Carrie Ann

Yeah, Jaime would have to sneak back out of Kings Landing in order to look for Arya, unless he wanted her to be immediately killed or captured. Sansa is a trickier matter, and I'm interested to see how he tries to help her.

I definitely don't see Laurel's addiction as part of her "darkness." I see it as an illness, and one that happens to be hereditary in her case. As far as we know, she never turned to alcohol or drugs until Tommy died, but after Sara and Oliver "died," she apparently threw herself into law school and then her career. She seemed healthy, but as she said to Sara, she felt like she died that day too. So those five years that she seemed to be thriving, she was really putting on an act. Only when she started opening herself up to Tommy did she start feeling like she was coming back to life. So I see that workaholism and her substance abuse as a symptom of her inability to deal with pain and her unwillingness to face reality, which could lead her to darker places. As far as why the show bothered to redeem her, I think they had to, if they're going to bring her back down again in a different way. I have some thoughts about how that could go, but that "darkness" line made me think that the writers want it to be clear that Laurel hasn't cleared away all the demons. That's gonna come back somehow.

Well, it's all interpretation at this point, and I interpreted Ward's going dead-eyed and his hearing fuzzing out as him being Out To Lunch. I don't see the point in that being the weekly big shocking final scene if it just meant that he was feeling a little bad about killing three people. But who knows with this show? Maybe where I saw "dead-eyed" it was really just Brett Dalton trying to emote.

But if you're going to talk to cops, make sure to continue stacking those crates/drying those glasses/throwing those fish while you discuss the murder you witnessed, and get real annoyed at the gall of those cops to expect you to remember things like what the victim was wearing for God's sake. (I watch a lot of procedurals.)

Derek is one of my favorite characters, but that doesn't mean I would deny that he has done a lot of bad things, because that would deny a lot about his journey on the show, from my perspective. It doesn't mean that he is inherently a bad person, or that he hasn't become a better person along the way. You could probably argue that he's undergone more change in three seasons than anyone on the show. I see S2 as him at his worst--he let the power go to his head and wanted a pack of his own. And while Isaac, Erica, and Boyd all had issues pre-turn, two of them died within months of being turned. Not sure they'd make the same choice, given the chance again. He really downplayed the danger, the urges, the loss of control. He was selling them on turning; he wasn't doing something selfless to help them. Even if he was rushing to build a pack because the Alpha Pack was coming, that still doesn't excuse it, frankly. It just means he lied to them about more things in order to manipulate the situation. Same for Scott--if he really needed strength on his side, why turn on Scott when he wouldn't join the pack? Why not tell him what was coming and why he needed him? Anyway, then he used his new pack to hurt Scott and others. He almost had them kill Lydia because he was convinced she was the kanima and wouldn't hear arguments against it. He didn't train them properly before their first full moon and they all escaped, putting their lives and innocent lives at risk. Boyd and Erica didn't feel he was a strong enough Alpha to remain in his pack. These are just a few examples of him not being a great leader in S2. So he's grown up since then and he wouldn't act like that anymore. Now I think he'd be a great Alpha. Season 3 has really redeemed him, but now they need to do something new with him, because he was completely wasted in 3B.

Guy Wilson is like a Stepford Wife to me. His facial expression barely changes, and often doesn't reflect the emotion of the scene around him. There's a sort of plastered, vacant smile most of the time, and sometimes, a sort of vacant, confused concern. That's it. My Days UO is that I don't hate Jennifer. I find her bland, but inoffensively so. But she's a part of the fabric and history of the show for me (been watching on-and-off since birth), so I appreciate her presence. When I was a kid, watching over my mom's shoulder from the kitchen table at lunch, I thought Jennifer and Hope were like the coolest girls in the world, and I still have affection for both of them. But I do hate Daniel, so their relationship is not of interest to me at all.

Right, thousands of superpowered women, with who knows what kind of morality and no guidance or clue what is happening to them. I mean, as a plan, it's better than apocalypse. But it was depicted as this clear Good Act. Empowering! Literally! But there is a lot of grey to that action. (Um, this might have all been addressed in the comics, but I read a few spoilers and have never been able to bring myself to read them.)

I keep coming back to the idea of making Laurel a villain. And there are a couple of things they've dropped about Laurel this season that are really head-scratchers if they don't intend to go down that path. One is the story Sara told Oliver on the island, about how she had a crush on him first and Laurel knew it, and took advantage of Sara getting grounded to go after Oliver at a party. I saw a few people who thought Sara was lying, but I don't give that idea any credence because Sara had no motive to lie about that. So in that moment, Laurel is revealed as selfish, jealous, and a little ruthless. What's the point of that if they intend Laurel to be their heroine? They've already done plenty of breaking her down this season--showing her to be grasping and cruel is not necessary. Another thing is when they showed Laurel in flashback, looking at apartments for her and Oliver while also clearly showing insecurity about their relationship. She knew Oliver didn't want to move in with her, but she was pushing ahead anyway, trying to sort of force him to stay with her. Again, if you're trying to make her your heroine and not Sara, why show this? To garner sympathy for her? It didn't work, if so. To me, it seemed to underline her willingness to turn a blind eye to reality and try to force her will on others. The last thing is that little moment about the "darkness" in the last episode, which is a pretty big anvil to drop. So I could see her going to the dark side, maybe even for a few seasons, and then they work on her redemption and ultimately she's the Black Canary just like Mark Guggenheim envisioned and continues to champion. Boo. But if she's ultimately going to be the BC, this is the only acceptable way. As those SPN clips show, KC seems to do better with the snarky stuff than the...Laurel stuff, so at least if we could get that for awhile, it'd be more tolerable to watch.

