Hana Chan

I actually like this as a storyline for Charlotte. Here is a woman who came from a very well off background where she had one real job in adulthood before marriage to a socially appropriate man (and then to a less socially but certainly economically appropriate man). She has never questioned her wealth or her lack of any real purpose outside of being a wife and mother and she focuses a great deal on the superficial status symbols of her social station. That doesn't mean that she's shallow, but there is a reason why she is the way she is. Her two children, rather than being perfect ornaments to her perfect life are proving to be a lot more complex than she anticipated and equipped to deal with. One is gender neutral and now Lilly is starting to question the things that Charlotte never did about her own upbringing. I like that, as with Harry becoming the great love of her life, that Charlotte often finds that things not turning out the way she planned bring her the greatest joy. And an intriguing character arc for her would be to take a hard look at her life and realize that she is capable of far more than just being a society wife. That maybe all these trapping of wealth that she prizes so highly really aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. I always felt like Charlotte got short changed on really meaty storylines because she started off as the most conservative and naïve of the group and most of her stories ended up being more comic relief. Outside of her failed marriage to Trey and her fertility woes, the one story that stands out most in my memory is the rabbit vibe addiction. I'd like to see her really take this new stage in her life as the opportunity to evolve.

It always struck me that Charlotte would have the biggest issues as she matured because her entire life is wrapped up in being a wife and mother. It's easy when your children are young and dependent on you, but what happens now that they are teens and starting to find their lives away from you. I would love to see Charlotte really wrestle with the realization that before long, she is not going to be needed by them and they'll have their own lives. Also, it's very obvious that Kristen has had some pretty extensive procedures done, so why not lean into that for Charlotte? Have this grasping for her youth and all that it entailed (including her children) and that she is terrified or aging and becoming less relevant. That would be interesting. Not seeing Miranda suddenly turning into the stupidest women in LA and Carrie doing whatever Carrie is doing.

I debated with myself about delving back into this garbage and clearly I decided that my time is perfectly fine to throw into the dumpster fire. Is the show marginally better than last season? Sure, but that's such a low bar that I'm not going to applaud for making the show just marginally more watchable. I still think that they're trying to find some kind of a story that resonates and that the writers have no clue what to do with women in their 50s. We're at a weird stage in our lives when we're not kids anymore, if we have children they're growing and finding their own identities outside of behind our kids. We might be widowed or divorces and trying to figure out the next stage of our lives while recognizing that the miles ahead are going to be fewer than the ones behind us. There is plenty of good ideas to tell intelligent, funny stories about this strange phase of our lives. I don't have an issue with Carrie having casual sex, though I will agree that as a recent widow coming out of a long and supposedly happy marriage that it's fast. I wish that they would examine this - that after losing Big that she can't stand being alone while at the same time feeling like she's betraying Big's memory by trying to move on too quickly. Let Carrie vacillate and call into question pretty much everything in her life. She's independently wealthy and can do whatever she wants with her life without worrying about supporting herself and a podcast is the best storyline they could come up with? Why not show her trying to fit in with other wealthy women in her economic social circle with charities and showing how poorly she fits in with them. Have her consider taking the money and traveling the world. Anything more than this petty, silly bullshit. Miranda also could have had an interesting storyline but CN was so focused on giving Miranda this quirky, queer storyline that she completely threw out all of the qualities that made Miranda an interesting character in the original series. It is possible to write a character discovering their sexual identity late in life (even though there was absolutely no indication that Miranda leaned that way before), but having her blow up her entire life in order to be with a person that she barely knew. She gave up her marriage and job and hasn't shown any sign of questioning her impulsive choices. Che is somewhat less obnoxious than they were last season, but having this marriage pop up and not have Miranda call Che out on their hypocrisy cements that this is not the character that we watched in the original series. This is all CN's social agenda and it is a major detriment to the show. I'd like to see some quiet moment where she really sits and questions what she's doing with her life and how unfair she was to Steve and Brady. But given the influence that SN is so freely exercising, I highly doubt we're ever going to see anything that might paint Miranda in a less than favorable light. Charlotte's storyline is the most relatable and there is the potential for a story that resonates since her problems are more like what her audience is dealing with (minus the huge wealth). It feels like they get just to the edge of making this a really good story but are afraid to actually take that step. It is logical that Charlotte would struggle with watching her children grow into adult and start separating themselves from her and her image of the people that they should be. I get why she would cling to hard so the trappings of their childhood. I just wish that the show would let her delve more into her emotions and really wrestle with the fact that her children were growing up and that as a result, she was growing older. It still so disappointing that the potential of this reboot is squandered for cheap laughs and superficial storylines that don't have the characters really dealing with the challenges of being a woman and aging. Not that the original series didn't have it's silly and shallow storylines, but there always was a deeper complexity that added weight to them. This show is all surface. Sorry for the long rant.

