Jillybean

Well, my sentence did continue on to say "or at least women with strong personalities" (there's a difference).

Bekah Brunstetter. I think she is a regular writer/producer for TIU. I don't know her writing credentials, I'm just repeating what was stated in articles I read prior to the episode.

Yes, I thought that this episode marked the visible onset of whatever Rebecca's medical condition in the flash-forwards is. I didn't find the RBG doll to be at all political, since Madison explained that Kate wanted her son to be surrounded by strong women role models, and RBG is indeed a strong woman regardless of political affiliation. However, I was frankly a little surprised that Kate knew who RBG is. And, the Pearson family isn't exactly short on strong women -- or, at least, women with strong personalities. Where was Toby during Kate's emergency C-section? I've never had an emergency C-section -- or been pregnant, for that matter -- but I wouldn't have thought he could be in the room for that. Wouldn't that have been an excellent time to update the rest of the family? I was excited for this episode because of everything I read about how it was written by a playwright and conceived/filmed as a play -- a longer version of Kevin's therapy session last season. But I found it a little lacking.

That would've been funny! But I'm pretty sure she covered Bob Marley's "Is This Love."

Samantha Jones pioneered that look back in 2004.

Me too - I didn't change my name when I got married. I was just mildly surprised Kate didn't, either.

Since all the obvious topics have been covered, I'll just jump in to say I was mildly surprised Kate didn't take Toby's last name (whatever it may be) when they got married. Although of course being a Pearson is the awesomest thing ever, and why wouldn't she want to keep her dad's name? I guess I just saw her being more traditional. But nope, Kate Emily Pearson got her diploma. And not for nothing, that was a mighty quick earning of the credits she needed.

Came here to say this exactly. Maggie has taken her insufferability to new levels that I wouldn't have thought existed. I guess I was alone in disliking her green jumpsuit. This made me roll my eyes. Grey's Anatomy Boss Can't Even Deal With Your MerLuca Hate It's not about wanting Mer to be alone forever...it's that this is a terrible, chemistry-free pairing that just makes me cringe. I would actually have liked to see what could happen with Linc.

For years, there were conspiracy theorists who insisted Michael and LaToya were the same person.

I have no idea who JB Smoove is, but he must have had some good stuff in that cup glued to his hand, because he appeared to be drunk. He added nothing to the show and was so annoying. The Alien's clue package actually said "est. 1956" and none of the panel picked up on it. I think the panel knows who all of the singers are. They pretend to deliberate and then one of them pulls the right name out of thin air. And make stupid guesses like Sofia Richie and Paula Abdul.

I've never forgotten about Kate sitting outside the house (and now you've reminded us 4 times, haha), and that's why I thought it was so weird Randall suggested going there. You don't take someone back to the scene of their unhealthy obsession.

So how about perpetually unemployed Kate telling Toby she wants to buy a house with a yard? In LA. I'm sure they will snap their fingers and be in a lovely home in no time.

As a friend of mine posted on Facebook on NYE: "Joan Rivers and Marky Mark's brother make a nice couple."

I completely agree. I hate that it's always played for laughs. This episode was absolutely terrible all the way around.

The purse dog safety people went to the expense of having their product tested by the Center for Pet Safety, which approves very few products. Surely CPS has the kind of stats Mark requested. The product was ridiculous IMO. They said the dog is comfortable in it and I find that impossible to believe.

The twitching tic thing the rabbit constantly does is really annoying. WTF is up with that -- did he just decide that's part of his "character?"

I just realized Tammy wasn't in the episode. Didn't miss her at all.

She's singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. That's gotta be a pretty sweet paycheck, especially since they had trouble getting acts this year.

It's too bad I'm doing Dry January because a drinking game for this show would be perfect: drink every time someone says "Babe." Just on Kate alone I probably could have gotten a good buzz. Then we hear Zoe say it to Kevin...Beth say it to Randall...if there had been a Rebecca/Jack scene we surely would've heard it from her, too. Hey writers, there *are* other nicknames/terms of endearment. That and Randall's ridiculous and unwanted election win, after being down 4 percentage points with 90% of districts reporting, just killed the episode for me. I'm not the slightest bit intrigued about Uncle Clark Kent. Blah.

On that topic, how many children does Debra have? I went creeping on her Facebook profile and she had a photo of three blonde daughters, none of them Jacquelyn or Terra.

According to the podcast, Terra was going to see Jason Aldean at a local venue that night -- not to an out-of-town music festival. That was one of the fictionalized aspects of the episode, as was (I believe) the Uber driver and his involvement.

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/debra-newell-reveals-what-dirty-john-got-wrong/

Great episode, even if much of it was conjecture. But Jean Smart and even (to a lesser extent) Connie B both had a Minnesota/North Dakota accent going strong and it was super, super distracting. We've heard it from Jean in earlier eps and only if Arlane is from up there does that make any sense.

Well. I think Andrea's finale spot should have been Destane's. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found Amanda's theatrics annoying AF. I was happy Tina won. I've never heard of Sherry Yard but girlfriend needs a stylist if she's going to be on TV. I didn't like the way she practically cackled with glee while explaining all the things that could go wrong during the semifinal technical challenge.

I think Lerome got too hung up on representing his daughters and could have won if he'd focused instead on wowing the judges. None of those cakes had any "wow" factor. Nancy and Lorraine seemed to both find his cake the tastiest of the three. I was puzzled as to why the judges couldn't taste the orange in Douglas' cake, with its zest, juice, and liqueur in the batter. I made cranberry orange muffins a few days ago with the zest of one orange in the batter and some orange juice in the glaze, and the orange flavor is very bright.