her life? Not only did they not do that super obvious thing, or even threaten it, but they also, apparently, told her the entire scheme just to, you know, make it interesting, because this episode she talked about spending counterfeit money, when in the past she only knew it was, "something shady."

Totally agree, just another move that makes no sense, both in terms of the show structure or the characters feeling real, especially considering they've actually used Devonte (sp?) incredibly poorly. Even the pregnancy garnered few storylines, besides the announcement and inevitable season-ending birth episode, plus one weird B or C-plot of her being scared to tell co-workers she was expecting. Either the writers, actors or production crew are extremely uninterested in Devonte storylines, because I've spent most of this season asking, every time Bow or Dre are shown at home, unencumbered by a infant, 'Where's your baby?' Also, in yet another completely unrealistic moment. How many 45-year-old+ DOCTORS with four kids already do you know that have a surprise pregnancy? Yes, Kenya Barris and his wife, also a doctor named Rainbow, have six kids, but after the first five and, you know, med school, I would hope they weren't caught off guard by how babies are made. This also brings me back to the affluent Johnson's bizarre real estate situation. So, their huge, gorgeous house has a mother-in-law suite, a guest house for Pops, someplace Daveed Diggs must have been sleeping, and a room available for a brand new nursery, but their boy-girl twin are still sharing a bedroom well into puberty? If they were gonna remodel anything, I think adding an extra bedroom to give their soon-to-be-teenagers privacy would be a far higher priority than remodeling a kitchen that was already top-of-the-line, appropriate for the rest of the house, and completely modern (given the style, no way that kitchen was even ten years old).

Except it’s not at all accepted, as even that article you link to says, listing the percentages you have as, literally, the author’s “best guess” ... an author who specializes, according to her bio, on single people, by the way. Divorce rates for a college-educated couple in the Johnson’s income bracket who have been married 20 years is actually quite low; definitely the exception, rather than the norm. And divorce in those circumstances without obvious triggers such as financial distress, adultry or substance abuse are even rarer. Do folks just “grow apart”? Sure. But usually not after already working through five kids and 20+ years together. That’s the stuff that happens in the first five years—when most divorce occurs, actually—or after baby No. 1, another frequent marriage breakdown moment. Not this far down the road. If the story works for you, great, and I’m certainly not trying to change your mind, it just doesn’t for me, and veracity is one of the reasons. EDITED TO ADD: Legit don’t want to get in a stat off, but here is raw, verifiable (gov’t collected, not article with a inevitable viewpoint) data where the divorce rate for college-educated couples is 23% for first marriages. Throw in the income level and existing marriage longevity, both also huge factors, on Black-ish and it drops even lower. Including divorce rates for marriages beyond each partner’s first always wildly skews the data. It’s like including Shaquille O’Neal in a dataset to determine “average” height and weight. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/marriage-and-divorce-patterns-by-gender-race-and-educational-attainment.htm If anyone is interested, see also this story on the 50% divorce rate myth (or Google and find one you like better, there are many, from multiple sources) ... https://mobile.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/health/divorce-rate-its-not-as-high-as-you-think.html