She's a teenager. Show me any 14 year old that you don't want to shove through a wall a few dozen times a day.

I've never played the game and I avoided looking into it because I didn't want to be spoiled. I'm having no problem following the story and IMO they've managed to give just enough exposition without it becoming clunky. It's never easy to build a show around a famous property and make it accessible to both newcomers and audiences already familiar with the story but TLOU is doing an amazing job. Everyone that I've spoken to who've watched so far (gamers and otherwise) have been praising it so they're doing something right. And there's a lot of stuff that happens in games that just don't work in a tv show or movie (like side quests). The writers have done a good job of keeping the spirit of the game (again, based on the opinion of gamers that I've spoken with) while not making it just a live action runthrough.

It's the details that I pick up on with the second (and third and fourth) viewings. The way the tendrils that Dr. Ratna pulled from the deceased victim's throat tried to reach out to the doctor. The way the infection on Tess's neck was working its way towards her brain. The small glances between characters. The way Dr. Ratna's hands shook when the realization hit her just what they were facing. How Joel avoids touching Ellie now that he knows that she'd been bitten. It's just such a superbly crafted show with really fantastic performances across the board. There is so much thought that goes into all those little details and performance nuances that give a huge amount of depth to the storyline.

Well, to be fair it was an autopsy. Speaking of that scene... when the biologist made her incision on the bite site and we saw all that fungus just beneath the surface... my skin was crawling.

This show continues to ratchet up the terror and the angst in a way that is not gratuitous and the focus is on the characters. We have Tess, who clearly loves her damaged partner but knew that he could only give so much of himself. There is Ellie, who makes a big show of how tough she wants to be, but is still in reality of sheltered child who has been thrown into a situation far outside her understanding and capabilities. And Joel, who is so emotionally broken that he shut himself off from everyone and isn't capable of seeing life beyond survival from one day to the next. The idea that there might be a cure for the world is so outside his ability to accept, yet he's the one tasked with trying to make the impossible happen. The cold openings that give us some insight on how the outbreak started and I was fascinated by the biologist who had such a deep understanding of the cordyceps family and how quickly she recognized that they were in a hopeless situation (and the only possible solution was to bomb the city and incinerate every living being in it). This fits with the science of this fungus where there is zero chance of survival or cure once the appropriate host has been infected. And with the other living creatures surviving in the wild (ducks and frogs), we get the practical science that the fungus is attuned to specific hosts (i.e. humans) so other animals survive quite nicely in a post-cordyceps world. For now. I was waiting for the legendary "clickers" to make their appearance and they did not disappoint. Incredibly creepy and ugly and a lot harder to kill than the "runners". I know that there are more variants out there and it's going to be fun to see how they are handled. And the way the fugus is a network and connecting everything infected... again, this is how they work in nature but it explains why this kind of "disease" was going to be nearly impossible to stop once the outbreak started. I was heartbroken to see Tess go and she did like the badass she always was. But her pleading for Joel to find it within himself to fight for something more than just getting by day to day and even daring to dream of a world where the fungus was no longer a threat was her greatest gift to the world. Yeah, the cordyceps kiss was horrifying in every manner possible, but she held out to the very second that she needed to. The visuals of a ruined city with nature taking over (amid the fungus-infected mutants roaming about) were beautiful and it really goes to show that in the hands of the right people, a story like this can be a lot more than a Walking Dead retread.

It's a real thing. It's a family of fungi that attack insects, primarily ants. Basically an ant becomes infected and while the fungus is growing inside it's body, it goes about its normal ant business, That is until the fungus is ready to reproduce and the ant drags itself to a high perch (usually above the ant trails) and the fungus basically explodes out of its body and rains spores all over the place (so more ants get infected). It's genuinely fascinating and horrifying, As of now, people cannot be infected, but in the future...? https://insh.world/science/cordyceps-attack-of-the-zombie-fungus/

What does a show need to get me to watch? HBO production values? Check. Post-apocalyptic society? Check. Complex characters trying to survive in a world with no good answers? Check. Pedro Pascal? Check. Yeah... I'm hooked. I knew nothing about the game so I got to enjoy this completely unspoiled. Everything just hit so hard. From the infected old lady to the soldiers killing any civilians they came across and the world building... it was just fantastic. Maybe not groundbreaking (though I liked the use of the cordyceps fungus as the reason behind this version of a zombie apocalypse) but gripping, genuinely scary and highly entertaining. And any time I get to watch Pedro Pascal is time well spent. So... is it next week yet?

