Marsupial

I initially resisted watching this show because I loved the original Spanish-language version so much, but I find I can enjoy it because they bear almost no resemblance to each other. Aside from using the same names, and the presence of the all-important notebook, they are completely different stories. One thing they do share, that I'm glad about, is the way Teresa struggles to maintain her humanity in the face of this awful, violent life she's been forced to survive in. While doing what she has to do, she refuses to sink as low as the people she works for, or give in to despair. She saved Maria, at enormous personal risk to herself, and even when she killed the drug dealer in self-defense, she felt sick about it. She hasn't let herself go totally to the dark side. It makes her a really interesting character to watch. This episode was good, I liked seeing more of James and Kim, their relationship amuses me. And it's always great to see more Brenda, I love her feistiness. This show is so dark that the occasional moments of lightness or humor are very welcomed.

Are you my shadow sister? I'm short too and pre-the big M, I was always a perfect size 8, small and curvy, and stayed there with little trouble; at one point when I was going to the gym a lot I got down to a 6, but I never lost my big hips or my big booty. I definitely would have been too fat for TV. Now, post menopause, let's just say it takes twice as much work to look half as good. Groan. Age is not kind to a woman. Oh, you had to bring the Rock into this. Now I can't think straight LOL.

I LOL'ed at "Trained seal routine," Kareem. My ratings, as a hetero woman: Tom -- Face 8, he's handsome; personality 7 or 8, he seems fine to me, nothing too extreme either way; body, it's hard to tell from how he dresses but it looks OK, probably a 6 or 7 Derek -- Face 6, he looked good at the wedding and has those nice blue eyes, but his personality makes him less attractive; personality 3; body 5 but that might be because I hate his tattoos Nick -- Face 6 or 7, he's cute; body 9, yowza; personality 8, I like that dry humor and I love his sense of style, and his dog-love The women: Sonia -- Face 7, I think she's really cute; body 6; personality 9, she's sweet and caring and obviously has a good heart Lilly -- Face 7, she's sexy; body 7, ditto, very sexy; personality, 8, she's fun and seems to be kind Heather -- Face 5 but dolled up she could go to a 7; body 9, the men may disagree with me but I think she has a great figure; personality 6

It mystifies me too. I don't get that from any of the men on this show. They seem totally normal, with normal flaws. All of the dogs on this show, from Zeus to Nick's two beauties, are adorable.

Thoughts on this episode: Lily and Tom continue to be cute together, compatible and willing to work with each other. That may change, but so far I kind of like them a lot. Neither one gives me a weird vibe, the only issue that may come up is that she seems to be a bit of a clean freak (nothing wrong with that) while he is...less so. Not a slob, but not a super clean guy, I mean, dirty feet in the bed squicks me out too. I think Lily has my level of cleanliness, we like a clean home and a clean bed but not by any means OCD. Heather and Derek: I think they're done unless they both make a massive effort. I could see a physical attraction developing there that could help them get over the rough spots, and I don't buy Derek's statement that he doesn't find Heather attractive. I call bs on that. Sonia and Nick: They won't make it for one simple reason, which is that she is way, way, way more into him than he is into her. They have not even had sex yet and she is clearly crazy about him, and he is clearly not. That NEVER WORKS. As I've told many a younger woman, if my many decades of walking this earth and knowing love and loss have taught me anything, just one thing, it's that a relationship will not work unless the man is crazy about the woman. NEVER. And even if it seems to, it just limps along causing nothing but daily, low-level heartbreak for the woman. It's NOT WORTH IT because a man who isn't nuts about a woman from the start is never going to get there. So they are doomed, maybe even worse than Heather and Derek. Agree 100 percent on this and it needs 1000 likes. Sonia needs a warm-hearted guy who is wild for her and frankly I'm surprised she hasn't found one in Miami. The Latino community tends to be one where everyone is always trying to match everybody up and get them married and making babies. But she is shy, and maybe she doesn't have family here. As to Lily's dress, I am half Latina and Latina women do dress like that, frequently, for all occasions. I have a few dresses like that myself but I hardly ever wear them, although Mr. Marsupial, who is Latino, wishes I would wear them daily LOL.

Agreed, I bet he is a great marriage counselor. That said, I agree with the above poster who stated that working on a marriage and fighting for it is appropriate only if you have a shared history and a well of memories to draw on. I completely agree, marriage is worth fighting for. But these people don't have a "real" marriage, and they can barely stand each other. I can't even fault either one of them. Heather may be judgmental and uptight but Derek is very childish and has poor impulse control. They both have problems that could interfere with having a successful relationship but they are not going to work out those problems with each other, in this type of format. I kept waiting for DEREK to just leave, but he doesn't have the balls to just say that. It's all on Heather and if she bails, she's going to look like the bad guy, the one who didn't try. I think that's unfair.

