Jodithgrace

I guess they couldn’t really have Jamie spending the rest of the series with only 4 fingers on his right hand…what a pain that would be to film. I was wondering though, right until he held up his hand to show me. Considerate of him. I am in the middle of rereading the books at the moment…I’m about 1/3 of the way through Go Tell the Bees. I was sure this episode was going to end with Roger and Buck getting to Lallybrock, only to find Brian Fraser. I thought that would be a fun cliffhanger to end on, not that I approve of season ending cliffhangers. I know they have to leave out quite a lot from the books, given that the books are massive and dense with detail, but they things they choose to show, they do very faithfully (finger amputation excepted) I’m sad at yet another droughtlander. I noticed that they finally memorialized sinaid O’Conner in the closing credits

A couple of questions: How do these lizard creatures build and fly ships? They act like mindless horror movie monsters, but obviously they have intelligence and come from a culture that is advanced enough for space travel It’s hard for me to reconcile the two things. Also, why is it when a villain is about to do something fatal, such as pulling off Spock’s face mask, they always pause dramatically, just long enough to be foiled? It’s a trope I find irritating. Not that I wanted Spock to be killed, you understand. I hate and despise season ending cliff hangers. Especially now with the writers’ strike seeming to be never ending. It was fun meeting Scotty. I wonder if we are going to end up meeting all of the TOS regulars by the end of the series. They are all alive and active…somewhere. .

What interested me was that guy he seemed to be on a date with. I swear, the guy was his clone! They showed them together in the first segment, and I assumed it was going to be about two brothers, but it was just the one guy. Later, they showed the two climbing some tall building, and I just wondered if he just dates guys who look exactly like himself.

M’benga sang two solo lines. Kind of like Alison Hannigan in OMWF. He sounded fine, but did announce, “I do not sing,” after the opening song.

In my opinion, nothing will ever be as good as the Buffy musical. I still listen to it today. That said, I really enjoyed this. I thought that the songs were enjoyable, though all kind of in the same style, and the voices surprisingly good. I also appreciated the Buffy shout outs, as well as the Hitchhiker’s Guide reference (improbability drive) I laughed out loud at the Klingons sounding like a boy band on helium. I agree that if they had sung opera, they wouldn’t have found that demeaning, but k-pop? That’s war worthy.

That younger guy was so annoying, “I want, I want, I want!” That second house was very weird with no privacy for either bathroom. The one bathroom was right in the bedroom (!) and the other one was sandwiched between the main bedroom and the third bedroom with no doors. And I have never seen such a ginormous hot tub in a private home. Definitely not a pool. I'm sorry, Justice, but happiness is not measured in square footage.

I really have to divorce this series from the books. This is not my Jim Chee, the earnest and quite religious young cop. Who is this swinger in the polyester suit? Ugh! That said, the show is entertaining enough, and there aren’t that many shows out there worth watching. I just have to forget that I have read every book Tony and Anne Hillerman have written.

Here’s something that I’m confused about. I’m rereading the books at the moment but haven’t gotten this far, yet. Do the stones “charge” one gem per customer or do they consume all of the gems you have? What I mean is, can you bring extra gems through with you, to ensure your ability to return? Does Roger even have any gems with him when he goes after Jem? I know that gem’s function seems to be steering the person to where they want to go. Is that why Roger gets lost? I’ve totally forgotten this part from the books.

Has anybody seen the first episode? Hilarious. Jon Hamm is really funny as amnesiac Gabriel.

Whether or not one likes the opening theme sung by Sinaid O’Conner (I do, personally) I’m surprised that there wasn’t an “In Memoriam” notice in the credits. Lots of big stakes in tonight’s episode, Jem missing in the stones, a traveler from the past…first time we’ve seen one of them, and Jamie looking downright dead at the very end, though I suspect he isn’t. Poor William. He wanted to go to war, and now he has. Not quite what he imagined, I don’t think.

I, for one, was totally shocked that the Chekov’s parsley (a little is delicious, a lot will kill you) didn’t come into play. And by Checkov, I mean the playwright, of course, not the TOS officer. I was sure the ambassador was going to drop dead during dinner, and the episode would be a mystery about who killed him. I was also confused by the ending. And when M’benga was packing up at the end, it seemed kind of final, like he was leaving the ship, but I haven’t heard anything about the actor leaving. So, does that mean that next week he’ll be singing and dancing? Kind of a weird follow up. I hope that the musical episode will be like Buffy’s Once More With Feeling, which uncovered riffs and secrets, and wasn’t a happy, feel good episode, despite the humor and terrific music.

It was the non twin who hated the green wall, so maybe one of the twins took that room. The reveal was only a month later, so she might not have gotten around to painting it yet.

I got a kick out of the realtor throwing in a bit of Cockney rhyming slang, “apples and pears, stairs. I missed seeing exactly how much living space they had after using a large chunk of it as a third bedroom.

TOS made its debut when I was in HS. Believe it or not, my family had ONE television, and my parents pretty much controlled it. They had no interest in Star Trek, so we didn’t watch it. I think I saw an episode or 2 at Friday night parties. I only discovered Star Trek during TNG. I didn’t enjoy old episodes of TOS when I came upon them, because I found the special effects and acting to be cheesy compared to TNG. I only got to know the TOS characters through the movies which I did enjoy. My favorite Trek series is DS9, which I have rewatched in recent memory. I enjoy SNW because I have no expectations nor comparisons with TOS. I also enjoyed DIS for the same reason. Spock had a sister no one had ever heard of? Fine with me. I did have an issue with those crazy looking Klingons, though. Lol I just love the concept behind Star Trek…a future world with equality between races and sexes (more or less) where people work together to make a better, uh, universe.

