Mermaid Under

I didn't remember her name, but I remember that she gave a long, noble, speech about why she wouldn't consent to DNA testing that sounded totally disingenuous. I thought Teigan had already been on one of these shows. I remember her saying that people would ask her "what she was"; i.e., her look is very racially ambiguous.

This is the list of guests from the link in the previous posting. I don't know Lonnie Burch or Rita Dove, but they are black academics, and Gates always includes a few shows devoted to academics, rather than politicians or entertainers. I don't know Sean Sherman but looking him up I see he is Indigenous/Native American. I wonder if he will refuse genetic testing like the woman from Canada whose name I don't remember did? Just to add, other than José Andrés, whose work I admire, and whose personality always seems to shine through when I see him interviewed, none of these people interest me.

I'm not surprised that they used the final episode to tie up all the soap opera story lines (including the new one about Mrs. Higgins) they always end that way. This hasn't been my favorite series. They did introduce one new soap opera for the future. When Sister Julienne had to deal with Sister Monica Joan behaving like a child yet again, she exited the room holding her midsection. They apparently haven't forgotten that she was badly injured in a train accident, and hope to put it to use. (again, only observation, not spoilers, I know nothing)

Whole season has been soap opera story lines. The only story they didn't do this week was may/mei's mother showing up to take her back to China, which is sure to happen sometime, since the writers have dropped serious anvils about it. What the hell was with the turnips? That was supposed to be uplifting? The only positive thing is that this episode made me google "spirochete" which is the type of bacteria that causes syphilis. And syphilis is still best detected with blood tests. 40 years on, I remembered.

The angry behavior when Trixie "found him a job" seems odd, but I've seen that kind of thing before in the wealthy and formerly wealthy men. Matthew would see it as an insult. These type of men don't look for jobs like most people do, and applying for a job is seen as absolutely the most base, wrong step. If you have connections in good places, and know people with more money than time, they will create a "position" for you, with the expectation that you will 1-make them even more money, and 2-be able to repay the favor in the future for someone in their family. Positions at the very highest level in banking and finance and other high-power businesses for example, aren't publicized.

In addition to Fred's helium breath, I wondered why the Turners didn't rush into the water after May/Mei. Regardless of logic, every television and movie parent I've heard of should be able to lift cars to save their children - the elderly Turners waited for Cyril and the nurse I can only think of as the new Lucille to save their child. I don't think Shelagh even got damp. This wasn't my favorite. I didn't even finish watching it. I've said before the May/Mei cultural adoption storyline doesn't work for me, especially if it is supposed to be 1969.

In addition to coming up with a "novella" to explain the genetics and paper trail, they definitely let her repeat herself for quite a while. I wonder about that editing choice. Was it supposed to be interesting or poignant to watch her trying to convince herself that all of her ancestors were good people? But I'm wondering if her made up narrative is that much different from what this show does with its celebrity guests when the facts get a little thin?

Haven't seen this yet, so this is just anticipation. I'm wondering if they will talk about the about the process for picking the people who "won" the contest. I'm hoping the stories really go farther than "your family owned slaves" or "your family were slaves". And, I don't think this will become a regular event. I get the impression that Gates likes the reflected glow of his celebrity guest from all walks of life.

I don't think there is any danger of Stuart Martin going away forever. I was kind of glad they did something to move their relationship from the sort of constipated place where it had been stuck for so long. Although the character of Nash is not charming, or handsome, or possessing a mysterious accent, he does seem to accept Eliza as a whole person, woman and detective. Maybe it is because I am old, but that can be pretty damn attractive, at least IRL. Having said that, the show writers will probably make him gay.

I know when facts are thin this show will make leaps, based on what they have, but saying that Hagar's ancestor moved in with his mother and left his wife because she had an affair with a Belcher seemed a stretch. Another likely story - maybe the husband was just a big old Mama's boy, and that is what destroyed his marriage, and the Belcher DNA entered the family at some other point. Would Sammy Hagar have a chance in show business as Sammy Belcher?

Given how this show has operated in the past (hunting down and testing potential offspring), I would have to say there were no kids, or more likely in my mind, they refused to cooperate. The weird pictures that they used for Studi's potential fathers were public domain. One looked like a public service ID picture, the other from a published newspaper obituary. The family obviously didn't provide them. If this information was a complete shock to him (and I'm not sure that it was) it brings me back to my question about how much celebrity guests are told before they appear. They made a big deal, for example, about calling LL Cool J and telling him his mother was adopted before his episode was filmed. But for Julia Roberts, George R.R. Martin and others it was just "ha, ha, guess what, your grandparents screwed around". There seems to be an inconsistency in how they handle DNA surprises.

This was mainly what I noticed, because the rest of the episode was, as someone else said, unentertaining. I was trying to find a nicer word for inarticulate, but Wes hardly seemed able to put together a sentence, where as Levar seemed to to be reciting poetry the entire episode. Three questions: Does this show (or Gates if it is his decision) have any consistent policy for telling a celebrity ahead of time if when DNA tests reveal more than they may have bargained for? I can't imagine Gates was cold enough to present Studi with information that "one of these two men might be your father, but we can't figure out which one" without some warning. Where did the name Studi come from? From what little they showed of his family tree, it didn't seem to be his mother's name. Did anyone get a screen shot of the DNA profiles? Both of them seemed far more colorful than any I've seem previously.

He took his time answering, he was quiet and he was verbose, but I didn't understand what he was trying to say with most of his answers. Of all the guests in recent memory, he certainly had the most wide-ranging answers to the Gates variations on "how does that make you feel".

And that's why you are such a rebel!

1. your family were slaves 2. your family owned slaves 3. your extended family died horribly in the Holocaust. After 9 years of the same story, I think I'm really done. I always check the first few minutes, and if the celebrity guest is really engaging I stay on. Otherwise, I can't believe that there isn't another story out there.