snarktini

I felt for the chefs tonight. The way it was emphasized how there are no napkins & plates made me assume they needed to create food that could be easily picked up as single servings. And that they should elevate it, as they are always asked to. I would never have thought full-caveman was what the judges wanted. Clearly the ideal way to elevate caveman was what Phillip did, something with a bone handle like a chop or leg. Even I thought of that. Otherwise, they were really expecting to just rip off pieces of roast? Eesh. OTOH, they really did go too dainty with little garnishes and bits. Those choices were baffling. Wonder what the judging really came down to. It sounded like Isaac got the challenge but not the food and Chad got the food but not the challenge. Was Chad's really worse? I'm not saying it's unfair judging or anything, just that it sounded like Isaac's was universally panned and they at least thought Chad's food was good. Usually food wins. Maybe this time past performance broke the tie.

It didn't occur to me to suspect Violet until I read it here. (I don't always watch very closely, even when I mean to. Darn attention span!) On rewatch I suspect her, too. As has been mentioned, the grandfather bit sounds like a back story tailored to Peggy. She's trying way too hard to befriend Peggy. And also to be the cool girl who not only doesn't mind being stood up but gives him the full-on ILY & passionate kiss treatment on the way out. (Which to be fair could also be read as a "this is what you'd be missing" kiss if she's legit.) I also see better why Jack acted like such a dumbass with Dottie. I see how the dominoes set up. First, the two agents say this is like watching a prize fight and that the only one in their office who could crack Dottie is Carter. Hearing this, he dismisses them, telling them to get back to work. Then he gets the call from Sousa and he sees his opportunity. When he tells Peggy, she asks who'll do the interrogating and says plainly that Dottie isn't afraid of him. So I can see where his ego took over and he felt he had to prove himself by making Dottie fear him and confess. Still epically dumb, but I see how he arrived there.

Y'all have covered most of the funny dialogue: who's a good boy...don't want to be a disembodied voice...I get confused around books. The other one that made me laugh: "From the pharmacy get me some saline solution and some sterilized water. From the lab get me some silver halide and some ammonium thiosulfate. And pick up any heavy metal you can find, just in case. Oh and from the market get me some of that cheese I like, you know, that yellow one." "Velveeta. I'll get two bricks." Velveeta: The perfect cheese for a scientist.

Wow, I did not enjoy this episode. Bennett is ridiculous -- an injured, scenery-chewing, mustache-twirling, teenage genius who's apparently on the spectrum. I assume the tics are intentional and we'll learn why she's driven to torture Echo, but for now it's more off-putting than intriguing. We'll see how they are able to integrate a new big bad and Dollhouse team.

Wait, they keep Sierra after finding out she came to the Dollhouse against her will?! Why wouldn't they erase this bit and let her go? I'm horrified. (For sure, every Doll is coerced / misled in some way. I don't believe anyone can legally consent to a Dollhouse contract. This is obviously different. There is no gray area here.) Poor Sierra. At least she has sweet Victor. So, question: Why doesn't "blank" Sierra have an Australian accent? I assumed they stripped out what they didn't need -- memory, personality, sex drive, intellect, etc. -- but left basic functions. Do they instead "reformat" the Dolls entirely and load a brand new OS template that includes speech and swimming?

My word, Jamie Bamber is a beautiful man. Damn. Did we learn how much time has passed? She was in this imprint long enough to meet & marry, so at least a few months but could have been longer. At the risk of sounding super pervy, I've been distracted by Dushku's chest in the last few eps. Did she get implants or are they just padding the hell out of her? Vastly different look from the first few episodes, when we saw Echo braless in her jammies. Dushku does best in three modes -- badass (Faith), blank (Echo), and happy (male-fantasy girlfriend Doll). She doesn't have a lot of range or complexity. Now that I've seen Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, I can imagine what might have been with a stronger lead.

I've forgotten so much about what happens on Dollhouse it's almost like watching it for the first time! Almost everything is a surprise. (May have been a voluntary mind wipe -- by the end I was pissed about squandered potential. Frankly, I'm a little afraid to watch S2. I don't remember what's going to happen, but I remember I loathed it the first time.) Did not remember Dominic working for the NSA. And I would have assumed he was being framed to get rid of the threat, as Adelle implied, if he hadn't so explicitly confessed. I think the revelation does make some sense. It's not the inside man we viewers have been looking for -- who's feeding info to Ballard -- but a different one. A spy, not a saboteur. He said he's not there to take down the Dollhouse. The NSA just wants it watched, and protected so the Dollhouse isn't revealed publicly (presumably until the government decides what to do with it themselves). His actions against Echo make more sense in this context. As security head it was logical he'd want to prevent another Alpha, but murdering a top money-making asset behind his boss's back didn't feel quite right if his only loyalty was to the Dollhouse. That he was worried about exposure makes it fit better for me. The Adelle / Victor story made me sad. She can't share her life with anyone, given what she does. To be clear, that doesn't mean it's okay to turn a human into a sex toy! Loved the moment when she said it was "ironic" that he was the most real person she knew, and he unknowingly corrected her that she used the word wrong. Ha.

I feel for Tom Wopat. He must badly want to be in the TV game if he was willing to take that teeny, tiny part. I have no idea what shooting they're theorizing Morland was hurt in. No recall on that event / episode at all -- shows how much I'm paying attention. Was hoping someone here would already have asked & answered!

That scene felt odd to me. Jack couldn't even conceive that he should be afraid of her, or that she wouldn't be intimidated by a little pain? I mean, seriously. It was so obvious she was going to eat him for lunch. I think they're having a hard time nailing his characterization. They want him to be unrepentantly sexist and self-serving, while not making him one-dimensionally stupid or bad. They've shown him go one step forward, and two steps back. But then underestimating Dot was too stupid even for him. You'd think his self-preservation would have kicked in there a tiny bit, after what he's seen. For now I'll hope that this is intentional, setting him up for a big fall and a learning moment.

