Jodithgrace

Not so long, alas. He’s once again a semi cabbage widower.

As soon as I saw Ken’s dream, I immediately thought, that’s London. There’s no reason why he couldn’t be dreaming that he and Barbie were in London. They might have gone there on vacation or on their honeymoon. I had a real problem watching the abuse stuff, though being “rescued “ by Corinthian isn’t necessarily an improvement. Rose is always just too late. And Morpheus was a real creep in this episode, not letting her get the info in time.

Saul and Kim each had their own ways of turning themselves in. Kim did it directly. Saul did it by self sabotage. The whole point of the cabbie break ins is that the victim never knows he’s been robbed. Nothing is taken except identity stuff, and the poor schlub has no clue as to how his identity is stolen. It was practically a perfect crime. But after the phone call with Kim, Saul is on a self destruct path. He breaks a window, makes unnecessary noise (piano) and when he should be done and out of there, and the cab is waiting outside, he goes upstairs and steals watches, not to mention was he even wearing gloves? Jeffy tries to help him by crashing his cab, to distract the police, so Saul can sneak out, but by then the “drunk guy” is awake and aware that he’s been robbed. So instead of a ticket for careless driving, Jeff gets accused of robbery. Cue Marion. I think that Saul was just sitting there in that chair in the dark waiting for it all to crash down on him. And then it did. Yes he ran, but that’s just the instincts of a rat. Anyway, that’s how I saw it

I suspect that Saul/Gene never got to speak to Kim. He hit some kind of firewall, which is why he was so angry and frustrated. I can imagine Kim having all sorts of measures in place to make sure he can’t reach her, even though he knows where she is. He can’t leave and track her down in Florida so he turns his frustration into a new scam. Because He just can’t do it. Saul just cannot live a normal life. And we have seen time and again that he is incapable of leaving well enough alone. He and the guys had a well oiled racket with the stolen identities, but in the end, he had to sabotage it. If Kim had answered him, he might have kept going, but without her, he is heading straight down the tubes.

At least now we know why Saul’s house is so tacky. Kim would never have approved of that monstrosity. This is Saul indulging his own taste, or lack thereof. I do hope we get another glimpse of Kim before the end. I want to know what becomes of her.

It was obviously not a real option for them. Sometimes the choices are more fake than others. This was one of the obvious fakes.

Total unspoiled speculation here…could big ball of fire be Harlen?

That was a surprise! I mean, I predicted every single thing that happened right up until they failed to save the cute kid! Don’t they always save the cute kid? Yikes! That was dark. I see that Pike has already begun the tradition that Kirk will cheerfully carry on…that of having a girl on every planet. Was his hair especially tall this week? Amazing how so many planets have Oxygen based breathable air (and people who look just like humans except for a few decorative facial swirls.) It’s like they don’t even check any more, just beam down. Uhura’s security training was a fun sub plot. But right after La’an chided Uhura about not letting her phaser do the exploring, we see Spock rooting through debris bare handed without a care in the world.

I don’t understand the bat situation. Bats sometimes live in people’s attics, but they roost in there in the daytime, and go out and hunt at night. The scene made it seem like the bats were somehow trapped in the attic, and Kathleen with the snowblower, breaks the window and lets them out. And that was the least confusing part of the episode. They go from one scene where Mike’s brother is discussing the possible hearing for the retrial with David, to David leaving what could be the same room to complain to Sofia about Michael not taking the plea. So confusing!

The watergate break in happened literally the night before my wedding. We spent most of our first year of marriage watching and listening to the hearings. I think this series is doing a terrific job of bringing those days to life. The incredible bumbling and stupidity of all the President’s men is at once hilarious and horrifying. The meeting in the Oval Office with John Mitchell and the 4 stooges, where they try to get him to take all the responsibility on tape, was just perfect. G Gordon Liddy’s inspiring anecdote about his nanny invoking Hitler while his wife looks on adoringly is another. Some really great moments all along. The curiously adult daughter, Jeb Magruder’s stress peeing, and Maureen Dean managing her husband’s Michael Cohening are all great fun. I wish more people were watching this.