BWAHAHA, really!! I mean, keep the bus, but most women want to live in a normal house. Actually, "unconventional living arrangement" should have been one of the compatibility questions. Some women would be totally OK with the bus but I don't think Liliian is one of them.

My thoughts so far on this season: I think these experts are a zillion kajillion times better than the previous gang, by a moon shot. I can't express how much more knowledgeable, helpful and practical this group is over the usual crew of blissed-out, babbling idiots. I loved it when they talked about the reasons they matched the couples; it was things like, they both love the outdoors or they both like a low-key lifestyle, actual compatibility vs. "they were both bullied as children." It's great that Dr. Pepper is the only one they kept, the other two were intolerable. And how nice that they have a clergy person who is actually, you know, a religious person. The couples all seem like somewhat normal people and that's a blessing. Bring on the boring! My prediction: Sonia and Nick will be the only couple to make it. Heather is an overly critical prisspot and really annoying, while Derek seems like a fun guy. I don't know, he might be a bit of a frat boy type, maybe that's what is turning her off? At least she's trying to engage with him instead of shutting him out, Ashley-style. Oh absolutely! He's so cute, and I when I was dating, I always liked dating guys like that when I was looking for something serious (for flings I preferred big extroverts). IME those men that seem slightly stiff and standoffish at first are usually the ones that turn out to be rock-steady and solid once they decide to commit. Lily and Tom seem to be this season's Courtney and Jason, and they're really cute together, but I predict an early flameout.

That would certainly be a fascinating twist. Maybe Rachel's mom is so controlling/overprotective of her because she knows that this is all a concoction of Rachel's imagination and the real truth is something truly horrible. It would certainly make for an interesting scenario, so it's unlikely to be part of this awful show. Yeah, I can't figure out what Yael's true gig is here at all. I don't buy that she's a journalist. I think she came up with that to cover for something else, and Coleman is such an egomaniac that he fell for her line. So far she's roped Jeremy and Coleman in and I wonder what her final game is. I thought my mother did some messed-up thing raising me, but Rachel's mom makes her look like a saint. I'm sorry I ever complained, Mom!

LOL I had the same thought ! I was trying to come up with how Unreal could wrap up this wretched season with endings that would make me happy, and I came up with: Chet and Quinn finally do realize they belong together (yeah, I'm a sap but they are perfect together); Rachel and Coleman die in a fiery crash together, and nobody cares; and Chet produces a Tiffany-Darius reality show that makes the two of them, and Quinn and Chet, crazy rich and famous. In my fantasy, Season 3 is all about that reality show (they already have a real-life model in "Kendra on Top"). That said, I think I am done with Unreal as I have absolutely no interest in seeing how much further they can grind this thing into the dust. I won't even hold out hope for a better next season. Just drag this zombie behind the barn and kill it. I completely agree. The "rape/incest" surprise "shocker" has become so commonplace you can see it a mile away. When mention of Rachel's deep dark secret came up, I turned to the friend I was watching with and said, "Ten to one she was molested." It's become the hack writer's duct tape, used to tack together failing plots and grab the sympathy vote from readers or viewers who are struggling to give a damn. It also lets them get away with not actually having to explain or develop a single idea or character. Oh and once again, Quinn was spot-on in her assessment of that user Coleman. How many episodes are left? I don't think I can drag myself through this mess anymore.

Also we don't know if they are bimbos, because the show hasn't given us any information about them.

Right, and even Jeremy still luuuuves Rachel even though he was engaged to a beautiful, seemingly lovely girl who was apparently smart enough to ditch his sorry ass. I think that interpretation is negated by the fact that we are very clearly supposed to feel sorry for Rachel. If this was meant as social satire, it failed big time. It wasn't funny and it was clear the writers' and director's sympathies were with the white folks. One of the most searing social satires on the perils of our lust for fame I've ever seen is "To Die For." Gus van Sant does a brilliant job, the movie is extremely funny, but you never, not for one moment, doubt that Van Sant thinks Suzanne is evil; it's clear he does not sympathize with her and she gets her comeuppance in a very funny and satisfying way. That's how you do social satire. If that's what the Unreal folks were aiming for I give them a big fat F.

