grommit2

None of the neighbors noticed the backyard digging? With all the lights on? Hmmm...

I could use some help here: 1) I am having major difficulty identifying who is who. Everyone's double is, well, not a double but the same person with difficult to detect differences. Also, the doubles swap sides. And then they go back. And some suffer amnesia, so they don't know who they are. Help! 2) One side of the tunnel appears to be Berlin, the other side England. Is this a commentary that mirrors post WWII communism, where communists despised capitalists. After all, the Berlin side appears neat and clean, while the England side appears graffiti-strewn and dirty.

A collection of observations: 1) Having a little difficulty with the Bunchy story line...too dark and full of despair. 2) They sure do drink a ton in this show. Amazing how they stay upright. 3) The NYC scenes seem so traffic-free. Maybe this is not really NY, eh? 4) I despise the Micky (Jon Voight) story line...it is disgusting that he keeps winning. 5) Does Bridget ever go to class? Or does she spend all day and night studying on her bed.

Alison may be a representative of the weaker sex, but, my gosh, she certainly had super powers over just about every man in this show.

Wow...clearly Paige is the superior intellect. Of course, Sheldon would never admit this because, well...ummm...he's a guy.

Well now...this is interesting. We have discovered where Paige (from The Americans) has been hiding out...in the hospital. The Americans fans will recall that Paige, the junior KGB agent-in-training, did not join her parents when they escaped back to Russia. Rather, she stayed in the US. Much speculation as to how she could survive. And now we know...or sort of know. Pretty nifty crossover, eh? Next we'll have Philip Jennings (her Americans father) show up in the ER with leg pains from too much line dancing. And Elizabeth Jennings will pop up with hand problems, having punched out a few more opponents. Hmmm...maybe I watch too much TV.

Ah...straight from the book: "How to Write a TV Screenplay". Also repeated in that best seller: "You Can Write for TV and Be Famous". Short books, but a key point was: make every character a suspect. And if you are stuck, pop up a previously unrevealed character and make him/her the bad guy (consider Jessica Biel in a final episode reveal cameo, eh?). Asmiov used to do that in his novels..and it was infuriating.

Curious show.: Lawyers, law offices, lots of talk about law suits. But, no court action, no court rooms, no judges. Oh...wait..I figured it out. This is not a show about LAWSUITS...it is a show about people wearing spiffy SUITS. Ahhh....that explains it. YAWN

Will Homeland continue with an 8th season? Or has it been cancelled?

Oh no...I just saw the trailer for the upcoming season. It shows Ray Donovan jumping into the ocean...or the Hudson River. Are we reliving "The Affair's" opening credit scene? Alison "sinks back into the ocean" Does this mean Ray is going to drown himself? Agh! Not another!

15 minutes of fame, then off to the dustbin of history.

Ok...my 2 cents: Everything is superficial: big windows in big offices. Long carpeted hallways. All lawyers read through stacks of paper in 3 seconds, realize their intent, then render instant legal jargon. No one ever takes off their suit jacket. What...no coat hooks? Louis is repetitively weak. But, then, all the others are just plain superficial. Now, what would really make this show sing is if they: (1) hire Ray Donovan as their fixer (sort of like George Clooney as Michael Clayton, but with a baseball bat); (2) order lunch from Montauk's Lobster Roll (after they go national) and have it delivered by "The Affair's" Alison (oh boy...fireworks ensue!); (3) represent Axe Capital in a money laundering case (the show is filmed in Toronto, but supposed to be set in NYC, which means that Chuck Rhoades would lead the case, or would he?) (4) represent Carrie Madison in a lawsuit against Russian oligarchs (err..."businessmen").

Here's the sad part: ALL of these "cable TV shout shows" are focusing on the latest shiny object. They are ignoring the REAL issues: 1) Cabinet corruption and their profligate spending; 2) Regulatory rollbacks that damage our air, water, and safety, but benefit corporations. 3) Tax policies that benefit the uber-rich while driving our national debt beyond the stratosphere. Sadly, the cable shows are just chasing the latest outrage in an effort to get more eyeballs on their shows.

OK fans...I have been able to procure the double-secret sequence of upcoming events. Shhhh...don't tell anyone, but here it is: 1) Anticipate Alison flashbacks that provide context to the remaining actors. It is revealed that Alison never really had kids and was not married to Cole. It was all a dream (just like that full year of the 1978 to 1991 TV show "Dallas"). 2) Louisa (Cole's current wife), is now Joanie's primary caregiver, thus can qualify for the Green Card. She will do that, but, recognizing Cole's pining for Alison, will take Joanie and relocate to Miami to run one of the hotels down there. 3) Cole, having sold rights to the Lobster Roll, realizes that the buyers are crooks...and that he is now financially bankrupt. He digs up the buried illegal drugs (from the first season when the Lockharts paid the bills as drug dealers), sells them, makes enough to continue to live in that cool waterfront house. 4) Whitney comes back (yay Whitney!) and now, despising ALL men (because of the misogynistic Furkat and the family-crushing Noah), comes out as a binary and writes an autobiography in which she reveals that Helen drove the car that killed Scotty Lockhart, AND Alison was the one who pushed him into the oncoming car. The book is turned into a movie. Whitney makes millions. Marries the President's son, and lives in a Tower in NYC. 5) Vic stumbles on a cure for his cancer, disowns his parents, and shuns Helen when he finds out about her relations with her next door neighbor. But Vic careens off that back deck and dies while celebrating his liberation. 6) Helen is distraught and, having been accused of vehicular homicide in Whitney's tell-all book, shunned by Vic, and turned away by Noah... dies in a fiery crash while driving that Porsche. 7) Noah, with both Helen and Vic gone, now takes custody of his 4 kids. But, Whitney is legally emancipated; the older son leaves military school and joins the Marines; the second son, Trevor, also joins the marines by lying about his age and shunning his proclivities, and deploys to Iraq where he brings peace to the Middle East; and the youngest daughter (Stacey) writes a children's book wherein she blatantly copies Whitney's story about Helen and Alison. Lawsuits ensue. Stacey wins. Stacey goes on to star in several sitcoms. 8) Noah...having lost all 4 kids, his original wife, Helen, and his Affair wife, Alison...decides to marry Janelle (the charter school principal). Noah's original book is finally turned into a movie. Noah's fat head is fueled by Hollywood glamour. Based on Whitney's book, he sues Helen's estate (from her family and from Vic), and sues Alison's estate (from the Lobster Roll money), sues the NY State prison system for abuse...wins millions. 9) Anton...ah yes, Anton. Anton leaves Princeton because it is too hoity-toity, but, really enjoying living in New Jersey, enrolls in Rutgers. Graduates with a degree in literature. Writes several follow-on novels to Noah's book. Turned into a TV series with a cool French name, "L'Affaire." Reaps millions. Gives them all to Rutgers. Buys a home in Seaside Park. Gets washed away in a hurricane. The End!

