becauseIsaidso

kim bitchards, tmc fr, and vile kyle are the reasons I stopped watching this show a while back. I only tuned in again recently and from the looks of it, I'll need to bail again as the aforementioned three plus rinna are not my idea of entertainment. I am an LVP fan, and am not at all blind to her antics. But, IMO, the difference between LVP and the others is that I've never considered LVP to be deliberately vicous. House porn, food porn, adorable, pets and sexy cars I never get tired of. But the oft repeated gang up on LVP just isn't entertaining. Vile needs to get over herself and her massive jealous streak.

Sorry to say, to me this does look like a photoshopped head of MJ on someone elses' body...I'd not be happy if this is the case as, like her or not, I do wish her a healthy and successful pregnancy and many happy baby/kid years, but I'm not a photo-geek...any experts out there - and I do actually like MJ - perhaps in spite of myself, but I really do

Watching the Sheana's wedding season of VPR and as much as I loath some aspects of this season, it has served to remind me what steaming stacks of shit jax and kristin are. I am glad for that as I had recently felt that I had been a bit harsh on them recently...but....nah...they deserve every slam they get. And Stassi - but I've felt that way about her since Season 1 and she's shown me no reason to believe otherwise.

I think Bethany may have done a solo when she was pregnant - it stuck in my mind because she had so much swelling in her face and feet. There could have been someone else there, but I don't recall who it would have been.

I don't even like James, but I'm sick of him being held to a different standard than anyone else. It makes it somewhat difficult to not empathize with him. And since I'm a sucker for cute young animals I'd definitely attend a puppy shower just to get my fill of warm fuzzies - puppies never disappoint. I'm rather surprised the others didn't jump on that band wagon for the same reason James and Raquel are hosting it - to make major points with LVP. I've never bought into Stassi's reformed act - She started out as a seriously nasty bitch and that persona is definitely bubbling below the surface. Guess she just figures tears are the better way to manipulate Beau. I'd say poor guy, but the reveal about him being a working actor kinda shot that idea down., Katie's another one who needs to have her ego put in check - and her fishwife ass off the show. She is not exactly what I'd consider an supportive partner to an SO trying out his wings in bar/restaurant management or in any way entertaining on her own, I can't believe that Sur or Villa Blanca or Pump or even TomTom has any shortage of up and coming twenty-somethings who could slide right in, create appropriate drama, provide sufficient eye-candy and have enough quirks in their personalities to be entertaining yet angsty. Hopefully Brittany and Jax will motor off the screen once they cash in big from however many seasons they can milk from their faux wedding. I find both of them blatantly phony and irresponsible. Ariana grows on me - she's almost like Cam's 'greek chorus' in her commentaries - and she's not a nasty drunk. She, FI and Schwartz would make for an interesting triad.

For me, ancient creature that I am, our home, our house, our property is our sanctuary from the chaos of the rest of the world. Someone coming up to me and ripping me a new one is something I may (and have had) to tolerate out in the real world, but NOT EVER in my own home. And if someone were to come into my home under the pretext of friendship and proceed to rip me that new one, then refuse (physically or verbally makes no difference) to leave, I would absolutely expect my DH to come to my defense, up to AND including physically ejecting the offending erstwhile 'friend' from the premises. As I would do the same for him. It is not a women's or men's issue - it is where our priorities lie and for me that is in the safety and sanctity of where we live and are at our most vulnerable. For someone to come in, exploit that vulnerability and destroy that feeling of a refuge removed from the rest of the world is disrespectful to the point of unforgiveable.

This episode confirmed for me an idea I've had forming about AJ - mainly that he's totally different off camera. If his friends have never seen him mad and Stephanie has seen it almost from the get-go it seems logical to me that there must be a new variable involved, which is of course, the reality of going through this with a camera present and multiple retakes, etc. I also think that's why Stephanie seems to not speak up for herself - I think she's relying on her feelings about how he behaves in private/normal life and decided to carefully pick her battles on camera, knowing that jumping in with some attempt at getting him to turn it off will just make it worse. I think AJ is feeling harshly judged (albeit it due to his own behavior) and is intent of letting 'us' know that it's the intrusion and demands/equipment of production that send him 'round the bend. I also believe that when they were told they'd all be in one house and AJ verified with Pastor Cal that they'd each have their own rooms, he envisioned it more like a B&B with private bathrooms and equal accommodations - so that being the last to arrive and getting the leftovers hit him in the face as a very nasty, (and, in his mind I am certain, deliberately-production generated) surprise which naturally released the beast within. I did not have a good first impression of AJ, but he has grown on me. At times he seems to exude a child-like desperation that we, the audience, know it is all these external factors that are pushing his buttons and making him present like an hot tempered idiot. I am also certain (from my background in dealing with TBI patients in a neuropsychological testing milieu) that a lot of his hair-trigger responses and tendency to disinhibited behaviors could well have been either the result of or enhanced by his injury. I do see some genuine affection between them - I think that if Stephanie did not feel it, we would have seen and heard a lot more critical THs and distancing behavior instead of her efforts to avoid getting embroiled in each new conflict. When she decided to go to bed, my first thought was 'smart girl'. I think they need a solid month of real privacy to really get to know each other, so I do hope they stay together at least long enough to let all the effects of this zoo fade away.