I'm so behind things because I had to put my cat to sleep two weeks ago (RIP Luna) and this is extremely sad news. Unfortunately, it's not a total surprise but it's still heartbreaking to lose a parent like this. For all that we rag about Whitney, I do wish her, Glen and Hunter my deepest condolences.

Shows generally keep their slots if things are going well. They'll get moved if ratings are less than the network is looking for, or if the ratings are good, they might move the show to lead in new or weaker shows (to help boost their ratings). TW being moved to a 9pm slot is a very clear indication that it's the former. The ratings have not been good and they've been falling, not just for live views but views for the following week. The network is apparently hoping that by putting in a new or stronger show in the 8pm slot that it might help TW. The problem is that outside of Walker, the network really doesn't have a lot of strong(ish) shows. And they're not going to separate Independence from Walker. It's possible that Gotham Knights might end up as the lead in show, but the buzz about GK has been pretty lackluster under the best of circumstances (and positively toxic at worst) so I can't see how that set up might help TW. Getting a mid-season addition as your lead in is not a sign of success and there is no question that TW needs help. And now that we're halfway through a short season, I don't know if they've got enough room to turn things around.

Not a great sign, IMO. Networks will generally move a show's time if there is a gap that they want to fill, or if a show is underperforming. My guess in this case that it's a bit of both. It is not promising that TW is being moved out if its lead show position. The Professionals is probably going to be cut pretty quickly because it's got some of the poorest ratings, but TW hasn't been strong enough to lead the night and get eyeballs. Depending on what gets aired at 8pm, we might get more of a window on whether the network is trying to reposition TW for future success or if they're just going to run the clock out.

Popping in because I'm trying to look into my crystal ball and not sure if my opinions will be well received but here they are. I think that TW will be finished after this season. The simple fact is that while it's not doing terribly in the ratings, it never has able to reach what SPN did even at its lowest points. It lost a large percentage of the original audience that wasn't interested in TW story or turned off by the prequel drama and hasn't been able to win it back. And unless one is already somewhat familiar with SPN, there's no reason to be invested in TW storyline. Who is going to care about John and Mary if they don't appreciate what impact their characters would have for the future? So long as it's a niche show on a niche network, it might survive a few seasons, but it's a genre and premise that doesn't have a wide appeal. I loved SPN, but I'm well aware that the only reason that it survived 15 seasons was because the network gave it so much support and was happy with their 1M+ ratings. It would not have flied on any other network. Most horror/sci fi shows don't survive more than a few seasons at most unless they're on cable/streaming and even top rated shows like Westworld are being eliminated. TW just isn't pulling in enough eyeballs to make Nexstar believe that it's going to have some potential to appeal to a wider audience, regardless of demo. Walker and Walker Independence do have, IMO , more potential. They're genres that are more popular with a general audience and are somewhat limited by the network that they air on. That's not to say that I believe they'd be top rated shows on CBS or another mainstream network, but I think they'd fit in with the middle tier shows and last a few seasons each. And I think that in the end, that is what the network is going to look for. What shows they already have that can build on and market to a wider audience. Independence can be enjoyed outside of Walker because it's connection is much lighter (distant relatives/ancestors) than TW, which is a direct prequel. If you like westerns but not necessarily cop shows (or vice versa) you can watch one but don't have to watch the other. If the SPN prequel has less of a direct connection to SPN, so that viewers didn't have to have any real understanding of the original series to enjoy, it might have a better opportunity. But in the end, it's going to be the victim of bad timing (the network sale) and the showrunners being too afraid to real take a big jump away from the original series, I have my problems with the acting and effects, but these are the primary reasons why I think that TW will get this season and probably nothing more,

The history buff and reenactor in me really enjoyed this because they clearly put so much attention on the little details. Yes, it's prettified somewhat since this is a CW show, but they just got so much right. The costumes are great, and there were so many little things, like the side of beef hanging up by a store to the battered, weathered look in the signage around the town just made it look like a proper western boom town. Even the shoes, which is always good to see. And I'm a total sucker for horses and watching people ride well so I have no complaints here. The cast are pretty, but very believable in their roles. It was lovely to see Hoyt again (or his ancestor) and it's obvious that the Davidsons are always bad news, no matter what era we find them in. First episodes are always a little messy because they're trying to introduce all the characters and set up the various storylines but they managed to keep the episode pretty coherent. Abby is not the strongest or most interesting character as of yet, but I think that she'll get better as the show progresses. Right now she's very much a fish out of water, but I have a feeling that will change. It's an engaging show and I'm looking forward to seeing how all this plays out.