That was a whole episode about them BOTH spending money frivolously and how neither learned good financial skills from their parents. How they had little savings and spent most of what they make, on things like Dre’s shoes and Bow’s beloved fridge. It was about how first-gen successful people, who often have no examples of wealth in their families, frequently struggle with finances, even when they have more than most, which was an example of Black-ish handling a real-world problem deftly, unlike the current storyline. The story wasn’t that Dre’s shoe habit would bankrupt them, because they ARE affluent, it was that they were unprepared for emegencies and not planning for the future, including for their FIVE kids, like their more-used-to-money neighbors. So, yes, it WAS about cost and is totally contrary to this entire season arc of Bow quitting her job with no financial consequence. It also makes the kitchen remodel even dumber than it alresdy was, not just financially, since that episode literally showed Bow posing for a Facebook profile pic with her fridge, she loved it so much ... At what would be exactly the same time this latest ep retcons them setting up the meeting to remodel the kitchen she now supposedly hated (which also ditched that fridge). It’s not how serious these latest episodes are that’s the problem, it’s that they betray all the previous storytelling about this couple and their relationship we’ve been explicitly told and invested in. Yes, happy people do have marital issues, but they went from zero conflict, and, in fact, an enviable marital relationship and partnership, to moving out in two eps. Yes, the “kitchen remodel” was both a meditation on growing apart AND a time jump of unspecified amount, but it rings no more true for it. They went from solid as a rock, to on the rocks, in two episodes. No groundwork of conflict and/or ambivalence was laid before that; If anything the opposite. Bow and Dre’s relationship has always been portrayed as strong, even when he acted a fool; A point this episode explicitly reinforced in its flashbacks. The acting, as it always has been, was good. It’s the storytelling that’s bad here. Oh and, another gripe ... The voiceover from, I think, last week, repeated that oft-quoted, but still false, “divorce rate over 50%,” nonsense. Which is not now, nor ever has been, accurate. The only way to get that number is to divide the annual number of divorces by the annual number of weddings which is ... not how statistics work. Not least because there are obviously far, FAR more married folks in the U.S. than just those that tied the knot IN ANY ONE YEAR. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

I think it felt real-ish. I mean, first, they have a fifth child that's barely a year old, that his wife, a doctor, doesn't realize she's likely still suffering from postpartum depression and get some additional help, especially with the combo of a career shift seems ... Unrealistic. Second, the whole I quit my job with Bow thing NEVER rang true, as being a doctor has always been a huge part of her identity, even when often played for laughs ("Dre, you know I'm a doctor, right?"). It never, seemed like a realistic thing for the character to want to do, and even less so when she continues to dress to the nines daily (this seems VERY much like an actress-driven desire, not a true-to-character thing), spend almost zero time with her new baby, who is often absent for entire episodes, and has taken on no other outside cause that could help explain all of this. We've literally seen zero change in Bow after leaving her job, which is ... Not realistic at all. When they finally fought, that was realistic. When they didn't ... Not so much. If it was this bad, then they wouldn't be tiptoeing, that's not usually how long term relationships fall apart, at least not how they START falling apart. (Five years past this, when they both admit they've been staying together for the kids? Sure. In the first flushes of growing apart there is a LOT more rancor.) And the stupid kitchen remodel definitely came out of nowhere and, not that this is here or there, but it was UGLY. And didn't match their gorgeous house. And made no sense for their needs. Because nobody replaces a 48" Subzero and 60" Wolf range with a SMALLER kitchen, with cheaper fixtures and appliances, that looks like it belongs in a bachelor's loft to accommodate a family of seven, plus live-in grandparents. It doesn't even match the other half of the flipping great room, which they pointedly didn't touch. That this kitchen remodel disaster got me more worked up than the potential break-up says a lot about how the arc is working, and I'm someone who once would have said Black-ish was amongst the best shows on TV. Oh and, taking a remodel on when she's not working and they're not getting along? Yeah. No. They're both supposed to be smart AND, while they've always been represented as quite well off, they've never been presented as having no worries about money at all. First, they were just able to toss a six-figure incomes (Bow's) just as their oldest goes to college without even really talking about those consequences, which seemed to be zero. Now, they're adding hundreds of thousands in extra expenses without even a question of cost? And they still, supposedly, have a full-time nanny and support Dre's parents. To make all that work, we'd have to believe that Dre is bringing in 5-6 million per year as a secondary partner at his advertising firm, which has not only seems wildly optimistic, it's never, ever been touted as the case in the past. In fact, in an earlier episode WHEN THEY WERE BOTH WORKING they were concerned about him buying too many shoes, due to cost. So, umm, their life now? No.

