Tikichick

Apparently your TV is still gonna be burdened by the F-AB. Maybe she's actually got enough math skills to understand she can't afford her lifestyle without the show, because there she was on the latest episode, blabbing about how her break did her good, she's back filming two days a week, hopes everyone will have an attitude that doesn't displease her -- and is there to participate in her most favorite thing -- travel! Once again she contributed nothing beyond informing the audience what her priorities, demands and expectations were and added nothing else to the plotline of the show beyond that self serving twattle. ETA, misspelling is for meaning and done intentionally.

For me Lalo is simply the Salamanca in the package that might exist adjacent to civilized society, from a great distance. The Salamancas are absolutely terrifying sociopaths and I generally watch all of them by peeking through my fingers. Hector, Tuco, and the twins are all simply further along on the completely unhinged sociopath scale.

How would the hit squad have had any way to know where Lalo would be until they went over the wall?

I'm confused about how that would happen too. I was speculating that they used some kind of antenna booster and Lalo may stumble across it, guess what it was used for -- and then use that information if he catches up with Nacho by baiting Nacho to say something to the contrary and then Lalo reveals what he found in a classic Salamanca lie detector move.

What does Zach ever actually do around the house? How did Zach's office look? IMO he had a lot of nerve pointing out that his mom was the messiest hoarder, he was only second messiest, and dad was a neat and organized hoarder. Matt pays people to organize the stuff for him. Tori does virtually all hands on tasks in their home. Amy takes care of things at her house -- and she did when Matt and all of the kids lived there. I don't understand why she hadn't by the time of the episode disposed of most of what's in her garage. But I do know that plenty of it is debris left behind by Matt and all of the kids, who made it hers to clean up after them when they walked away and abandoned it rather than dealing with it themselves. I wonder if the horribly untidy Amy we've watched on screen isn't in fact an Amy that burned out on tidying long ago under constant criticism, added workload and zero help from her spouse, and an overwhelming tsunami of neverending mess spilling out from four children? It's a shame she didn't at least insist the children learn to pitch in, but I wonder how the inevitable instinct to resist by the kids would have been used by Matt to attempt to paint her as the bad guy?

Occasionally I've seen auctions with entrance fees. Usually the advertisement mentions something about entrance fee being applied to purchases over a certain amount. Generally when I've seen them it's involved very large, very up market auctions. The last one I can remember was from the estate of a long-time, very high profile car dealership owner in our area. I think sometimes it's done to keep crowd levels in check and discourage all but legitimately prospective buyers.

I'm wondering if Lalo finds the technical solution before he catches up with Nacho or after?

Tuco is still in prison. Tuco is a Salamanca, so I don't think he'll be amenable to helping Nacho with anything that wouldn't wind up with Nacho meeting his fate in the desert.

You are absolutely right, the toothbrushing has been just as much a constant as the ponytail, and the absence is significant. Both of those things are shining a whitehot spotlight on Kim's drastic turn and we're supposed to be shaken.

Thank you all for explaining this. I was understanding that this episode was the finale and was completely lost and more than a little surprised that it seemed like such a whimper. Understanding that production did get halted before they finished filming episodes explains a lot.

How about Hank? Yeah, there was a lot of unpleasant bluster to get through to see the caring, do anything for his family guy underneath all that very offputting stuff, but for me Hank didn't deserve his fate.

