snarktini

Oh, interesting, I never interpreted that to mean they believed they'd get away with it. I interpreted "on a mission from God" to mean they felt they were compelled to do it no matter what, that it was vital and holy. Not that they thought they'd be spared consequences. I found that so distracting! Maybe because I lived there for many years so the geography sticks out more. My bf told me with movies like this I just have to suspend disbelief. And of course he's right, the whole movie is crazy, it's not like only this one thing is unrealistic. But 106 miles of interstate does not take 12 hours! Even if they'd arrived at the opening of business (instead of lunch hour) that still would have meant driving allll night. At any rate, hadn't seen it in years and it was fun to rewatch. Loved seeing John Lee Hooker. 🙂

That bothered me, too. She said it had to be a secret, but it didn't make sense to me to just bail and leave her to Mycroft. Couldn't she have left a note that said: "Gotta go for now! Time to build your own life. Don't tell your brothers. And here's a bunch of money for you and the housekeeper to keep things running." Then Enola could have planned her life and made her exit without being forced into a boarding school. It never had to be a mystery. (But then there would be no story.) But this is an interesting explanation! I really liked this as well. She did okay but was outmatched and that's how it should have been. A small 16 year old with only sparring practice, up against an larger, stronger, well-trained assassin? Nope. I appreciate strong fighting women characters, but roll my eyes at their superhuman powers sometimes.

I agree Ben is much younger in this reality. My theory, in answer to all three of these quotes: Dad can't directly choose which kids will be born or what powers they will have. But he CAN control when he sends his alien dust down. So if he sends it on a different day/year, he will get a different bunch of children. They may not be better, but they will be different because the mother will be a different person or the same person but on a different day with a different egg. Same as any two human parents -- each conception is unique. And now we have a bunch of what (in the shadows) appears to be teens at the Sparrow Academy. So maybe Dad didn't stardust his kids into creation until 15 years later in this timeline. How he essentially got a dupe of Ben 15 years younger I don't have an answer for. Same mom, different alien sperm created an extremely similar but not exactly the same kid? Or....if Ben isn't younger but the Sparrow Academy team is, we could be looking at a 2nd generation of kids led/trained by Ben?

Ooh, that's where Carl totally lost me. I had a little sympathy for him before but F that. He was totally getting rid of Harlan. That's what he wanted all along. Harlan is a burden to him. Embarrassing. And the kid finally speaks...wasn't he even a little curious to see if Harlan could say more? If something positive had happened? No, because he just wants his weird kid gone, and wants to erase any trace of Vanya. From the moment they arrived I was wondering where Ben was. I wasn't sure what a ghost could do, but he was the only one who would be able to get through Vanya's radiating energy, physically! (When that started I was like OH YEAH there was a warning about strobing lights at the start. Here they are!) The acting was so good in that moment when he asks for that hug. The way he said "it's been so long" and the look on his face when she grabs him. *sniff*

The way I interpreted it is there was more than one night that Fonny and his friend hang out. That first night isn't THE night. For two reasons. One, there a moment where she's serving dinner and he jokes about her cooking, which implied it wasn't the first visit because they hadn't met previously. Second, they don't have the loft yet. It made sense to me that they started hanging out and the arrest happens some time later. But dang every second of that first night hang I was holding my breath. Oof. How the cop knew where to find them kept tugging at me. Did he follow Fonny? Look him up? He was obviously motivated to go after Fonny, so I'd buy that he dug around and found out his name/address for use when it suited him. One thing I was curious about, though: They never even hint that the cop framed him. Nothing like that is ever spoken, only shown in a single scene. Which I think is an interesting narrative choice by Baldwin -- he avoids giving the arrest/incarceration a singular cause. All of this is systemic. This also maps to the non-explanation of how the cop finds him. It doesn't matter how or why, it just happens because the system is rigged. OTOH, it did make me wonder if the book, which I haven't read, absolutely confirms it was indeed the same cop. I assume it does, but without any dialogue it felt like it could be implied but not stated outright.