Could not be more out. This is a totally different show than the first episodes and, while I don't think those episodes really worked either, there was a spark of something that kept me hoping they'd figure it out but, nope, this one was downright AWFUL. They couldn't have gone in a wrong-er (intentionally dumb, just like the show) direction. From the patently stupid plot lines — leaving kids to go to a not-yet-open club, then finding a drunk girl (what, how?) in the bathroom and mom-ing all over her. The too young, too similar-looking love interests for Oliver Hudson, one of whom sleeps with him after he pretended she was a babysitter/tutor and paid her $12 AND then they make a you could do this professionally joke after sex? Gross doesn't even begin. And the whole, "she's so uncomplicated" misogynistic B.S. on top of it. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Disgusting isn't a strong enough word. Actually mad at myself for watching it. I get they decided they didn't want to do a will-they, won't-they rom-com between the exes. Great. I don't need that. But ... This? Crash and burn is too kind a descriptor for whatever this was.

Did Donna actually have sex with Noah? I mean, I don't why I care but considering they kept Saint Donna a virgin for 217 years before finally "giving in" (barf) to David, are they then continuing the misogynistic melodrama by having her sleep with every new BF because, clearly, once someone has sex once they're now damaged goods obligated to put out on the reg (double barf).

This show is amazing. I want to be faux Andrea's BFF. The guest stars are amazing, and well used. The relationship with the husband, and the daughter, is fantastic. I just love, LOVE it. It doesn't fill the much sweeter Playing House-sized hole in my heart, but it's the best thing I've stumbled across in forever. I read it was renewed, so I hope it's coming back soon-ish. Savage's wit is just that and I am here for that. Big time.

Yes, let's first ignore the fact that no store on earth gives cash for returns over a certain fairly small amount >$200, even if you paid cash, you'd be waiting on a check reimbursement. Second, stores getting $20k in merchandise return from a single customer even ONE TIME would set off ALL the red flags. Stores don't deal with a lot cash nowadays (less than 30% of retail transactions are done using cash), and most of what they do is in relatively small amounts. Paying for something pricey, even 20 years when I worked part-time retail, in all cash would be big, it would noted and it would be remembered. The plan, from moment one, was beyond stupid and unworkable for 2 billions reasons. And if even banks aren't flagging their cash as counterfeit—and if they were, stores wouldn't be allowing huge returns—WHY NOT JUST USE THE COUNTERFEIT MONEY?? Because, folks, if hundreds of thousands of dollars of counterfeit money was coming through any area of the country, no matter how large, even New York City, we'd hear about it. Fast. Every store and bank would be on high alert for bad bills. Lastly, THIS ISN'T HOW MONEY LAUNDERING WORKS. Money laundering is when you get people to take your dirty or, in this case, fake, cash, and give you back an asset OF LESSER VALUE. For instance, when Russian or Chinese oligarchs overpay wildly for real estate, so that they have a tangible asset they can later sell for real, clean money later if needed. You don't trade "dirty" cash for the same amount of "clean" cash. I mean, criminals wish but, no. Just...C'mon!

This is the episode where I think I'm out. I mean, there's only one more, so I'll probably at least skim it but all the dumb stuff has now far, FAR surpassed the charm of the leads. While I generally LOVE Allison Tolman (RIP Downward Dog, which kept getting better as it went, and she's also awesome on I'm Sorry with Andrea Savage WHICH SO MANY MORE PEOPLE SHOULD BE WATCHING!), Mary Pat is the worst. She doesn't even know what's going on, just that it's shady, and it seems wildly OTT for a single, struggling mom to land on a figure as high as $10,000 PER MONTH as something that is actually attainable, without bringing the possibility of physical harm down on herself. And what was she gonna tell Stan? Makes zero sense. They raised $1,900 from minimum wage, not full time jobs they just started? How??!? That's 2-3 months salary in that situation, and they both still need to live, too. And, yes, Retta's gorgeous home, after years of dead end jobs and crippling medical expenses? Takes me out of it every single time. When Mae Whitman, whose character is THE WORST, robbed the people at the parking garage instead of just, you know, pulling away from the automatic gate and just moving behind them to follow them out or, heck, even flipping casually EXPLAINING what occurred with her ticket, LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, I just lost it. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Yes! And, as the ladies correctly and quickly, pointed out…His number is in her phone because she called it; so the receipt having it is meaningless. Another pretty significant plot hole when they can suss that out so easily but miss so many obvious flaws in their grand criminal plans and we're supposed to chalk it up to, 'They're new at crime.' Umm, yeah, I'm not a criminal at all, but I instantly saw the issues, so that explanation doesn't begin to fly.