I think Kim's apparently difficult upbringing, her determined and very hardworking approach to getting herself out of her bad circumstances and get herself "somewhere good" have to be constantly part of the lens when looking at Kim. She never lets herself forget it. What happened when she got to where she worked like a dog to belong? She meets a guy she winds up really caring about. He's trying to change his life too, get to the good place with a lot of hard work. She watches him get inexplicably blocked by power. Initially she assumes that's Howard's doing, eventually she discovers with Jimmy and all of us that it's been Chuck all along. Chuck who went out of his way repeatedly to be seen as Jimmy's benefactor and loving brother -- despite Jimmy's unworthiness. All the while Jimmy had been genuine in his love for his brother and accepted his brother's attitude as just, and took care of Chuck when Chuck was in need. Then she watches the power players move in to commandeer the big score with Sandpiper, something that only existed because of Jimmy's brains and efforts. Jimmy tries to step up and play the game under the rules at Davis and Main, which is always prefaced as a gift he's being generously given. He finds their game confining and unsatisfying and flips over the table and takes his ball and goes home. Power steps in strongly to punish Kim for her piece in that mess. Kim's disciplined determination to get herself to the "good place" gets grittier and she eventually lands Mesa Verde. Power tries to maneuver her to the side and co opt this big score, but Jimmy intervenes and triggers a chain reaction that winds up with Kim landing the prize. She discovers the "good place" she's been striving to get all these years isn't so much about doing much she actually finds good, aside from accumulating more and more wealth by people who couldn't spend all they already have in ten lifetimes. Her past makes her sensitive to and unable to forget how hard it is to be caught in situations where having nothing means the odds are seriously stacked against you ever having the ability to ever crawl anywhere near the "good place" where you can enjoy some bits and pieces of good stuff. Does she really want to spend her time and her talents enabling the wealthy and powerful to just keep acquiring more simply for the sake of acquisition, with no willingness to make even the slightest concession for others who have virtually nothing in comparison? All of it fuels her desire to use her time and talents to help those she thinks need a chance to start their attempt at crawling towards the "good place". Unfortunately she knows it won't pay the bills. Enter Howard stage right, making unwittingly triggering comments that are meant with genuine consideration for her. Kim's beyond disgusted by Kevin's refusal to arbitrarily even consider altering his plans for the new branch by either situating it slightly differently on the land at issue, allowing the old guy to live out his days in the home he loves, or move to the different site. Either option is virtually neutral to the impact on Kevin. Don't care, I want what I want when I want it, everybody else doesn't matter. Howard was part of Chuck's ugly attempt to keep Jimmy from succeeding. Suddenly she can balance the scales a bit and come up with a way to access a revenue stream to enable her to pay the bills while helping those she thinks deserve a chance to start their crawl to the "good place". Sure, a lot of people who need pro bono legal assistance don't deserve the chance to start over. Kim's discussion with the guy from the public defender's office was essentially about how she can cherrypick the cases she wants. I don't think she intends helping people she doesn't think deserve it

I think what Kim hates is that Kevin has other options entirely within his grasp to give him equal results, yet he is fixated on one with no regard to the thought that it has significant consequences for other peoples' lives. Yes, the other residents decided to get while the going was good because they felt they couldn't fight city hall, but we don't know that it didn't impact them negatively all the same. Kevin has more than one option to achieve equal results, all positive for him. The "filthy old man" only has the one option to live his life where and how he chooses. A different site wouldn't impact Kevin's life at all.

Like I said, for me it works in the context of Kim snapping in response to her fear that Jimmy had died in the desert, followed quickly by immense relief when he came home, the relief flying out the window when she found his coffee mug -- and then being terrorized in her living room. I don't think she makes the incredible leap to suggest going after Howard without those triggering events. I think her entire idea is the product of a mind desperately flailing around to deflect from what she cannot think about straight on and cannot manage to dispel.

For me it seems Kim's change in attitude has been ongoing. She's become more and more disturbed about how the haves keep on keeping on, whether or not they've earned it or are deserving; while the have nots simply cannot ever move up. She came to loathe Kevin from MV and everything he stood for. He wants what he wants and everyone who stands in the way of his whims is irrelevant. He got where he is not by talent and effort, but simply by being born to it. Seems like she's possibly transferred a bit of that to Howard, particularly when he pushed the Chuck button. She realizes that Chuck wasn't always right or truthful about Jimmy and that he was more than willing to let his unworthy little brother take care of him for years while sandbagging and disrespecting him into thinking Chuck was doing Jimmy the favor and that Chuck loved him. She knows Howard knew how awfully Chuck was treating Jimmy, actively participating in hiding it from Jimmy -- and now he wants to overlook all of that and say that Chuck's viewpoint was right? She is the only person who has any real idea what Chuck and his death truly did to Jimmy. Now Howard is simply another entitled brat who has because it was handed to him. Mix all of that with her absolute terror when Jimmy didn't come home, seeing his coffee mug with a bullet through the middle -- and then the confrontation with Lalo in their living room. Doesn't seem so out of the blue to me that Kim would snap.