That's not an unreasonable assumption to make. I don't think anyone's lives are interesting enough to spend more than an hour or so on, and I'm talking about people that I really like. Outside of our careers, what are our lives? Doing chores and errands, raising kids and taking care of pets if we have them and a bit of leisure activity. Whitney was originally seen as a charming young woman with a bit of talent and a lot of confidence. That's fine for a profile but this show has been going on for 10 seasons now. Whatever legitimate and real elements of her life have long since been mined and the show is reduced to inventing storylines to try to make Whitney more interesting so they can keep the train chugging along. This is a cheap show to produce and I can understand why the network is willing to go along with the elements that are clearly scripted. Whitney is less a real person now than a character that we can laugh at. Bab's stroke, to me, is where the line should have been very clearly drawn. And if Whitney had an ounce of integrity. she would have insisted that production stop until her mother was out of danger. How she could even think about the show when her mother is critically ill is beyond me since I was barely able to function at all when my mom got sick. I get that she's got a legal obligation to the network but if I were in her shoes and they insisted on filming, I would have told the network to go fuck themselves and sue me if they wanted. Because I would love to see a network executive having to explain in court why they would sue a talent over breach of contract when said talent was dealing with such an important family crisis. Not to mention Whitney's fans, who would understand and support her against any network action.

I held off on watching the ep until today and I have to echo your comments. This is not what the show should be focusing on. I've said it before that out of basic human decency, the show should have been put on hiatus until Babs recovered (or passed) because there is zero justification for making her very real health crisis as fodder for a cheap "slice of life" television show. If Whitney didn't have the brain cells to rub together and figure that out (not to mention wanting to protect her mother from being put on display), then someone at the network should have had a lightbulb moment and ask what they fuck they were doing before pulling the plug. It's one thing to watch this idiotic creature making a fool of herself with her manufactured storylines about romances that are always one-sided and physical "challenges" that usually end up with someone carrying her fat ass in one way or another. But this should be off limits. As for Whitney, I also wanted to slap her. There are quite a few of us here who've lost loved ones in the past few years, and I'm sure that we've all had our breakdowns. I know I certainly did, but not in public and not so that I needed to be comforted by the family members who I needed to support. Glen is facing possibly losing his wife and he has to waste his energy on dealing with his overgrown toddler of a daughter who is zero help. I get that some people just aren't good in a crisis, but if they can't be any real help then they need to get the hell out of the way. Glen does not need to have her blubbering when he's got to make important decisions about Bab's care. But as much as Whitney deserved having the holy hell slapped out of her, I wanted to hug her because I know that facing the lost of a parent is one of the most traumatic experiences one can go through. And as others have pointed out, this is something that she is going to have to deal with at some point. We all have to face our parents aging and having health crises of one type or another and falling apart is just being self-indulgent. Glen needs her to be strong to help support him and Babs and instead of rising up and showing that she can be the rock that he needs, she's just another thing for him to have to take care of.

I was in the same situation with my mother last year. She was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in October and by late December, we were bringing her home for hospice care. That was the most difficult week and a half of my life. I would have given anything for her to have lived if she could have been free of pain and had some chance of recovery, but there was nothing we could do except try to keep her comfortable and let her know every moment how loved she was. I cared for her, fed her (and totally fell apart when she lost the ability to swallow), washed her, administered medicines... I don't think I slept more than a few hours that entire time. And by the end, I just wanted her to pass on so that her pain was over. I felt horribly guilty for thinking thoughts like that because the last thing I wanted was for her to be gone, but it was destroying me to see her in this state. I was holding her hand at the very end, telling her that it was okay for her to go and that there wouldn't be anymore pain for her. I was feeling her pulse when I felt it go out for the last time. And I'm still not over it. I don't think I ever will be, but that's me missing my mother. Not wishing that she was still alive if that meant she was suffering. The problem is that these displays are about Whitney looking for attention for herself. At the time when her parents need her to be strong for them and to support both of them (Glen needs support as much as Babs does), it's Whitney demanding to be comforted. It rubs me the wrong way because I didn't have that luxury when I was in that situation. It fell me nearly completely to take care of my mother (because I couldn't leave it to my dad and my brother was living hundreds of miles away so he was no help at all). I had to compartmentalize so that I would be able to do everything for Mom that she needed and not putting my fears and pain on her (or anything else). But when I was alone, I bawled and screamed. My best friend had the honor of supporting me during those moments and letting me vent. And I got to return the favor when her father was diagnosed with liver cancer the day after Mom passed. Moments like this reveal how strong or weak a person can be. My brother couldn't be there because (he told me) that he couldn't stand to see Mom like that and he didn't want his last memories of her to be when she was dying. I have to carry those memories, but I got those last precious moments with her. Whitney needs to grow the fuck up and be the support that her parents need. Otherwise she needs to make herself scarce because they last thing Babs and Glen need right now is to have to deal with a 400lb, nearly 40 year old infant.