This show is bonkers unbelievable, to the extent that would put me off most any other show, and it's only the three leads, all of whom are fabulous, that are keeping me in and, shockingly, fairly entertained. Definitely getting a Weeds vibe (pre-off the rails-ness), and I even weirdly enjoyed the chemistry between Beth and both the FBI agent and the gang leader. Though, honestly, even inanimate objects would have chemistry with Hendricks. Speaking of, why she didn't just say her one-night stand with the gangbanger turned into something more and he keeps showing up and she can't resist him? An easy, plausible cover vs an extremely obvious lie. I've hated Matthew Lillard from the get-go—horrible actor and how is the guy he plays supposed to get not only Hendricks but another hottie, when he's dead broke? So, while I suspected instantly, as should have his wife, that his cancer story was bull, I was hopeful it was true and he'd be dying off and leaving the show soon. No such luck, I guess. Their shopping scheme is terrible. I'm not much of a criminal mastermind myself, but I clocked the flaws in 30 seconds of consideration, so shocked they wouldn't, too. Everything from large cash purchases raising flags to the fact that even returns with receipts require ID, 9 times out of 10, and that chain stores databases are nationally linked, so shopping out of town is no solution. Too many returns from any individual will ALWAYS flag even the most generous policies, as will telling some long, drawn out story, or reporting an employee—both of which make you all too memorable. Also, you know, clear security footage of them across various stores is undoubtably gonna set off alarm bells, so shopping "out of the area" is hardly a safeguard. And why on god's green earth weren't they, at the very least, just buying a single, high dollar item—like the most expensive TV in the place—and then just returning that, vs 75 smaller things. Clearly, way more believable. Oh and, yeah, no store turns around and hands you $5,000 cash, even if you paid that way, because they don't keep that much in registers. It would be a huge risk. At best, you'd later get a check, after it went through corporate accounting, where it would also undergo increased scrutiny. Lastly, if the money is so good it passes all checks, how come they don't just keep/use the fake stuff, as it seems just as good as real? Mae Whitman's character is just an idiot. I know that's intentional, but is also infuriating enough that, that, rather than their blatantly obviously bad schemes, is actually the thing that might drive me away from this one. From the pilot Porsche purchase, to sleeping with the creepy sales guy. (By the way, where'd the giant TVs in her living room go, if she hadn't returned them yet? At first thought he'd stolen those.) Nothing this dumb-dumb does makes sense, especially given the literal life or death stakes at play. To be this big of a criminal moron, over and over again, she'd have to have a serious drug problem, or something else messing with her mental fitness. It would also be better if they were all three less instantly memorable and recognizable. Mae Whitman is 4-11", Retta is, well, Retta. And Hendricks has, perhaps, the most memorable female form currently on TV. Seeing them together would be the most noticeable thing in just about anyone's day and every time the "previously on" flashes to their initial crime it's like the grocery store was robbed by a Dr. Suess novel…One was wee, one was large and one was stacked with a tip-top rack.