Agree 100% with these takes. After waiting 4 months for this disc (Netflix DVD has been very backed up!) I was disappointed. I grew up loving LW and asked my BF, who doesn't know anything about it, to watch it with me. It fell flat for both of us. He was confused by who was who and all the jumping around. (TBF, he's always terrible with time jumps, unfortunately, even when I think they are perfectly clear.) For me, it had no emotional resonance. It felt chopped up. I didn't feel the bonds or love in almost any case, nothing was allowed to build. Something was deeply missing for me. It's also possible I've outgrown the story. The ages were also distracting. I kept trying to figure out how old they were supposed to be, and that tells me I wasn't that into the plot! Amy did not pass for a tween at all and looked way too old to get away with the novel-burning tantrum. Then again, I always thought she got away with that too easily at any age.

Right. And beyond grieving his parents I think Mack is grieving everything. He's disillusioned with SHIELD and their mission. He's tired of the responsibility and people dying on his watch. He's angry at his team for not following orders (and maybe with himself for following or not following any particular order). He's upset that their time meddling has made things worse -- earlier interventions pushed the chronicoms forward in time, they then target and kill his parents because of Mack. If it weren't for his work, his family might still be alive. And then Mack had to personally destroy them. While he didn't kill his actual parents, it must really mess with your head to be bonding with your parents in the past then find out they are fakes and you have to murder them in hand-to-hand combat. He kicked NotMom out of the plane! Every move the team has made has further messed up the time stream, and really not fixed anything. That is weighing on him. Question 1: Why/when did the Chronicoms kill Mack's parents to begin with? On the plane, NotDad said the real parents been gone for awhile. I assumed that meant well before yesterday's kidnapping. Was it always to lead to this moment or to entrap Mack in some way? Question 2: How did Deke explain to the Uncle and Little Mack why he visited and helped them financially? Did I miss that explanation?

Glad to see all three finish so so well. Lovely contestants, lovely meal. What struck me as odd was Padma (?) saying that one wouldn't think Italian and Asian/Chinese cuisines could be compatible. To me those two have always seemed like a natural fit! Not if you compare char siu to marinara, obviously, but both have lots of noodles, stuffed pasta (dumpling/ravioli), pork, seafood, mushrooms, broth. Swap out a few aromatics, spices, maybe rice for wheat, and you're on your way. Does fusion really have a bad rap today? That makes me sad. It can be poorly done (and overdone) but such interesting things can be found at intersections.

The brother clicked for me fairly early, but I didn't clue into the girl. In fact, I didn't even get it when it was revealed. I'm embarrassed to realize my thinking was so ableist I didn't register the reveal of her digital voice or even the guy saying she had a computer powerful enough to hack the Pentagon. Those clues sailed right over my head. Hours later, as I was falling asleep, the penny dropped. DUH. I thought adult brother was poorly cast to match up with his young self, though. Didn't look anything alike. Actually I thought Affleck looked more like young Braxton than young Chris as well. Their dad was a piece of work.

TC has made weird/bad calls over the years but I never believed that the fix was in for Kevin. He deserved to go home, and he did. A squeaker for Bryan, though. I get the "soul" criticism. About 10 years ago I ate at Le Bernardin and walked away feeling like all the food lacked soul. It was technical and beautiful, but nothing was memorable or craveable. I grew up in a traveling foodie family, I remember meals we ate 30-40 years ago, yet I can't tell you a single thing I ate at LB. Sad, because I love watching Eric Ripert. That was so confusing. Why include the clip of "never cook" if it's not true? Like the aperitivo QF last week, where a "rule" was not actually a rule. I'm happy with all 3, this is probably my favorite set of finalists ever. I'd like to see Melissa win because has performed so so well; she deserves this. I'd like to see Stephanie win because she was such an underdog, and it's beautiful to see her blossom. I never thought she'd get past the halfway point yet here she is. I'd be happy with a Bryan win out of sheer perseverance, he just keeps coming back and he's very talented and sweet.

Yay! The best team won. I'd quibble that it's this dark interpretation of H&G was not true to the story in that the kids would never have actually gone into that house. Theirs looked like a proper scary, forbidding witch's house in the woods! Who'd go near that? However, the execution was IMO by far the best. (And I don't always pay the closest attention, so maybe they said something like this, but I guess the kids could have looked in the windows and been enchanted by the color inside?) Yan and Henck did great work throughout, no shade to them. And Jim and Ralph were so lovely. I really liked all the finalists. It took me all the way to the end to notice Kristen's last name Griffiths-Vanderyacht. I assume that's not his given name?! I mean, "Van der yacht" is absolutely a rich character's name in a satirical novel.

