snarktini

To me, the elimination challenge dishes looked delicious! I would have happily eaten everything except the chicken livers. Great to see clean, modern southern food, getting away from some of the clichés.

While I don't watch sports and wouldn't know Lynch from Adam, they did explain it in-show so I got the joke. I understood there was a celebrity witness who Rosa admired and wanted to meet because he never talked, yet he rambled on and on. (I'm sure it was funnier to someone who knows the story.) Every time he said quesa-DILL-a, I cringed.

The "invisible driver" car seat prank was an actual thing a few years ago, several videos went viral of comedians rolling up to drive-through windows hidden under the fake car seat cover. It's dumb, but it's not new and it's a "costume" one could buy. (It's surprisingly effectively when you see video of it.)

The last frames didn't make sense to me (in more ways than one). After the bus exits the screen I expected to see Amy and Charles behind the bus, reacting. Instead, we get a totally different street scene where no one is aware of what just happened. I guess that must be the other side of the street. But why show that, instead of the reaction from the people she had turned back to face? Too horrifying, maybe? I do not know where they are going with this. I know it's a weird thing to be focusing on, but it was a shocking moment that already didn't make sense. This felt like an alternate reality, Gina gets wiped out and everything changes. People just going about their business.

Maybe they thought it was too easy? I love pickled stuff and like it as a thoughtful alternative to the classic bean/potato/mac sides, but my first reaction was it was awfully simple for TC. And since each one of them owned a dish, it had to stand alone for that chef.

Yes. Several judges noted the consistency and vegetables were terrible and no one had anything positive to say. When then recurring words are gloopy / murky / mushy, you're in trouble. It sounded like a good idea -- I imagined a niçoise type treatment with the brightness, acidity, and herb of a salsa verde. But I had a Mexican salsa verde in mind. What she served looked really gross. I liked her & thought she would go the distance. That team really tanked. All 4 dishes got lousy reviews for their flavors, well beyond not being "traditional" southern barbecue. They didn't support each other at all.

Quite right! Ezekiel should have gotten a "plus" like I gave the other two: thief plus technology. That was his future -- a library run via tech. Cassandra led in a magical way. Jake followed the Flynn / Indiana Jones style. Like I said, I like both versions. An ensemble is interesting and offers more angles, much better for TV longevity. My point is simply that there are some big differences in the adaptation which I believe leads to the disconnect many feel when Flynn is present.

Mostly I like all three of them as well as Flynn, but the show struggles to combine them. For me it's due to the downgrade of what makes a Librarian in the transition from movie to show. To make it an ensemble show, they changed some fundamental stuff. Flynn follows the movie model, one Librarian with broad knowledge capable of solving all the riddles and being a swashbuckling bag-and-tagger. He is capable of doing the entire job himself, even without a Guardian. Whereas all three of our new baby librarians together make up one Librarian: one can break in and steal anything, one has arts/culture/language knowledge to decode ancient challenges plus can fight, one can compute plus also has a talent for magic. Separately, I don't think Cassandra or Ezekiel would be enough on their own. Jake I think could be. (Yes, they showed us the futures where they all succeeded, but again that's a new definition of a Librarian.) That Ezekiel would have been asked to interview for Librarian is a non-starter based on what we saw in the movies. Especially considering he was still a teenager! It's a retcon IMO. So it makes sense we have a hard time putting those two halves -- the new parts-of-a-whole team and the original solo everything Librarian -- together in a story. And they have changed Flynn, too. Either version is fine with me, but it feels disjointed when they are combined.

That's my favorite episode of the series, or at least in the top few. The casting and credits were just so much fun! When they all find their jackets and immediately fall into a routine...only to stop when they realize they're still mad at each other. Shawn's face all lit up watching them sing, and his fear of losing Gus. (If Shawn was "jealous", it was only a desire to be included and join all of them.) I also liked that it gave Gus / Dule got more to do. He's my favorite character! Love his faces. Also love Despereaux. Don't love anything with Yin/Yang.

Keller isn't my type physically, but count me in! He is always twinkly, you can tell he's having a good time. He has passion, gentleness, and light-heartedness that are all very attractive. (And, duh, he speaks French.) I've never been to Burger Bar. Union Square gives me hives! So many idiots. Maybe I should go so I can see Hubert!

I assume it was intentionally stylized to evoke comic-book NYC, not real NYC. The Harmony Shoal building even had a spinning, Daily Planet-like globe on top. However it definitely didn't look anything like the city -- it had that generic Gotham / Star City look that could be any big city but none in particular so for storytelling's sake it probably should have been left unspecified.