I thought this one was obvious, despite not recognizing the brother. I don't try to solve the whodunnit because it's more fun for me to just let the story reveal itself. But in this case, it was screaming at me. It seemed like she probably had a tubal ligation young, which immediately tipped me to not wanting to pass on the serial killer genes and I figured she and her brother would have made a pact. I expected that to be addressed in dialogue when they talked to the brother, and when no one remarked on that it jumped out at me. But guessing never ruins anything for me, except to be impatient that Sherlock wasn't getting it. (I really shouldn't be smarter than Sherlock.) I enjoyed Bell's story. He's such a believable, low-key character, very likable. And such a cutie! Short, smart, and a little intense and brooding is my type I guess. I was thankful we didn't see too much of Sherlock's well-intentioned-but-annoying tutoring. Speaking of, if I'm going by MaryHedwig's Best-Looking Face metric, it would have been the realtor all the way for me. I looked up Noah Bean because he was totally unfamiliar -- turns out I do know his face, I just didn't recognize him because he looked rough!

This is a really good point. To use the save would be dramatic for the show and ideal for one designer -- and I think Zach is worth saving -- but it would be destructive for the group. They've bonded as a community and Tim is a mentor to all of them, and for him to pick a "favorite" would be heartbreaking. I hadn't thought about it from that point of view.

Pretty sure the mockery ship -- if there ever was one -- sailed once you could get married same-day by an Elvis impersonator at a drive-thru chapel! Even Padma can't touch that. I kinda like all the carrots! Only recently discovered they can be good, because most are prepared poorly. But it is weird that apparently California had no other vegetables during show taping. I live here, there's always something else. (Ok, to be fair, we just saw sad asparagus, the veggie I personally loathe. There is no good asparagus.) I'll have to start watching restaurant menus, maybe carrots are in fashion the way endive and kale have been in the past.

For real! In that scene, my respect for him as an actor grew. As Charlie he's a nice-enough looking guy, but there? Hot. He's actually changing his face -- by working the crazy eyes & slightly bewildered expression he effectively turns down his attractiveness a few notches. Since Black-ish is the first thing I've ever seen him in, I figured that's just how he looks. But instead he's ACTING (read that in Jon Lovitz's voice).

Yes.

Do you mean Kathy Lee?

I read that so differently! I thought he was being very smart there. The point I heard him making was the judges often come down on chefs that mis-name their dish. We've seen that happen a number of times. I remember at least one coq au vin incident -- the chef got lambasted for calling it coq au vin but making it with chicken. Tom said she should have just called it braised chicken. It's just semantics, but the judges sometimes get their britches in a twist. If it wasn't technically dolmas but they claimed it was, the judges would call them on it. It's better to call it by its ingredients than use a name that's inaccurate.

This will be in my head making me giggle for the next day or so. Thanks! Well, I can't let it go at all. But agree that from chefs it's inexcusable. I kept checking to see if the closed captioning had it spelled right despite pronunciation. (Yes, I'm that person. Sorry.)

The episode was ok, but I think it would be a lousy intro for anyone new checking it out because of the new night! Wonder if they tried to plan for that. I always love how well they write Jake and Charles. And agree with possibilities about Jake's take on parenting. (It really bothers me IRL how many people won't even consider it. Adoption can be a really hard road so i get why people don't do it but when they reject it because they want "their" kid or none at all it makes me rage-y.) On Amy's story, it jumped out at me she didn't say whether she wanted to be mentee or mentor and figured that would roll around. Both B plots were kinda meh.

Just saw a Tuesday promo running in the middle of the day on Esquire, and they did good job. It's such a fun show, I hope the advertising is effective. Can't wait to see what looks like Holt in a dance-off! Charles: "Do you think that will work?" Jake: I don't just think it will. I know it might!"

OMG, I can't believe how many of those I missed on Leverage! It was a show I tended to watch with one eye/ear, in my defense. Thanks for posting mahree!

Watched "School Reunion" today and it is Rose at her worst. She's so bitchy and petulant towards Sarah Jane and Mickey. Knowing how the whole Rose + 10 story ends, their relationship bugs me in reruns. At the time, it was not clear to me what the writers' intent was. I mostly read it as a one-way crush on Rose's part -- not unrequited exactly, clearly they loved being around each other, but I read it more as flirty BFFs. So I was confused later when they wrote Rose as deeply in love, and even reciprocated when 10.5 goes to be with her. The scene on the beach confounded me at the time. It was not how I understood that relationship. Maybe my wishful thinking filtered out all the signs. I really didn't think they'd ever let a Doctor fall in love with his companion. And I particularly couldn't comprehend 10 falling for Rose. I mean, seriously? As much as 12 hasn't worked for me, it's been refreshing having an older Doctor for the lack of romance. Ten and Eleven were so young and charming it made it quite likely companions would be attracted. Not that I blame them, I had crushes on both. :)

Just rewatched the movie for comparison. (It's the holidays, I'm bored.) I like the show so much better!

My question, too!

The condition in Christmas was they couldn't *lie*. But they could withhold. In their first meeting with locals, the guy suggested they stop talking until they got used to it since they were spilling way too much truth.

Finally getting to see these. Stupid malfunctioning season pass. Loved the weirdness bubbles! Has anyone seen the animated Christmas episode of Eureka? They did something similar, cycling through iconic styles. Using live action Ritter and Cardellini was a fantastic idea.