joshleejosh

They left out the best one! Thea vs. Andy in a long take through a moving elevator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIRU13vdqhE

Don't forget "Kill the Turkey!"

There was a bit of business in one scene where Alison pulls her headband off of Sarah's head while Sarah swats her hand away. I thought this was just a little example of the cute annoyed-sisters dynamic that they have. It took me a full day to realize that it's actually another seamless Maslany-on-Maslany interaction. They got me again!

All hail Emily Thorne, the conquering hero. That last scene was everything I ever wanted. David Clarke alive is something I was hoping they'd avoid, but... I think I might actually be willing to trust the writers. This is a strange feeling. I mean, they even made me care about Aiden a tiny bit, at the end. Plus Officer Bellick and Perd Hapley. This show just keeps on giving.

The last couple of episodes have had me shaking my fist at the TV and hissing "REVEEEEENGE" at every commercial break, which I didn't think was possible anymore. And they made Charlotte useful – important, even! Wizardry. They also managed the neat trick of both: A. not letting Emily off the hook for messing up everyone's lives in her twisted quest for revenge; and B. still letting us be unreservedly happy for her when she gets it. The way her face slowly lit up as she realized that she finally had Conrad dead to rights was a joy. (If Emily Thorne were a vampire slayer, this would be her umbrella trophy moment. But she's not a vampire slayer, and her moment involves manipulating an evil industrialist into confessing terrorist conspiracies while threatening his bastard daughter. You guys, this show.) Was Victoria's PI the same guy from the David Clarke Memorial Creepers Cabin, or were they two different sallow, sunken-cheeked dudes?

Nolan: Rebecca... Devereaux? Zbornak? Nylund? I just want you to be golden, girl.

The teaser trailer linked in that article is adorably intense: I'm not sure... is season 2 going to be... darker, maybe?

Seriously, though, that dress. As a kid who was in Hillary's shoes once or twice -- smart enough to get into some smart kids' activity, but by far the dumbest one in the room once I got there -- I could sympathize with her crisis of confidence. I could also sympathize with her ordering three baskets of french fries, because french fries are delicious. Is it weird that Meg only works when she brings Tevin along? In the Season 2 that will never definitely! hopefully? happen, Kate will go back to college to finish her degree; hijinks will ensue as she tries to juggle studying with her busy schedule of not doing anything.

Random thought that I want to get out there, just in case I end up being right: The gang will keep giving Terry new names right up through the series finale, when they finally start calling him... Gary. Gary will smile with satisfaction, knowing that all is right in the world. Then he will trip over something and fart probably. Anyway, he's the worst. Such a Larry.

A small thing: When Rachel is bossing Cosima around, she immediately refers to them as "we," even while Cosima is covering up her heebie-jeebies by being a brat. Of course she's as invested as Cosima in finding a cure for Clonefluenza, but I like to think that she just wants to be friends and start her own Clone Country Club.

There wasn't any indication that she knew what Dyad was really about. I think it was just despair at the realization that no one was going to find a cure and that she was on her deathbed. Good times!

It's been a few days, and I've decided that I... nope. I still have no idea how I feel about that ending. I was pretty happy with the episode that got them there, though. A random nice moment: April reads off the absurdly long name for a volunteer committee and gives a Ludgate Death Glare™ to Leslie, who sheepishly admits she thought the hats would be bigger. I like how annoyed April is when she's the sane one. I hope she gets some stories in 2017 (hmm... nope, still totally nonplussed) that involve more than just giving encouragement to Andy.

That fall was amazing -- straight back, hands in pockets, no hesitation. Pratt was on fire throughout the episode. April not being mean to Larry was as horrifying to me as it was to her. I can't even form coherent thoughts about Leslie having triplets. I just can't.

On Revenge, Emily is not just the main character, but she's the brains of her own operation, and frequently the brawn as well. Nolan, Aiden, and Jack are her teammates, but they're pretty clearly her subordinates. Her only near-equals are Victoria and Conrad -- another woman and the ultimate representative of the patriarchy. Her father and her teacher may have been important figures to her, but she's demonstrated time and again that she's a more skilled and adaptive revenger than either of them. A husband-trapping fake pregnancy on its own is an unpleasant trope, but when Emily does it, it's one more chess move that she's making to stay ahead of her opponents -- it's just that because this is a campy nighttime soap, the chess pieces are fake pregnancies, fancy parties, Black AmEx cards, and temporary amnesia, which she uses to the same effect that a less campy, more "straight" protagonist would use gunfights or legal maneuvering. And we cheer every time she draws another Red X through a ruined life -- the campiness and soapiness of the show is a signal that we shouldn't be looking for role models here, just ruthlessly effective antiheros and love-to-hate-them villains. Revenge is definitely not consistently feminist -- Amanda was a hot mess (though I liked her in spite of it), Charlotte is a cipher, and Victoria goes through long stretches where she's just stamping her feet to no real effect. But as long as the writers don't lose the thread on Emily, I think she at least remains a very strong character.

Abed trying to escape the narrative frame was kind of... interesting in a film-theory kind of way, I guess? It wasn't very entertaining, though. He's really off in his own show at this point, isn't he? I had hoped that dating Brie Larson would re-humanize him, but so much for that. "This feels right" (which Britta says during her sad, desperate acceptance of Jeff's sad, desperate proposal (comedy!)) is TV-speak for "This is wrong, and will not actually happen," so I'm pre-annoyed at a storyline that's designed to not go anywhere. I suppose the fair thing to do is to wait for next week's conclusion and see how it all shakes out.