I actually thought it was a trick when he "won" the Eye of Ra so quickly. It was way too easy. He didn't have to get anything right, simply be honest ... and even at that he got several tries. I also didn't love the spoon feeding of the situation -- the intervention and the fight in the airport both gave him the exact insights he'd need to pass the chess test. It was repetitive, cycling through "Flynn's a self-centered PITA" three times. The intervention could have been cut to make room to slow down the island sequence.

Mr Huffle, according to my CC. Yes, for whatever reason the toy made me laugh, too. I like how her squishing Mr Huffle was a threat, and it worked. I've not liked Capaldi's Doctor at all -- or I haven't liked the storylines, it's hard to tell -- and this was quite a bit better. I cancelled my Doctor Who season pass (bitterly) and I'm not likely to undo that decision based on this one special. But I may do with the season what I did with this special, which was wait for some comments to roll in and then decide if it sounded worthwhile.

I believe the not-nice opinions of Sam relate to how he went along with / didn't intervene in the harassment of Marcel. It's always been fairly hard for me to reconcile -- he seems like a nice guy overall, and yet that happened and he participated. That contributes to unease about him, a concern about him being two-faced. I haven't seen those episodes in many years, I couldn't say anymore what exactly he said or did, so I don't hold strong opinions.

I didn't notice it previously because I didn't pick up it was supposed to be Francine & Straub's. When I assumed it was Christopher's place it was believable (though not his style) but for F&S it was totally wrong! This has typically been a fluffy background show for me. Even though I've seen all the episodes multiple times over the years I haven't always picked up the details. Which is for the best! This is a show that doesn't benefit from close scrutiny...

In A Woman of Questionable Morals, Chris's father dies and Rory and Lorelai roll up in front of what should be his mother's house (Emily says he's staying with Francine). It's not nearly fancy enough to be the Hayden's house! Nowhere near as grand as the Gilmore's. The house looks like a moderately large neo-colonial in a very nice but not wealthy suburban neighborhood. There are very close neighbor on both sides and the house is not set back more than 15-20 feet from the street. The girls even park at the curb and walk up -- no driveway or nice entrance.

The dreads and facial hair were definitely working for him in the old pics they showed tonight!

BJ had been skimming the bottom all along, it was definitely his time to go. I'm impressed that Emily remained steadfastly loyal to Brooke and their collaboration. Granted, she wouldn't have looked awesome saying she let Brooke decide and direct everything, but Brooke was truly responsible for the dish. And Brooke didn't say anything about Emily not pulling her weight, either. Together, they maintained a united front and made it harder for the judges to isolate either one of them for elimination. Katsuji is a jerk. He can go anytime. Please.

I don't mind Shinwell. Too many episodes of Antiques Roadshow made me wonder if it his restoration of the chess table was one of those where restoration destroys all the value, but it's so trashed it's useless if you don't!

LOVED this. CK's delivery was perfect. Could have done without Felicia Day. But that's a standing request from me, and I watch a lot of sci fi so that rarely works out in my favor.

Right, I agree that's the gist of the unprepared bit. I've harped on education elsewhere, but in this bit I was just looking at the particular juxtaposition of her mom's statements. How she could assert that Elizabeth is unprepared (which of course she is) while also asserting that Elizabeth doesn't need her anymore. Maybe she doesn't need her as a Mom, but I bet Elizabeth could use some support and advice from a former Queen and wife of a King! Ya know, because she's unprepared. But, as I've said, if her best advice is to stay silent, that could explain why she's not consulted or needed.

A lot of people tilt their heads back in still photos...maybe video is the same? "Drop your chin" is the number one tip I have to give people when taking photos. It's like people are trying to get farther from the camera or something.

But why stop presenting just because a team wins before all the rounds are served? Each head to head could still proceed, so there's a winner/loser for each round. The suspense would be over, but it seems more practical and would give every chef a chance to serve what they created. I'd also guess it might prevent judge interference (if there is any) to keep it an even race until the end.

The learned helplessness of the idle rich. Did Margaret do additional princess-ing that we're not seeing? If the Fug Girls' weekly roundup is to be believed, today's princes/princesses have causes and events they participate in regularly. (To what extent it's a photo op v. real involvement, I have no idea.) It does seem like the monarchy is doing a better job today of education and giving the "spares" a role and purpose.

My impression is progressive means not simply any 7 plates, but 7 plates in an order that makes sense. A fancy way to say the courses are individual and equal (not different in size like app v. entree courses) but need to work together, like a tasting menu. The chefs have to work together to coordinate and plan so that the courses complement each other, selecting dishes that vary in intensity (starting light and building to heavy, or interspersing light between heavy), and ordering them in a way that creates an overall arc of eating experience.