LOL I hear you on both points. I've dumped three shows in the past year as well. Now I have only three shows that I religiously watch or DVR: Devious Maids, Nashville and Unreal, and Unreal is taking a brisk walk toward the guillotine. I may cling on to the bitter end, and I have no doubt it will be bitter and ugly indeed, but I won't tune in next season if there is one. Excellently put. Quinn knows herself and Rachel is self-deluding, as Adam pointed out to her.

If the show is going to be All About Rachel, then there is no reason for me to continue watchingit. I haven't liked her since the first episode of the first season but at least there were other interesting characters and subplots around to hold the interest and keep the story moving. There's not enough about Rachel that would make me want to spend five minutes invested in anything to do with her. I don't think so. People like Rachel--manipulative, narcissistic schemers with superiority complexes who get off on using other people--are, sadly, common and not all that "deep" or interesting despite their pretensions to be so. I've met them in various walks of life. As I posted in another thread, my brother was married to someone almost exactly like Rachel. You wouldn't want to spend five minutes watching my ex-SIL, I can assure you, and I feel the same way about Rachel. She's a dime a dozen and she's also actively malicious and evil. As an example: A lot of people intensely disliked Don Draper on "Mad Men." I didn't hate Don but I could certainly see why other people detested him. ( Although to his credit Don never actually tried to get someone maimed or killed for his and his boyfriend's jollies). They were able to continue watching the show because of the plots involving the other characters (e.g. like many viewers, I was a huge Pete fan; other people loved Peggy, etc), the writing, the nostalgia, and the way the show treated certain social issues. There was more depth there. It wasn't just "the daily trauma of our tortured hero Don." I mean, there was a lot of that, but there were other things you could enjoy in the show. What does Everlasting, this season, have to offer? Even the side plots and secondary characters have to revolve around Our Tortured Hero Rachel. Everything is reduced to how they view, treat and react to Rachel, which is of course an extremely narcissistic worldview and confirms the theory some have suggested, that Rachel is a stand-in for the supremely narcisstic SGS. And I have zero interest in either one. As to this episode, everyone has posted how I felt about it much better than I could, but I have one overall feeling: sick. I think the way the whole thing was handled was sick. Bad taste is the least of it. Also, really, all these handsome, successful men (Adam, Coleman) are falling all over themselves with puppy love for Rachel? Really, show? Men who, by the way, work in an industry filled with beautiful women, or in Adam's case, is incredibly handsome, famous and wealthy. They're dying of love for this vicious, evil, and poorly groomed nutjob? Is this another SGS fantasy or something? I don't buy it for a minute.

I agree, romantic idiot. I think lots of things, including most especially her mother, have messed with Rachel's head, and I agree with Quinn that she is "fine." I also tend to think that Rachel uses her "craziness" as a cover for her rotten personality and lack of any moral conviction, and it could be because she reminds me of my brother's ex-wife, a monster of narcissism and nastiness who has recently declared that she is "bipolar." Whenever my mother and I discuss her and my mother says, "well, you know, she is bipolar...' I always say, "No, she's that other B word." It's not fair to real bipolar people that their legitimate illness gets used as a cover this way. Rachel reminds me of my brother's ex a great deal in their self-centered worldview and their smug superiority. My brother's ex doesn't have the meltdowns that Rachel does, and unlike Rachel she is always perfectly put-together and "held tight;" she's more subtle about how she gets attention and sympathy, but the motivations are similar IMO.

Also: Kyle: "Mother, I must talk to you right now." Fabian: "Glasses is upset."

And Evelyn says, "I have an eyebrow there too." LOL... I am delighted with this season, frankly, and will be crushed if there's no fifth one. I love the Zoila-Adrian friendship. When she reveals her plot about Kyle's mother catching them, he says, "Kinky. I'm in." But I agree that Zoila and Kyle are horrible together, there is zero chemistry between them unlike the boatloads of chemistry between Zoila and Adrian (now wouldn't that be a twist?!) but I can live with it for the sake of the plot. Evelyn being tortured into revealing the lurid truth of her age and weight was hilarious. And the actor who plays Fabian is perfect, he has just the right bubbly lightness that this show does its best with. Loved his exchange with Jesse: "They think I'm gay..." Jesse: "Shocking." No, I loved it too. I have loved the whole season, I really think the show's writers are hitting the perfect notes of effervescent comedy that usually falls flat when it's attempted on a TV show (or a movie for that matter). It's much harder to do than it looks and they are hitting it out of the park IMO. The actors are also ding a wonderful job with what they've been given. There are some weak moments, sure. I continue to detest Marisol with every passing moment while continuing to covet all of her clothing, and Kyle needs to go, stat. But overall it's really been fun. I'm even enjoying Rosie and Spence! Spence's prison stuff with Killface is funny, and Rosie is finally starting to shine in her own right as the detective/heroine out to save her man. Still love my Carmen but wish they would find a better plot for her. I did have to laugh at her throwing her back out at the dance audition, poor thing!