I was really shocked that Nacho died because I had misremembered him as being in Breaking Bad, so I knew he was safe. I even thought his death was somehow faked, until Hector used him for target practice. Jimmy/Saul and Kim work so well together as partners in crime. Makes me really want to know what happens, since she, I do know, isn’t in Breaking Bad. Kim is so smart, feeding the Suzanne incriminating evidence against her own client, making Suzanne feel obligated to return the favor. It paid off when Suzanne gave her the heads up about the Salamanca business. It’s always good policy to do unsolicited favors for people, making them much more likely to help you out in the future. At least if you’re in the sleazy law business.

I’ve never seen a front runner so thoroughly shoot himself in the foot as Jackson did tonight. I’ve been rooting for him, especially since he seemed to be compensating for his loss of taste/smell so brilliantly. But tonight? That was just awful. Chefs have botched FOH for lots of reasons, usually because their team is in the weeds, or because they don’t have the expertise. But Jackson just kind of…blew it off? So weird. And then his belated midnight confession. I heard him telling one of the diners about his condition, and then saying that he didn’t tell the judges because he didn’t want to be sent home. I mean, he does know this is all televised, right? Restaurant wars always stresses me out for some reason. I just hate it when things go wrong, it feeds into my entertaining anxieties. But at least both restaurants were at least pretty good, despite the unfortunate quirks of Jackson’s team’s. Deserving winners, all around.

That was quite a metaphor going on there at TC. Let’s see, you have to chose to get in a car, but maybe it’s the wrong car, or maybe it’s the right car but it only has four seats so you have to ride in the trunk. Do you drive or just go along for the ride? And what if they stop at a gas station and you get out to go to the bathroom and they leave without you? whew! At least wear your seatbelt!

But on recent years that whole thing has been debunked. Apparently you can go swimming as soon as you want after eating. It bothers me when people complain that having 4 bedrooms/bathrooms means more maintenance. Close the doors of the rooms you aren’t using. Only open the ones you need to give them a quick dust before the guests arrive. Afterwards set them up with clean sheets etc and close the doors again. Though of course if she meant that vast living room, I can see her point in that it is a large floor to wash. But it’s always preferable to have both husband and wife participate in keeping a house clean.

But that might be coming. We know that there will be an episode featuring Rebecca and Miguel’s story, and that may well show the uglier side of dementia, interspersed with past scenes showing the progression of their relationship.

Randall gave the perfect speech, short, sweet, and to the point. I thought to myself, "Great! Now sit down, Randall." Alas, turns out he was only taking a breath, before launching into his depressing diatribe. Oh well, tv characters never listen to me, even when I talk out loud. I think the only problem with the girls being missing, was the family photo. I can understand the casting issue, if the girls were going to have lines, but for the photo, they could have aged up Deja, and basically used extras for the other two. It was at a distance, and we don't know what Annie and Tess look like at this age, so they didn't have to go to the trouble of casting look alike actors, like they usually do. Miguel is a prince. He didn't punch Randall, who was being at his very Randallist. I think Phillip's response to Rebecca's singing was perfect. After all, he teaches music to special needs kids and understands the power of music. He seems to compliment Kate. She doesn't need another intense person, like Toby was. They were always crashing into each other. Phillip seems to be the calm, nothing ruffles him, English person she needs. What he sees in her, however, I don't know.

Well, considering that they named a character Raikes, and then had him turn out to be a rake, I don’t believe that subtlety in metaphor was what they were going for. I am doing a presentation on Edith Wharton on Monday for this continuing education class I am involved in. In my research I found out this delightful tidbit. Edith Wharton’s family, The Joneses of New York, were supposedly the Joneses with whom everybody wanted to keep up. Thus the origin of the phrase. It would have been fun for me to have seen Edith Jones, as her family was mentioned once. I did enjoy the series, though sometimes I found the costumes to be extremely ugly, with unflattering colors, especially Marian’s. She had one dress I liked, a yellow suit which she wore a couple of times, but most of the time the costume designers did her no favors. The Statue of Liberty arm didn’t look large enough to me. I had read that people climbed in it to the torch, as they did when the statue was put in NY Harbor. You can’t do that anymore, but it was still like that when I was a child. But that arm didn’t look big enough for people to go inside.