Agreed. It wasn't on brief at all. I was shocked they thought they'd be best in bloom. In the last episode, you noted that Kristen saying "you said you were going to make a cornucopia and you did!" was lame. This episode explained why he said that -- it's now clear his philosophy is that a successful design is one that starts with a clear, well-developed concept, is planned carefully, and is executed as conceived (with lots of color). Deliver as promised. No improvisation, no winging it. On another note entirely: Such a contrast between GBBO judges, who are delighted to see competitors pitching in, and here where the judge actually stopped them from helping.

IMO where Chanelle and Raymond failed wasn't gluing things on, it was that everything LOOKED glued on. The sample throne looked like it could have been a living creature made of veggies. And the most successful thrones looked alive, like the fruits and vegetables were actually growing on and out of the throne. C&R's looked liked they just glued stuff onto a throne. Big difference. I was sad to hear Jordan and Sarah's called out as being a school theater prop. As soon as they said that I totally saw what they meant, but visually it was so pretty and fun. But yeah, also stuff glued to a throne. Also fun? Watermelon head dye. I thought theirs was crazy good, visually. (It just wasn't a throne.) I scratch my head every time I see their outfits, but they do beautiful work.

Missed that, then, thanks for the correction!

It seemed like they genuinely didn't understand how to use white truffle, and how it differed from black truffle. Not something they've had much access to, maybe? When there is so much failure, that tells me challenge was not set up well. Gregory seemed particularly off-base with his choice. I cringed when he said he had this vision of a dish and he had no idea if it would work with truffle -- just hearing him describe it I suspected it would be a disaster. I love him and didn't want to see him go, but the decision made sense. I didn't find the editing deceptive or the PYKAG surprising. That really really bugged me. But only the one station was given bread, one of the easiest ways to create finger food, so I guess it must not have been an actual requirement. Then why make such a big deal out of introducing the aperitivo that way? I'm sure they have favorites and biases (especially cuisine biases) and that affects judging, but I guess I just don't believe Tom or any of the judges would go that far. That makes sense. Wonder how Amazing Race does it then? I was very impressed by this editing. They must have done a great job of filming and avoiding crosstalk so they could cut it so cleanly.

Worth noting that Kevin didn't actually win the QF and I'd bet money that one of the reasons was that he didn't fulfill the challenge parameters. (That said, I'd bet the bigger reason was that Melissa's was just better!) So, they really liked his dish but he not rewarded with a win. However, I wish the judges had verbalized that. If they didn't take that into consideration, it's definitely bullshit. Not sure why Malarkey didn't cut his pork thinner to begin with, rather than getting it all nice and caramelized and THEN having to cut it down. Not that anything would have saved uncuttably tough pork. (Though Champagne Padma was probably exaggerating for effect.)

Everyone knows a duo is dangerous on TC, for all the reasons you list. But for me the error was knowing the duo halves wouldn't taste good together! A good duo at least complements. So when he said the fruit was clashing badly with the truffles (which, together, yuck), still deciding to put them one forkful apart was stupid. If the truffle was a required element, then he shouldn't have gotten so hung up on the fruit to begin with. So weird you said Zelig. That was an answer on Jeopardy this week and I have never heard of that character or heard it used in this way. Now I have! There were only some plates missing. I would have said maybe half? My question is, if everyone in the restaurant got plates -- which I think they did -- weren't there a few plates leftover? Did some tables get extras? Agreed. Kevin hasn't come across well at a number of points this season, but don't think his choices here were sexist. Yeah I 100% think it was a mistake. I truly do not believe they would directly sandbag a single contestant like that. Yes on the divided dish as well. My guess is the average restaurant doesn't have those, but something with a divider would at least indicate they shouldn't be mixed. However as I said, I still think it would have been dumb to have clashing dishes presented together.

This may be one of the only things all night I think was a good decision. He knew that going out was what the judges wanted, but he was behind and had food to get out. I give him credit for knowing it would hurt him yet trying to do what was right for the diners instead of the judges. I cannot imagine, no. Fussy dishes, lots of dumplings, carts running out of food. I could only hope she meant her ideal restaurant would have carts, not the RW pop-up. His eyes were getting...kinda crazy at judging. The tension and emotion in his face was freaking me out. He was holding it together, but barely. Agree with everyone I flinched when he said plantation. It was all the more jarring being up against a Haitian concept, plus the presence of a Middle Passage concept.