Curious what Jason Brown's plans are. He did Yuzuru's Fantasy On Ice tour and now he's doing Stars on Ice. I'm wondering if he's also planning a retirement announcement. I adore his skating, but in all honesty, without quads under his belt, he really can't be seriously competitive. Especially not with the new ISU rules. I do have to say that I prefer how FOI had an international cast of skaters. Heavy on the Japanese representation obviously, but half the group was European, American or Canadian. SOI is strictly American skaters this year. I very much appreciated getting the chance to see some of my international favorites, and it makes me think that if Yuzuru wanted to stage something internationally, he wouldn't have any trouble lining up talent to join him.

Not to mention doing it safely. There was a case a few years ago of a women who broke her neck after falling while during a complicated move on the pole. She's as much a weightlifter as she is a ballroom dancer, a belly dancer, a skier and an equestrian. She'll fake it enough for the show, and then after that it's back to her well-worn spot on the couch with her party-sized bag of chips.

I'm curious to see how attendance and viewership is going to be affected this season. You've got one of (if not the biggest) draws in the sport retiring. The current male OGM is taking a break and not competing in the Grand Prix this year (and I wouldn't be shocked if Nathan does retire now that he's achieved his most important goal). Most of the US veterans are not competing this year, and the Russians are banned, so the top women won't be competing (the Russians are doing their own domestic Grand Prix that no one outside of the country will care about). And that's on top of the shit show that was the women's competition at the Olympics, which will leave a bad taste in the mouths of both casual and ardent fans. I think that Shomo is probably the only high-profile veteran competing, and he's not nearly the draw that Nathan or Yuzuru could be.

She's getting older (I believe she's 38 now). It's natural to lose some flexibility as you age unless you really work at maintaining it and we know that Whitney is incapable of working at anything long term. As we all knew would happen, her weight was going to catch up to her and start causing mobility issues as she aged and she does look markedly heavier here than last season. I'll give her credit when she appears to be losing weight, but I will also point out when she's gaining it back. I weight probably half of what Whitney does and I can't pole dance. It requires a lot of core and upper body strength that I just never developed. Again, I don't get why she keeps setting herself up for failure by trying activities that she's just not physically in any shape to manage. It's difficult enough for someone of relatively normal weight to hoist themselves up a pole but Whitney would need the strength of She Hulk to haul her ass more than three inches off the floor.

*gasp!* One of Whitney's admirers isn't the most handsome, successful man on the eastern seaboard? Say it isn't so!

*sigh* I'm not totally surprised (though my posts from the Olympics now aged like bad milk). While it was not out of the realm of reasonability for him to remain competitive despite his age, he has had repeated injuries that are harder to bounce back from and I'm guessing that he wasn't thrilled with the new ISU rules and decided to call it a competitive career. His exhibition tour in Japan was a huge success and I'm hoping that he is considering to do an international tour with other skaters from around the world. I'm glad that Beijing won't be the last I see of him and leaving skating can allow him to innovate in a way that the sport previously didn't allow. I had a giggle watching some of his insane jump combinations from the tour practice and watching his exhibition programs where he'd do a hydroplane that went on for days. If there's someone who can possibly expand figure skating beyond the realm of competitions, Yuzuru would be the logical choice. The statement from Shomo Uno had me sniffling, about how often they saw one another at competitions but never had the chance to just hang out and he wanted to get the opportunity to meet as just two guys in their 20s. It's the end of a very exciting era of the sport.

She's wearing what look like dance sneakers. They've got a split sole so that there's a bit more flexibility in the feet than regular street sneakers. They're not exactly appropriate for pole dancing since they're going to grip the floor and you won't get the slide that proper platform heels will allow so you can move gracefully around the pole. But the thought of Whitney in heels of any kind, let alone Pleasers... her ankles would snap like a twig.