While this episode did absolutely nothing to compel me to watch Lower Decks, I did enjoy it. I liked all the hints of the “future” careers of our present cast of characters. Grinning Spock was creepy. I do admire how Ethan Peck contrasted Spock’s present experimental emotions with his actual human emotions in the episode where he lost his Vulcan DNA. I wonder what does change him into the Spock we know in TOS. I remember when Data got his emotion chip in TNG. At first he was OTT until he learned to control himself. Maybe Spock will just gradually, over time, redevelop his Spockness, as we know it, and not all of a sudden because of one traumatic event.

I didn’t much care for this episode, I have to say. Fighting scenes, especially ones that go on and on like this one did, bore the life out of me. Though, on the plus side, at least they were visible. I don’t know how many fights scenes in the dark I have suffered through, with visibility being so bad I have to wait until the end to see who comes out standing. I kept expecting Carol Kane to go all Ghost of Christmas Present and start knocking people around. That’s all I could think of with her oh so cutesy character. I hope she doesn’t stick around. Not a fan of stunt casting. I’m not sure why all of a sudden Spock’s ears looked fake. The make up is usually better than that. Speaking of which, the Klingons all seemed like regular (to me) TNG, DS9 and later Klingons. What happened to all those weird Discovery Klingons? Regardless, it’s nice to have another Star Trek to watch, even though I’m going to be away for the next three weeks. I’ll have a nice chunk of episodes to look forward to when I get back.

Presumably the contestants aren’t notified about this competition the day before they have to appear. So why don’t the people who haven’t sewn in years take the. time to whip up a few things for practice? Getting back on a bicycle isn’t actually all that easy if you haven’t done it in years, regardless of the cliche.

I just knew, as soon as they weren’t thrilled with Ali’s use of pomegranate in the croquettes that he was a goner. Sigh. I’ve been rooting for him all season. My son in law is Jordanian, but more than that, I just liked him. He seems like a really nice person. I can’t believe “bad luck Gabri” made it to the finale! I swear…every single challenge, he burns something or runs out of time, or something, but always squeaks through. I actually like him, but it just amuses me that he seems to have his own personal bad luck cloud over his head. I know the song goes, “ I love Paris when it drizzles,” but that was more of a deluge! Still I wish I were there. It’s been quite a few years since the last time I saw Paris. All three finalists are perfectly acceptable, but I don’t really have a dog in this race now that Ali is gone. I admit, I would get a big chuckle out of Gabri winning it all.

That tiny sink in the en-suite bathroom was weird too, especially since the shower was large enough for a small army.

So they stole “last chance kitchen” from Top Chef, and now we’re getting “last, last chance kitchen.” Sigh. I guess next week they’ll have the cook off between Preston and Corey followed by the three person final cook. They certainly are making this whole thing up as they go along.

So glad that Ali made it to the final. I was worried, but Tom’s “caviar” seemed worse, and thankfully the judges saw it the same way. I’ve seen some amazing tromp l’oeil cakes that you would swear were anything but, but I guess it would have been a cop out to make a cake, and decorate it to look like a shoe, or whatever. I knew this was Buddha’s challenge to lose. He’s been on fire these last few weeks. I know it was an unpopular opinion to like Tom, I just did and am sad to see him go. I couldn’t believe that bad luck Gabri made it to the finale, but his “dirty plate” was inspired.

Okay…once again, the episode description gives away major spoilers for the next (last?) episode. I won’t tell you anything, in case you care. The suspense is somehow failing to kill me.

Ugh…once again Sarah, the pasta expert, fails at pasta. At least she is finally gone, though she took arguably the best chef with her. Why, given all the cuts of wild boar that need time to cook and tenderize, did they give the chefs ONE hour…to make 4 dishes? Of course they all ground it, and cooked the tenderloin. There was no time to do anything else! It’s not like these people have anything else to do! Do Alex and Gabe have hot dates later? So annoying! Saba seems like the obvious winner, here. She dominated her partner, despite all her BS about great leadership. She asked what’s her name if she should add harissa to the kofta, and was told to add pepperoncini instead, which makes no sense, so she added harissa. Lol. How is kofta any less Tuscan than chicken fried steak? It’s at least Mediterranean! Chicken fried steak isn’t even from the same continent! That was a good tip about the green beans, however, blanching them before roasting to keep them hydrated. So this show hasn’t been entirely useless. Only one more week. Saba for the win!

Somebody in the live thread wondered about Carolyn’s nails. What I’m thinking is that she paints them with the paint they have at camp just for TC. It doesn’t last, of course, but it only has to last for one evening. Carolyn is so quick. You could see from her expressions during TC that she knew that something was up. Luckily, Yam Yam decided not to betray her…this time. When Carson said that Tika had the majority when it was 3-3, he meant that there were 3 Tika, and the other two tribes had fewer than 3 members each. He was talking about tribe members, not numbers of people. Of course, now Tika does have the majority, in people as well as tribe members. Yam yam would have been an idiot to have thrown that away. Shame Heidi used her idol when she didn’t need it. But I can understand the paranoia that must have hit them all at TC. I like her, even though I had no idea who she was until recently.