This episode makes no sense! Nathanial didn’t want to break up with Rebecca, was eager to be in a relationship with her and said, in so many words, that he was only seeing Mona to make her jealous. SO WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE BE STILL DATING HER 8 MONTHS LATER? And couldn’t help but notice during the reprise of Face Your Fears how much better the music used to be, too. Why would Hector just be taking Heather’s constant abuse? Asked as someone who loves Heather (or did), but they’ve made her a monster, and It’s not Hector’s baby, nor did she even bother to consult him about being a surrogate, even though they are in a committed relationship and live together. He’s been dealing with this for eight months? Not even a saint ... None of this makes any sense with the rest of the story they’ve been telling. Even if I don’t love the path they've been on this season, not even being true to their own storytelling is super frustrating ...which is pretty much my entire feeling about this show so far this season.

Putting aside that Rebecca’s financial situation is ridiculously untenable and utterly unrealistic and the idea that someone on psychiatric medication and in recent treatment for a serious mental disorder being an egg donor is ridiculous for 1,000,000 reasons, one that hasn’t been mentioned is ... Is it a fantastic idea to get an egg from someone who has a serious mental illness? I mean, mental illness is frequently genetic and why would you want to take that sort of risk when you can elect to not to (aka find another egg donor)? I'm not saying people with mental illness shouldn't have children, but in this case it's a clear choice and for the same reason as you would likely not CHOOSE someone with the BRCA (breast cancer) gene as a donor if you had other options, you wouldn't chose someone who has significant mental health issue either. Why risk it? I also get why, in real life, Rebecca definitely shouldn’t be in ANY relationship but in the context of what we are seeing onscreen Rebecca and Nathanial’s relationship seems fairly loving and he’s incredibly understanding and kind to her. So that’s bad for her, but donating an egg during the same crisis is emotionally healthy? My main problem with this show remains that they want us to take Rebecca's mental illness very seriously, when it's a plot point, but ignore all the serious mental health issues of all the other characters and instead find them quirky and funny. And they don't even want us to take Rebecca's life, career and illness all THAT seriously. No serious setting would have someone follow up a suicide attempt with an egg donor plot played for farce. The tone is so bizarre and all over the place I just struggle to even enjoy this season at all, yet somehow feel compelled to plod towards the end.

I loathe this character. She's pointless, annoying and NOT A LAWYER SO WHY IS SHE THERE EVERY DAY. The entire office is completely superfluous at this point. They no longer have actual cases, other than vague mentions as plot contrivances, like this timeshare visit to get everyone in the pool, and not even the smallest, least serious place on earth would stay in business with this band of feckless, do-nothing weirdos at the helm. Just way, WAY OTT at this point. This episode had some nice comedic moments which, given its seriousness, is a feat. I liked Paula's response to Valencia saying her son is her "weed guy" was "Oh, he started a business!" (that was this ep, right? I watched several, so if it was the previous, apologies) and her kids playing a game with her was great, too. Little details like Rebecca walking out with nothing, yet able to get on a plane are frustrating, but the explanation of how depression feels and the help-hope button were nice, though I'm pretty sure that in this post-9/11 world, the flight attendant would have already notified the captain about Rebecca's earlier comments and behavior, which could have been interpreted as threatening, rather than smiling her and offering her wine.