I watched this again recently and my recollection is that Kate is saying 'Luke doesn't want me to tell....', which makes me think it is his shenanigans alone - probably not living with her at all on some dumb excuse about caring too much for her to actually live with her until he really 'feels' something for her. Or maybe even asking her to go along with the leaving at 8 am to spend the day with friends garbage so as to provide an excuse for there being no footage of them on monthaversay day. No matter what it is, he's a steaming pile of sh*t.

So Keith wants kids (plural) now, but also expects to be able to go through 5 to 7 more years if medical school! Idiot! (Presuming he means getting an MD - as I have never heard anyone who is studying for nursing or other medicine related careers refer to their studies as 'medical school'. If he is not referring to getting an MD, he's at the very least guilty of trying to schmooze us into believing his lack of monetary contribution to the marriage is for a very good and pre-existing reason ) Does he have no concept of how expensive medical school is? And even if he does have that covered, the time demands alone would place the (nearly - depending on how much energy Keith plans to put into anything other than himself) entire burden of household management and child rearing on Kristine. He didn't want a wife - he wanted a younger 'grandma' to both baby him and produce his babies. Idiot!

Watching puke and Kate, I got the distinct feeling that she has glommed onto a strategy of seeming to agree with his smarmy persuasion attempts to keep him off her back (literally and figuratively at this point) while already having made up her mind to be rid of him on decision day. If so, she is smarter than I have given her credit for; she has spared herself a bitch-edit while exposing him to a national audience as the pond scum he is. Could be that airing these segments is production driven to fool the audience into a particular mindset, but if so, it has already backfired spectacularly as I think just about the entire viewing public takes this stuff with a boulder of salt.

The more I think about it, the more I am certain puke told kate he was too drunk to come home because that was the only acceptable excuse he could think of to justify staying wherever he was at the time. He always has to make things not his fault and in his warped mind 'I was too drunk to come home' plays much better than 'I didn't want to come home'. I hope he's getting and continues to get tons of hate mail for the rest of his miserable existence.

It wasn't so much this episode (even with the anniversary absentee puke), but the brief hint at next time - when puke and kate are having some sort of discussion (he with the every present condescending facial expression that I would dearly love to smack off with the back of my hand) and she mentions the word 'divorce' - that convinced me the only reason he shows even a modicum of civility to kate is so that she will not dump him on national tv. After he snows her into saying she wants to stay married, he'll either dump her or wait until after that first reunion so he can collect more bucks. The only smart thing she's done since the wedding is making public his nasty behavior and lies. By doing so she has presented herself as a doormat, but has also maneuvered herself out of the sort of potentially nasty edit other women have had to deal with.

Based on what I have seen on this show since it began, I do not for one second believe in any sort of Jax redemption arc/good guy now/ready to settle down/true love idiocy. I haven't seen enough of Brittany to decide if she is just stupid, stupidly in love, or as much a grifter as Jax, but this whole engagement arc strikes me as a rather clever way of not only guaranteeing him (and her by extension) of at least two more seasons of VPR, AND the glory of having at least one season revolve around them - thereby making them indispensable. The icing on the cake for me was Sandoval's apparent incredulity at Jax and Brittany getting hitched BEFORE he/Sandoval did - apparently in his view because he has been on the show longer with Ariana longer than Jax has been boinking Brit, he should have been the next to wed. I see this whole season as engagement and wedding, or maybe putting off the wedding until the following season and, most likely, having a quick post-nups reveal that brit is knocked up, making them the VERY FIRST of the group to procreate. Which could well give them a third season to rake in the glory and the cash. No part of me will ever trust Jax. Equally, as much as I would like to be happy for Stassi now that she is rid of that incredible douche Patrick and with someone who seems truly attached to her, I can not forget her behavior in the first few season, nor trust the she is truly into this guy. it is much easier for me to believe she is just in love with the attention he gives her than with the man himself. But, I don't actually know her - just the way she portrayed herself in those early years.