Who knew there were monkeys in France? They seemed like a really nice couple, though they didn’t mention exactly how they got together, since it seems that they were both married to other people when they met. No judgment from me, I’m just nosy. I’ve been to a few bed and breakfasts in Europe. They differ widely in accommodations. We stayed in one, where it seemed like we threw the owners out of their own bedroom. There were cloths draped over all their personal stuff on the bureaus, etc. It was weird, but thankfully just for one night, and the breakfast room was delightful. So, more power to them if they can get it all up and running.

I liked this episode because Kevin is my favorite Pearson, I won’t lie. But I did laugh out loud when Kevin started Pearsoning at that man in the waiting room. I mean, the guy could have been waiting for life or death news about his wife, but he has to listen to Kevin’s monologue. No matter what, Pearsons gotta Pearson.

It’s been eons since I read the earlier books, and I’m a bit confused. Who was Christie at Ardsmuire? He seemed to be a prisoner, but not Scottish and on a different level. The opening made it clear that he and Jamie were at odds, but they didn’t say what he was doing there, or did they and I just missed it?

The second house that had the laundry in that small bedroom…they kept making a big deal about the 6 year old either being in that weird bedroom or down in the basement. But why couldn’t the give the basement room to the older daughter? That fact that they never even considered such a reasonable solution, convinced me that they wouldn’t choose that house, though I thought it was the better option. (Nobody ever listens to me)

Too soon to know names yet, but I did feel bad for the woman who got eliminated. She gets her dream opportunity to be on Top Chef and gets a bladder infection! She didn’t mention it the next day, but I’m sure her focus was impacted, and so she is the first out. Her whole team’s menu was poorly conceived though. Why do Asian, when nobody knew anything about it? Even the Asian woman on the team chose a dish she knew nothing about. I was expecting bigger fallout from the guy who lost his sense of smell and taste due to Covid. He ended up on the winning team, so it can’t be affecting him too much. I’m always so glad when my shows come back, especially now. I was so excited to see this pop up on my DVR.

Pierogies are very similar to potstickers. The dough and fillings are quite different, but the process is the same. Richard must be the hardest working man in show (real estate) business. It's amazing what a small, row house one gets for $1.5 million in London. The one they chose was lovely though. I wonder what they plan to do with a guest house. They didn't talk incessantly about visitors from the states, like some couples do. I suppose they could actually rent it out for some extra income to make up for the increased price.

I think Socrates is hoping for an Emmy. You know, Penn hops around saying goofy things all the time, but I find Kim to be the funny one. She is deadpan, but she said some funny things, like telling Socrates, "I'm a big fan of your work." Needle in a haystack tasks are miserable. I was wondering, if the racers had all come at different times, if they would have replaced the coins that were found so that each racer would have an even playing field. They were all there at once so I didn't find out. But watching them, I couldn't help but have visions of bales of hay. Many bales of hay. I always know that it's non-elimination when Phil keeps talking. He's kind, and never keep the eliminated racers waiting for the bad news. But if he starts commiserating with them, you know they aren't going home.

I may not know much about the fine arts, but I do know my cliches. It seems to me that after you graduate from the all inclusive dance school, where you receive tons of encouragement and everybody gets to be in the recitals, and you get serious enough to have a real teacher or coach, it's pretty much no more Mr. Nice guy. Teachers of serious students can be really brutal. According to the movies, this applies to piano teachers, acting coaches, dance teachers, athletics, etc. For real life, look at the ROC Olympic skating coach, and her reaction to Kamila's free skate. Not a kind word, no hugs. And she turns out gold medalists like they were on an assembly line. If Beth gave up, and started performing poorly after her father died, that's on her. Somebody a little more driven would just have used that to make her stronger. I'm not judging Beth, that's just the cliche. But it wasn't her teacher's fault, even if he was unsympathetic. I'll bet that teacher gets a few phone calls or letters every year from former students. and I'll bet some of them say the equivalent of, "You know, you were a real bastard, but thanks to you I got into the NY City Ballet! So thank you." And of course, some are from people like Beth.