Notably the ponytail wasn't its usual self when she got ready and headed to the courthouse. I found that significant.

I'd agree with you until the posting of the children kneeling in front of the sofa. Public displays of piety set my teeth on edge.

Kylie's only interested in engaging with the public in carefully staged and photoshopped Instagrams designed as a forum for displaying excessive consumption to such a level that Marie Antoinette would be embarrassed for her.

"I don't want to be a celebrity." "My kids are my priority." She feels more than entitled to the lifestyle that fame provides. She knew what the trip to Armenia was about. She accepted and then chose to behave as if the obligations of the trip were infringing on her vacation. She "loves to travel more than anything else" -- first class, of course, without ever having to work for the privileges. Most parents work five days a week all year long, take care of their kids, without any first class privileges. It's sooooo hard to expect her to work through the how many days called for in order to make her appearances on a season of the show? I'm sure she's not too tired to collect the ridiculously large paycheck.

Fring did check out the quality of his work before setting up the arson.

I wondered why the story was so Kelton heavy, and then it sunk in -- their baby was ten days old. Then I was shocked Josie was there at all, let alone supposedly wielding a paint roller. I about fell off my chair when they showed the newborn herself was there, while a home with heaven only knows what environmental pollutants floating in the air was undergoing demolition and renovation around her. And I got stuck wondering where was baby when Josie and Carlin were filming their bits in the house? I thought it was more than a bit much when Erin told the girlfriend in front of God, the television cameras and everybody -- well you're gonna be a Bates anyway. I understand they do chaperones and no one on one dating and have rules about kissing, embracing, etc -- but are they moving to proposals by proxy? If so that one was severely lacking -- and NOT one Erin would dream of for herself!

I will say this, Tori is a completely different person working with those little kids. I would never have guessed from watching her personality and demeanor previously that she's seemingly cut out to be a preschool or kindergarten teacher. She was very relaxed and seemed genuine in her interactions with the kids themselves. Sure, she expressed how exhausting it is, but she never once demonstrated being frazzled in the least. Maybe it was just super clever editing, but considering several young children and a baby were involved it seems like something would have made it to screen.

I think Geoffrey won not so much based on the collection he put down the runway, but that, just as he had done all season long, he continually put things down the runway that showed he had plenty of ideas and was willing to put them out there, and wasn't afraid to tinker with them according to feedback. Brandon made a comment during the episode, prior to the runway, along those lines and the fact that the winner was going to be awarded a CFDA mentorship. It was obvious the winner had to be someone that would be receptive to input in the mentorship and for whom it might produce results. A mentorship might be able to help him refine the nuggets of inspiration amidst the wild ideas into meaningfully innovative design. Sergio had already given ample proof all season long he knew better than everyone else, no matter what anyone said. Maybe Victoria might have made a case for herself if she had pulled back on the branding. The fact she still presented it with such prominence proved she really only paid token lip service to taking advice into account. Nancy finally couldn't outrun her age when it came down to further stacking the odds against her becoming successful in fashion at this point. When she really relied on message and fabric instead of innovative design for the runway she sealed her fate.

This is Us -- warts and all.

The part that sunk it for me was his statement that those in trials do better than those who don't do trials. Seems like a very Jell-O statistic to prove in the first place, but it also seemingly overlooks completely those in the trials who do not in fact get the test med. They are in fact part of the trial, simply on the control group of the blind study.