Haven't had the time to go through everyone else's posts, so hopefully I won't be too redundant. In the garage scene, each of the 3 mains showed their patriotism, Philip with his confession and reveal about Oleg's mission, Elizabeth by NOT resorting to violence, taking in the conversation around her and supporting Philip, Stan by actually listening and realizing that the only thing each of them were doing was working for their country, whichever one it was. Stan: He finally grew a brain. When he told Philip that Oleg had been arrested, I could see in his comprehension of Philip's reaction that he knew it was the truth. We already had the corroborating scene of Stan with Oleg in the cell when Oleg tells Stan how this is all about Gorbachev. I think that was the moment Stan knew he would let them go. Oleg: I think he stands a chance. In my fantasy continuation, P&E are taken to friendlys by Arkady, Gorbachev gets the story on how P&E& Oleg all worked to save G's skin, and some arrangement is made to release Oleg, probably banished for life from the US, which I don't think he would look upon as any great hardship, all things considered. Elizabeth: surprised me with her abstinence from violence, especially when Philip flipped into confession mode. There seemed to be a moment at the beginning where she may have been considering the 'get down on your knees' command as a prelude to an attack as we have seen her do before. But when Philip demurred, there was just a flicker of recognition in her eyes (fine bit of acting craft, that) and things went uphill for the Jennings clan. At first I thought that moment of hesitation before they crossed the border was the prelude to another disagreement, but it morphed into 'coming home', which was good to see. Philip: definitely the absolute star of the episode, if not the series. Particularly about Henry. He knew how much child-Henry had idolized Stan, considered him a hero, wanted to be like him - and that has to be hard for any loving dad to take. But they did good in leaving him behind and in the good-bye without spilling the beans phone call. I LOVED it when he asked Arkady to pull over - all just to take a look at what they had left so long ago - what was home. I had been thinking about that. I have not lived in the place where I was born for over 50 years, BUT it is still the first thing that comes to mind when I say or think 'home'....so I get something of how they feel, but for them it must have been SO much more intense as they were returning to a place they had only known as full of deprivation and hardship (which some say is the best place to find good soldiers). I had always had the sense that his occasional suggestion of turning themselves in and staying in the US wasn't really his idea of the best was to get out of the spy game - just the most expedient. I could see how much it cost him to, in essence, acknowledge that Stan was the best choice to look after Henry. I also think one of the things Arkady would do for Philip is to arrange for him to at least meet the son who went thru so much trouble to try and see him. Paige: what and Idiot! Even when momma and papa spy are telling her they have to leave fast and have to leave Henry behind, she doesn't have enough brain cells or training to figure it out but has to throw yet another tantrum and demand they all stop and take a minute!! Most telling was her final scene in the safe house...instead of going to her apartment, to the FBI, or to Henry, or pastor Tim...little miss wanna have the ultra cool & romantic life of a spy just couldn't take that final step and go to Russia cuz it all fell apart. I see her spending a LOT of time being questioned and attempting to rationalize her entrance into Spy School 101. Henry: He's gonna be fine. They will do a LOT of in-depth investigation (but will have to admit that Stan DID suggest P&E were spies long before TPTB in the FBI would even consider such a ridiculous premise), but with uber-patriot Stan standing up for him, and the totally clear background and US birth certificate, he will eventually be granted his parents net worth of assets left behind, probably become Stan's ward for a while and may even, sometime in the distant future, make a trip to the USSR to see his parents - but he'll have a lot to forgive before he can even consider that. Renee: Yup, never been a doubt in my mind that she is either deep cover KGB, or deep cover white-supremacist (but I think they would have gone for the quick revenge, so my money is on KGB) I can just picture Stan during that heart - to - heart at the hockey rink telling Henry that 'oh, by the way, don't say too much in front of Renee'. All in all, I loved this finale. It really did live up to it's title Yes, I did miss one more Martha moment...but who knows....maybe we'll be graced with a spinoff?!?!?!?

I think not telling P&E about Renee being deep cover would be the best way to prevent anyone's cover from being accidentally blown by the other. IIRC, P &/or E were either shown asking Claudia about Renee or referring to having asked her - which Claudia would most certainly have denied in any event. No matter how stupid Stan seems to be now, he did enter the show as having just spent 3 years in deep cover with a white supremacist group, so he knows the drill AND what the consequences could be. I keep thinking there HAS to be a reason he was given that particular back story.