Yeah, it was a standup move to take responsibility but, dude, there was no lifeboat to jump in. He was responsible for most of what went wrong. No one sabotaged or undermined him. Kevin's always been a fav for me, but this was right. I think the worst part of having too many dishes went beyond execution -- when I saw all those little blobs of food on the judge's plates, it felt like such an uncurated experience. It would be too much to taste & take in. You can't really enjoy any one thing when you're tasting 12 all stacked together. Karen was definitely next in line for the chopping block but her contribution to their downfall was not as great as Kevin's. Especially since he made a point in a talking head to say he wanted his team to feel like they owned part of the concept and had a hand in developing the food! But then I don't think he really listened. As a counterpoint, when the judges said the winning restaurant showed the team came together cohesively to create a menu...I thought nah, that was all Gregory. He created that menu top to bottom and they backed his play. It almost has to be deliberate. The most generous read is they are indifferent. It's not like you can't find waiters with SAG cards. As many of us say every year, I wish they'd just give them a little more time to prep and train FOH.

I was getting weighed down by the drumbeat narrative of selling your body to get ahead, so I was glad to see the story shift and have it be rejected by people on both sides of the power dynamic. It's obviously going to continue being a big part of this story, but at least there are some characters pushing back now. Poor Roy/Rock. Henry treats him like crap. Such an abusive situation. (That said, Roy doesn't own Archie. Roy needs to learn about boundaries all around.)

I did see the sting coming -- as soon as she started pushing the cash I was like NOOOO DON'T TAKE IT -- but I totally did not get why he was at the theater. Took me forever to figure out. The sting was predictable, though. The operation was incredibly un-subtle, it's not surprising someone noticed a gas station where service guys hop in the car and drive away. And a never-changing password? Not sure what I think yet. The cast is interesting enough to give it a couple rounds.

You're probably right. They would have had a hard time discussing it without it being really awkward. OTOH, they said one had food issues and one had concept issues. (And Stephanie had both.) It wasn't clear to me exactly which was which...but given how bad they said Eric's food was I inferred that his concept was actually not that bad in their eyes.

Not sure about that...both his dishes sounded awful, an opinion shared unanimously by the judges. Tom immediately "pushed away" the lamb and they all agreed it was way overcooked. His other one was deemed extremely salty. Virtually every comment was negative. From the judge's comments we heard, inedible food did him in way more than the concept.

While they were working on mood boards, Lee Anne acknowledged winning was a double edged sword. Totally agree. I'd never want to be EC in this challenge. I think it's great that the concept is formed/pitched in advance because it eliminates the hodgepodge we usually get, where they all figure out their lowest common denominator and muddle through. This way it's defined and clear. However, not all of the concepts translate equally well to team execution and frenzy. In the real world, you hire chefs who can support your concept. Not so in RW! You get a team made up of peer competitors, and your authority and control are weak. As another poster noted, Gregory may have a harder time because the chefs won't be as familiar off the bat with Haitian flavors.

Recently I was at a local German restaurant and the specials menu had snapper -- "schnapper schnitzel". Based on the wordplay alone I could not resist getting that. It was delicious! I love shnitzel, prepared and seasoned properly. But...is schnitzel a good dish to represent modern American? She thought it was a good concept because it hadn't been done in RW before. True! And I love dim sum. But creating lots of fiddly little dishes, some dumplings presumably, also sounds like a lot to ask of your RW team. Also thought it was odd that of her two representative dishes, one was a small plate and one was a large plate. While it's normal at a dim sum place to have both, a big plate doesn't feel like it embodies the concept. I'm nitpicking though. When Lee Anne gushed that she was a huge fan and watched "all his movies"...I thought that was a bit odd. Trejo has appeared in a million things, I don't think of "Danny Trejo movies" as in he was the star. Or am I off base? The machetes were delightful. Loved Brian using if for fine knife work. As dleighd said, he sells them. Tom confirmed that at the judges table, linking Malarkey's pitch to his success opening and selling 15 restaurants. That was really helpful for me to understand it -- they are opening but not running some or all of them. I definitely wondered how many of their 5/10/19 restaurants are operating and thriving. That's a much better measure of success than "how many have you opened?"