Wow. 1) Kudos to the writers. They sure did make us sit up straight and gasp. 2) This is annoying. First, Homeland kills off Quinn, the best character on TV. Then The Affair makes the lead character "sink back into the ocean". 3) What next? Kill off Ray Donovan? Let the Yankees go on a streak and knock off the coolest team in baseball, the Red Sox? Aggh!

Ok...my 2 cents: 1) Cole drives across the continent, over 3,000 miles, stays about 2 days, then starts back another 3,000 miles to Montauk. Eh? Are you kidding? And his jeep looks pristine? On what planet? 2) Noah, once again, demonstrates that he, too, has that certain something that makes the opposite sex just want to jump his bones (Helen, Allison, the Jersey college French professor, now the charter school principal, etc). 3) Vik...ah Vik...having a tough time with demanding parents? Oh for pete's sake...grow a pair and move on! But the Porsche is a great move. Next time, get the Ferrari! And make it red. 4) And Alison? Ah yes. Some on this board appear to be mystified by Alison's sex appeal. Two things to remember: (1) the writers have decided to make her irresistible, so we have to deal with that. (2) Alison IS irresistible. Don't ask me why...she just is. So there. 5) And most important...where is Whitney? I need my whiny, self-entitled, twenty-something, complaining, annoying young person.

Hmmm...what power? Oh boy oh boy oh boy...what power!? Ummm...let's see (wait, my wife is nearby). Ok...coast is clear. Alison is just, well, sort of, uhhh... Aw...darn! My internet married-man-protection software is triggering all sorts of alerts. It is good software...prevents me from writing things that will DEFINITELY get me into trouble with the Missus. What's that? Yes, Dear...I will take out the garbage this minute. Yes, Dear.

Good point. Two things: 1) I defer to parents: do young children go through hair color changes as they grow older? 2) I'm guessing that the writers tossed this hair color change into the story line to keep us guessing.

I believe this is the first mention of the EMDR conference. I am assuming this "EMDR" refers to the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy. I do not recall Alison going through this particular therapy, but it would certainly apply to her situation. Last season (#3) after going through therapy herself, Alison mentioned that she had been offered a job at the center. Of course, given the practice of presenting scenes from two different viewpoints, the job offer was greeted by general doubt. I am not clear as to how long she has been in training because there seems to have been a time jump between seasons #3 and #4.

That is truly one doozy of a house. Much larger than what we saw starting last season. And on the water. The real estate site Zillow says there is a 3BR/3Ba 2,000 sqft house on water for $2.2M. It looks about half of the Cole house. Also, recall that they sold the Cole/Alison house & land, with beach fronting property in a previous season (although the house burned down). Beachfront out there is worth millions. A question would be whether they are still in the, ummm..."alternative pharmaceuticals" business. And the taxi business may have been sold off, or just dropped. Yes, they plunked down money on the Lobster Roll, but that seems to be making money. A question would be whether Alison got anything from Noah as part of the divorce. So, Cole/Alison/Luisa should be financially rolling in the cash.

Let's see: I think Alison phoned Cole from her condo up in Montauk. She had her kid and needed to get her to school, also in Montauk. Also, yes, her trainee job is several hours away from Montauk. And everyone is right: this is a ridiculous distance to travel for any job. An actual filming location might help, but is irrelevant unless the story line references the travel time somehow. And BTW: the California scenes are reported to be in the Morro Bay area, California. This is south of Monterey, north of LA. Reports say that this show, and a few others, relocated to California to take advantage of production tax credits.

Let's consider this: the writers have made Alison the target of every man's desires from the first episodes. They position her as young, healthy, attractive...just recall that first meeting in the Lobster Pot: long legs, lean...oh yes, very attractive. And then she saves the kid from choking. And then she is presented as suffering from the tragedy of her child dying. So attractive, so vulnerable, so in need of someone to rescue her. Noah was only the first. If this continues on for another 10 years, there will be another 10 characters who deem her needing rescuing. As for Cole, and Vic, and every other male, and female, in this show: they all make decisions that support the premise that you reap the benefits of your decisions, good and bad. We, of course, as loyal viewers, shout at the TV saying "don't be such a dink!" Ah, but this is TV, not reality. Besides, some of us find Alison really, really attractive. Or, perhaps, it is reality. And, like those who stop to look at a car crash, we just revel in watching the characters spiral down to their demise. Except for Whitney...Whitney triumphs no matter what. As the kids say these days, You go girl!

I seem to recall that Helen paid the legal fees. Hey...I was actually paying attention!

Noah has no money? How about money from his best-selling novel?