I blame Twilight.

Chiming in late to say that I love Catmageddon!! All the ads that group puts out are powerful and well-done, but that one gets me every time. It also hits close to home, because on a more serious note, the knowledge that I was killing my beloved kitties is one of the reasons I was finally able to quit smoking several years ago. This was before this video came out, obviously, but I am hoping this ad will make other pet owners seriously reconsider their habit. Me too, but apparently not!

LOL me too. I have no quality control when it comes to the BBC or Masterpiece. With the revival of "American Gothic" I am wondering if the original show, which I was nuts about, would stand up to a rewatch? I tried to watch the new one but couldn't get into it.

"Roseanne" was an excellent show, actually, it was groundbreaking in many ways and not least because it showed actual working-class life in America as no other show has done in my memory. I appreciated the fact that the family's home was a normal middle-class house rather than an unrealistic showplace, and that nobody on the show looked like they were attending a model's convention (Becky was pretty, she was "the pretty one," but she was not depicted as a drop-dead beauty always dressed in the latest fashions). I get really tired of everybody in every American TV show and movie looking perfectly thin, coiffed and Botoxed, living in homes that belong in Architectural Digest, especially when the premise of the show is that they're teachers or police detectives or whatever. The only other show that did this was "Married with Children," and another of my UOs is that I loved that show, too. I never heard of "Cow and Chicken"!!! What have I missed?

This made me LOL. Exactly! I remember an interview with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. years ago, when the subject of the band's often impregnable or confusing lyrics came up. Stipe responded that he saw no need to explain them because he assumed that everyone who listened to their songs would put their own interpretation on them anyway, and who was he to correct or interfere with that? I was a fan before that and it just doubled my love for R.E.M. caci, thank you for your kind comment. I also enjoy commentaries but I never do the podcast/twitter thing.

I really, really hate this. It's lazy, insulting and IMO strips the creators of any pretense to minimal competence, let alone to any "artistic vision" they claim. Matthew Weiner is the WORST offender, every damn episode of Mad Men and The Sopranos that left audiences going "wtf?" were always followed by Weiner's paternalistic and insufferable explanations to the dunderheaded masses about what they "really" saw or, worse yet, "should have seen" if only they had Weiner's special artistic insight and intellectual prowess. I no longer watch "Game of Thrones" but those writers/producers were the same. I recall many controversial scenes and episodes being explained away in the same manner. It's like the person who cheats on their spouse saying, "You didn't really see that." Who am I gonna believe?. Now, I certainly appreciate hearing the views of creators about their subjects. I enjoy interviews with writers, directors and so on where they explain their craft or talk about different technical difficulties they had to overcome, how they get their ideas, and so on. It is interesting and certainly enhances your enjoyment of a show. But notice that the good ones don't feel a need to tell you what you saw, because they've already put it out there for you to see. They already did that.

Yes, I think you're right about that (Quinn is most definitely a cat person), and I agree that her pain over losing Chet, and discovering what a worm he was deep down, really did break her heart and make her more cynical and bitter. But I still hold out hope for her and Chet so I think (pray?) Quinn will get her happy ending. I'm surprised Quinn keeps Madison around, unless it's to have her in her sights so she can keep tormenting her. If it were me I would have fired her and torched her career.

That guy gets the Enabler of the Year award. Yeah, there wasn't a lot of drama/ugliness here, but apparently that's because TJ does all her crazy drug activity away from the house. That's better than bringing it home, I guess, but it's horrible for those children. She did seem to suffer from a sense of exaggerated self-importance. She wants to be different, edgy, unconventional and so on, and doesn't seem to realize that there are healthy ways to do that. It's also really easy to "find yourself" as a rock star or a cocaine addict when you have a wimp of a partner who's happy to foot your bills, feed you and house you, and ask no questions about what you're doing on those months-long escapades. All of which would be OK if it were just the two of them, but there are children here. It's unconscionable to do that to them. I got the feeling that her dealer tricks her out for drug money during that time, but maybe I've just been watching too much Intervention, lol.