Man, I hate that Ward has been brainwashed into this (as made clear in the end tag), because it's such an easy out, and once more this show has no stakes. No one's getting killed, no one's changing, there is no antagonist within the group. Boring. I hated that scene with him and Skye so much. Honestly, a grenade thrown in that broom closet would have gone a long way to solving a lot of my problems with this show.

Oh no, I think they prefer Zoe/Wade. Even if that wasn't the original intent, Zoe and George have no chemistry anymore, if they ever did. I thought they were going Lemon/Lavon too, with poor George and AB left in the cold.

What bothered you about that quote? I guess I didn't even notice it.

Ha, therein lies the confusion. I was trying to think of how "things get very bad for our heroes" could mean something different than it has every other season of TW.

Huh, I'm really surprised that it might be renewed! Especially because this episode certainly felt like the writers scrambling to move pieces into position. I mean, how much time elapsed in this one episode? I wasn't paying especially close attention, but I know it was at least a month because of the missed visits. Was it longer? Two months? When Zoe picked up the award for Joel, how much time had passed since their "break" goodbye? And then to suddenly smoosh Lemon and George together...again, it just smacked of trying to tie things up before the bitter end. But if not, then yay! I actually like Lemon and George together, so I'm not opposed. It just felt rushed and a little out of the blue.

It did, I believe. I think that was the last thing noted on Jaime's page.

I would not enjoy that, personally. I find the "add a kid" trope annoying in my shows/series (DAWN, looking at you). But I do hope that he shows up again and Veronica can spend some time with him. It's good for drama for her to have more people to be concerned about--Keith can't keep having near-death experiences!

I really liked Stiles and Malia in their one episode, and I think they might be the strongest actors on the show, so I'm onboard (even though I like Scott/Lydia too). I'm less excited about Scott and Kira, who are very one-dimensional to me. They're just both so similar. Just like sweet, happy little puppies, and it's not an interesting dynamic. Their interactions with each other never progressed beyond "cute" for me, and I'm not sure Arden Cho is a strong enough actress to take it anywhere deeper. I wish they'd look into Scott and Lydia or Scott and Malia instead. I also have no idea what the Empire Strikes Back reference could mean.

I'm actually one of the people who finds their relationship and this storyline believable given both of their personalities. They love each other, they have a history, and they have an understanding of each other that no one else can have right now. So their falling back together makes a lot of sense to me, and not really wanting to look at it too hard or talk about it too much also makes sense given their characters. That said, if this were the pairing I was most interested in, I would be disappointed. There was no build-up, so that makes the "payoff" pretty weak. They just ended an episode doing it, and by the next, they were together and that's that. I see a sweetness in their interactions with each other, in the moments they do have to be each other's support, but otherwise...they just haven't been portrayed as a couple that I would root for, and the producers are just expecting us to fill in the blanks as far as their connection goes. OK, but in the long run, that's not workable. I do expect some of the conversations you referenced will take place in the near future. For Sara herself, it's a bit of a disservice to just relegate her to Oliver's girlfriend at this point. But I hold out hope that they will continue to flesh her out and give her her own space. I just don't know that that's possible on this show about the Arrow, and not about Black Canary.

I love this one a lot too. Tyce has had a few great routines over the years, but this past season's blatant ripoff of Wade Robson's S6 Triplets of Belleville routine was sort of the last straw for me with him. It also just made me wonder how many of his other routines have been lifted?

Well, in a not-good sign, a friend of mine who edits for HoD is out of a job as of this past week...I haven't asked about it because I don't want to pry, but it made me doubt the chances for a return.

Ha, I wasn't even talking about the shorts. I love her silly wardrobe. I was talking about like every wrong conclusion she jumps to and every bad decision she makes as a result.

Short version: no and yes. Longer version: they're still not best friends, but they are friendly and Lemon is no longer out to get Zoe. But she still does call her Zoe Hart most of the time. But so do a lot of people on the show--it rolls right off the tongue!

Yeah, they seem really unpleasant and vapid. Their house looks lovely now, though.

Oh, I think she was hurt by her mother too, but not surprised. And if she were trying to hurt her mother, completely ignoring her--making it clear how little faith she had in Moira to begin with and how completely done she is now--would do the trick.

Correct! BTW, I've now had that song stuck in my head all day.

That scene was so good--I was so glad I caught the show today! I actually rewound and watched it again. It was really well-done. It doesn't hurt that she reminds me so much of my own grandma, who also watches the show and I know loved that too. And most of the actors' tears looked real. Honestly, if there are still Days viewers out there who are homophobic, I feel like that scene could go a long way toward changing minds and hearts. Or maybe I'm just too optimistic? And I totally agree that Days is doing a better job of using its history and families than other shows--it's one of the reasons I got back into it (still casually). Because my mom watched since I was born, and I've kept up with it on and off my whole life. So I love seeing the older generations interact with the younger, and seeing how the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, etc. It makes for much more interesting story-telling.