I think destigmatizing mental illness and portraying suicide and its dangers, causes and the aftermath of an unsuccessful attempt are bold, brave and important things ... I also think that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is not the venue to do any of that very well. I get that I'm in the minority here, which is cool, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind or take anything away from those who are getting more out of this than I am. Seriously. I respect those opinions, this is just mine ... I watched the season premiere after very mixed thoughts about last season (which I didn't finish until this fall) and then just never got back to it. Then I sat down and watched to this point, admittedly fast-forwarding through a lot of stuff because this show I once loved -- ADORED, even -- is just not working for me in its present form, and I find huge chunks of it either tonally off-putting, or boring, or so eye-roll inducing on my part, that I end up just skipping past many scenes. But the main problem is ... I just don't care anymore. I don't care what happens to Josh, or Heather (they've done so little with her since day one, it's criminal), or Valencia, or Daryl. But, mostly, I don't care about Rebecca. Like, at all. Dark comedy is good. Serious drama is good. But the mix of the two they're trying to do here? In my opinion, they're not pulling off either. Rebecca seems much too stable, much too fast, given her breakdown and suicide attempt but, maybe that's because her friends are utterly unrealistic. I realize they had to stay on the show and having them involved and interested and caring for Rebecca is part of the plot, but it rings SO false. First of all, they all just found out these AWFUL, frankly legitimately frightening, things about Rebecca, a person they've all known for less than year, and now know she's been lying to them that entire time, so they don't really know her at all. Yet, they all love her unconditionally and drop everything to help her and even defend her against the supposedly evil Josh Chan. As a character, I kind of hate Josh, yet even I can see that Rebecca has done FAR more wrong to him, than he to her. He SHOULDN'T have married her. That was a TERRIBLE idea, for both of them, and while he didn't handle it in the best method, he's been nothing but kind to Rebecca from minute one, while she stalked, pursued and sabotaged he and his closest buddies, and then tried to strip him of his friend group by gaslighting them all. The same friend group that was instantly willing to turn on someone they'd known since childhood, is totally devoted to someone they just met who ruined so many lives. It just makes no sense that the entire community is, instantly, Team Rebecca, for no logical reason. She's treated every one of these people like dirt. And, yes, a suicide attempt can bring people back into your lives out of concern, but the reality is ... They don't stay. The problems that existed before the attempt, remain after. And Rebecca has SERIOUS problems that would make it not only unlikely, but unwise and unsafe for many of these people to continue to live with and care for her. And for the show to portray otherwise actually seems like a kind of dangerous message…try and kill yourself and all will be solved/forgiven. That's just not the case. Or even close. Nathan, a guy she slept with once and who has known her just a few months, who learned she's destroyed not one, but two men's lives, in cruel, harsh and physically dangerous ways is still just loyally and totally in love with her. Because...Reasons? I never felt their relationship was realistic to begin with, but this has taken it well beyond general skepticism. While I've come to enjoy Nathan as a character--quite a bit, actually--his lovesick pursuit of Rebecca is both baffling and such an unrealistic fantasy of the show's creators, that it constantly takes me out of the show. I don't care what his mother's experience was, and hardly believe it would endear Rebecca to him (more likely the opposite). To have not even a single qualm after all he's learned, regarding Rebecca either as a partner or an employee, should blow even the most credulous mind. Would one friend stay by her? Sure. That I buy. But EVERYONE rallying to her side? No. Just no. If they want to portray mental illness and its effect realistically, dealing with the isolation, life upheaval and total social realignment that follows a failed suicide and subsequent serious mental diagnosis would seem to be a much more helpful and relatable way to go. Instead, Rebecca is happily ensconced in her friend group. Has no money or insurance issues, despite resigning from her job. Her mother didn't even come to the hospital, apparently, thanks to expensive guest casting, and her career and romantic options seem to remain totally intact. That's not how this works. Oh and, the show runners have talked themselves blue about Rebecca's behavior never being cute, but being mental illness and turning rom-com tropes on their head and all that is ... great. Except, they're not even true to that because they still play Paula's totally outrageous behavior for a laugh, what with inserting GPS trackers in her friend and the like. Ha, ha! I don't think it works to have it both ways. "You'll appreciate it if you're ever sex trafficked," is a great, funny line ... But Valencia shrugging it off doesn't actually work in the realistic world of mental illness the show is also trying to portray. Because Rebecca's problems can't be seriously dealt with BPD and Paula's adorable and humorous in the same breath. I don't think it's totally the show's fault. I honestly don't think you can make a mental illness rom-com. I don't think it's possible. Or, if it is, I don't think Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is doing a very a good job of it. When it was a dark comedy, showing that rom-com tropes aren't cute, but probably closer to crazy, and showed Rebecca's dysfunctions as definitely not OK, but also laughed at those same tropes and Rebecca's glimmers of self-awareness, I really enjoyed it, and thought it was a nice twist on how so many portray the "goofy" girl. I think the problem is that mental illness is serious, and sad, and deserves to be viewed compassionately ... But serious compassion is not funny, and the more earnest and less acerbic the show has become, the less I've personally enjoyed it, and the tonal mix between that pitch black, snarky comedic heart and the earnest social message stuff just didn't gel.

I am waiting for Parton to show up on this. It seems inevitable and I am here for it.

"We like the kids poor, that way they don't clash with the furniture."

Nope. Gert telling Karolina she likes Nico is also the only indication that's actually given by anyone, including Karolina, that she is into Nico. I'm sure we're supposed to think that Gert saw all this interplay we didn't, but her initial comment, and then repeated insistence on it, really comes out of nowhere in terms of what the audience is shown.

Just finished the series with my son and I have ... thoughts. On the plus side, while I enjoy the Marvel MCU, I'm not a comics fan and this is the first superhero TV show we've finished a full season of, other than THE FLASH (which we bailed on during season 2, I believe). That's due in large part to this only having 10 episodes, though I think the show could have told the story, far better, in five or six. After the set-up of the parents evil quasi-cult and Jonah is an immortal superbad they just needed to, you know, run away already. We knew they'd survive to do so. It's in the title after all, so there's little suspense. It's no shock that Molly's parents and Nico's sister were victims of the cult. I mean, duh. And there was soooo much filler. So, your lives are in constant mortal danger and we're supposed to care about if Molly makes dance squad or Chase and Gert get it on? Not so much. (By the way, if this is supposed to be a teen soap, skipping the actual scene and then just later saying "we had sex" is a weird play, though having them done in under 10 minutes does seem age appropriate, LOL.) The last two episodes in particular just ran around in circles, literally. When they White Fang the dinosaur who, by the way, has had ZERO impact, I seriously thought it was because the show couldn't afford the CGI. It was very lame, especially when they continued to camp out in the same spot and now had a van they could move her around in. It was also cruel, because she's a domesticated animal who almost certainly doesn't know how to hunt or survive on her own. So, then she shows up again and ... They immediately forget about her; not even checking on her as they run away. Luckily, the dino is smarter than the kids and follows them ... in a scene the actors clearly weren't told it would be in, because they never even looked back. "Hey, who's that chasing us? Oh, it's just Gert's dinosaur we haven't seen in a few days. Cool, no need to glance back then!" Also, "Old Lace," may be comics canon (I presume), but geez that's a stupid name for anything, let alone a velcioraptor. The entire "buy a disguise" portion was truly stupid, to the point it actually angered me. First, how much cash would even rich kids have them on at a school dance? Wasting even a few bucks of it is ridiculously dumb. Second, THEY DON'T NEED NEW CLOTHES. They need transportation. They need shelter. They need food. Argghhh! Thirty minutes for a dumb fashion show where they buy clothes that look exactly like the clothes they were already wearing and call them "disguises," most of which aren't even practical and comfortable (shortalls, seriously?). Really want to hide? Hey, about a Dollar Store dye job to cover Gert's purple-hair? Or Goth Girl ditching the dark duds to blend in? Oh and, by the way, where WAS Nico getting a fresh goth outfit, lip ring we hadn't seen until then, new, elaborate make-up and assembling another ridiculously elaborate hair-do that took, conservatively, 60 minutes-plus and a boatload of product IN THE FREAKING WOODS? Do you know how quickly black lipstick wears off, especially when you're making out on the reg? I guess I missed the cosmetic case she's clearly lugging around. Oh and Nico isn't the only one sporting mega-hair product ... Looking at you, Chase. Looking at you. I know, I know ... Suspension of disbelief and I'm sure that's how they dress in the comics, but it ticked me off every time I saw them. Because it was...Just. So. Stupid. Like, what is the weather really like? Because they're all clearly dressed for different climates. If they'd just shown up dressed that way, instead of it taking up 20+ minutes of an episode, it would be far easier to accept in that tv-characters-always-look-good-even-when-they-can't-shower-or-change way. There are the normal gripes about how the bad guy waits to fight them, one by one, so they can all show their powers ... Which is a lot easier to accept when they're more useful and interesting than what we have here, which basically is a couple gloves, a pet dino, super strength, a magic staff they lost immediately and ... glowing. Alex is, I guess, the tech guy. Also, too bad/so lucky that his folks didn't just TURN THEIR HEADS SLIGHTLY when they left the church. Like, the blocking in that scene was so dumb. HE WAS 3' AWAY FROM THEM. How scary of super villains can they be, when they missed their own son, whom they were purportedly frantically searching for, due to him being slightly to their left? Getting them to a bus station is ... stupid. They have a van. They now have, however improbably, a wad of cash. Getting on a bus makes them much, MUCH more vulnerable, not less. I know it's a fantasy show, not a reality-based drama and, I swear, I'm not TRYING to pick it apart, but as all the dumbness kept mounting I just couldn't help it. Overall, while this started out promisingly, and my son liked it more than me, it took too long to get where we all knew it was always going. There was way too much about the parents' interpersonal lives, and too many sidetracks that just didn't work with the kids. The high school stuff, since you knew they were never gonna stay, was especially filler-y ... Was anyone, anywhere, on pins and needles about if Chase would make up with his lacrosse teammates? Thought not. The show did a lousy job of explaining why the parents would ever have got involved with Jonah in the first place, especially beyond Alex's parents and Leslie. They seemed to want to keep the 'rents semi-redeemable, but their actions make it impossible to do so, as there is NO good reason to be involved in a two decade long murder spree. A promise of "clean energy" is the excuse? Seriously?!?! That lengthy scene where Leslie makes this long confession, blah, blah, blah ... Like, they're just NOW thinking about how Amy died and that it might be related to Pride? We're supposed to buy that? I mean, they did the whole spell, hid all her stuff, put an alarm on the door, but this JUST NOW occurs to them, YEARS later, to have this confrontation AND then, immediately, are like, 'OK, we're good, let's work together'? Oh and, Nico finding that backpack? For real? Like, the kid died in that bed, so even if you preserved the room like a shrine, pretty sure you'd have changed the sheets at least once. Not to mention, knowing she had broken into your system and maybe discovered your murder cult you might, I don't know, have done a quick look-see around the place, especially when you knew things like her phone was missing. (Plus, all the Wizard super-tech yet they didn't have Find My iPhone? Seriously?!?!). Leslie turns on Jonah after AN ENTIRE LIFE spent mindlessly serving him because he knocked the kids over with a light blast, when murdering a bunch of people, including another child she knows AND two members of their parent group, didn't do it? Uh-huh. Sure. Just like how Ever Carradine was suddenly all concerned about Spike ... After having shot him herself because he tried to kill their kid. Sure, Jan. So, umm, yeah, maybe I didn't love it. ? Thanks for letting me rant ...

My college grad was like Sarah's; grouped by college (the fancy way they said departments); all stand up, president says a few words, on to the next group. There were mixers/socials for honors programs, research programs, athletes, etc. -- almost everyone had SOME group -- where you wear cap and gown and get pictures with your profs and hear another speech, but actual degrees get mailed to you. There was no walking like there was in high school. Honestly, lots of people skipped graduation or, like me, only went because of family.

Oh my god I feel your pain with this show. I can't believe they're still dragging out Donna's stupid virginity as a season 7 (gah!) plot line. People that are "saving themselves" usually get married real, real young. That's kind of how it works. This whole let's-date-for-five-years-and-I'm-fine-with-that was never, ever a thing.

Well, Rachel Bloom herself just turned 30 a few months ago ... And when I saw that I was, well, shocked, because I was sure she was significantly older than that. Not a slam, just that I always assumed she was supposed to be early to mid 30s, not a 20-something. And this is from someone that has spent most of their life -- from teen years on -- being told I look older than I do.