NutMeg

I only watched this yesterday, and so far I'm rather lukewarm on this season. While I'm fine with a concept of an exile island, the rehash of past blunders doesn't add much, except time fillers and the continued multiplication of advantages/idols and other twists. I don't want to see, again, the footage of Sierra, the stick, James' idols, and all. Clips of past seasons break the flow of this one, and it feels like TPTB decided that this would be a clever way to insert past contestants into the mix because people might be bored with an all new cast season, which to me is rather unfair to the newbies. There were a few seconds when I was truly impressed with Jacob's knowledge of the game, when he seemed to know so much about Sierra and her legacy advantage - until we were shown he was reading from a piece of paper - sorry, parchment... It felt more like some version of Survivor board game, somehow, or Survivor role-playing game: the contestants I remember a day later have chosen a character that they are playing to the best of their ability and it doesn't feel organic. Granted, it's not the first season it's happened, but I remember it as being only the case for a couple of people at the most per season. And the roles that casting tried to assemble didn't always behave in the way they were predicted to, which made it more interesting. But we'll see how the season pans out, I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised. And in any case, I'm looking forward to this board becoming active again!

Ooooooh, wait until there are life stream feeds of TAR, and all would be evil, someday/night, somewhat. I don't watch Big Brother because it's too much of time commitment for the viewer, but I'm sure a live stream could find a bad side of everyone. I'm pretty sure there are recorded moments of Mother Teresa behaving like a bully, but she still reached sainthood, and at least deserves to be remembered for the good she did. I've had similar experience, both of couples on different ends of the spectrum but also of people spouting ugly racist views while having close friends who were from the ethnicities and/or religions they targeted in their talk, and it took me a while to realize they were just repeating whatever so-called truth they grew up with, even when it didn't match their experience, and without any critical assessment or realising how it could affect these close friends. (These experiences were mostly with people from former Yugoslavia and Israel/Middle East.) I'm not sure, but then again I don't watch BB. They sure seem competent, based on what I see from this team and Rachel/Brendan(?),which is not terribly surprising, if I think about it: being locked for months with random people must take a tremendous amount of effort to stay pleasant to the end, or to be unpleasant in a way that gives you the win. So, from me, mad respect - even if I'm still not about to watch to show, because it requires a time commitment I only give if I want to binge watch something. Back to this team, they are efficient, work well together, complement each other well and compliment each other often enough, don't bicker, so yeah, I'd say if they hadn't come from Big Brother they'd be really liked. Then again, if they hadn't come from BB, they may never have been cast, and I think there is the cusp of the problem the viewers are having with this team and other BB alumni before. And indeed, the incestuous casting is iffy when there are so many other candidates. But really, the casting is not the fault of the team you don't like because it's been cast again (and, sometimes, and again, and again, and again...). If you need to blame someone, it's TBTB at CBS, not the team which can fall anywhere between a paw and a machiavellian participant.

Skype calls. With the camera on. When is someone going to invent a computer camera that makes you look like yourself? (This is not - only - a pity me party. I've seen people I know are gorgeous look positively - ha! - horrible on these.) Skype job interviews - which side is scared the fastest? I'm ranting on Skype, but FaceTime and all are not better. Despite how it looks in movies. In top of how we all look bad on a computer camera, we all look shifty, if we look at the person on camera rather than at the camera. And when we don't look shifty, it means we're not looking at the person we're talking to. There's just no winning here.

Blackadder!!!!! So good :)

Yeah, Winston, you rock!!! ETA: your guess made so much sense that I somehow intuited it as what was going to happen. Hope that makes sense!

Mysterious? :D Half the forum had guessed!!! (Yeah, forum, you rock)

I agree with you that she didn't move on, couldn't really get on with her life because of this interrupted grieving process. In the same way, her daughter will probably never hear fun stories about her dad, because of the perfectly bland model living in the attic. The most terrifying part is that anyone who's ever had a loved one die can relate to her behaviour at the beginning. It's so normal to want the person back. And if technology makes it possible, so tempting. But ultimately so damaging in so many ways. Not only because it's impossible to move on, but because the "thing" will make you forget all that was unique and that made you love the person in the first place and later on. And you'll be left with resentment and maybe bitterness. I imagine. My brother died suddenly in an accident when he was 26. That was before facebook. I am pretty sure that if he had been on it, his girlfriend would have become obsessed with everything he had ever seen, said and smiled at on facebook. (She had quite the obsessive personality...) And then, ultimately, new discoveries would/could have replaced real memories of him. So, basically, these technologies aiming at extending memories ultimately end up erasing what is most unique/personal/human, and not captured by the technology because it is what what the person made them loved. I'm just "talking out" ideas here, but indeed this episode is one of those that have stayed with me the most. I tend to prefer the episodes happening in a world at first look identical to ours, and where some technology we already know has become so powerful as to dramatically change life as we know it.

This was for Randall and only Randall, with no consideration to anyone else in the family. How did nice and thoughtful Randall kid and teenager turn into such a self-centred adult Randall? Yes, indeed, and nutty is a very nice way to qualify that :) For all of Randall's talk that Tess is super important to him, he doesn't seem to pay her enough attention. Maybe he should think back to St Jack and how he related to his kids, and more specifically to him, Randall, one on one. Or maybe that was only trough long monologues, like he delivered here to Tess? Then, my bad. Also, I liked to parallel of Tess, like Kevin, being "number one", with all the lack of attention that goes with it. I tend to think they purposefully didn't want it to be how it would take place normally, so that we could be "surprised" - [please imagine a "barf" emoticon here]

I think she was less "bent out of shape" with Evan not helping her that with Kristi providing unsolicited help to Evan (who had not helped before) in the next challenge, right after they had built back a modicum of leeway after starting in last place.

Late to the party for this thread and agree with your whole post, but wanted to add tis about Henry/Hen: I once worked with a guy who had chosen Henry as his English name, while his Chinese name was Hong Ru. He once explained that while he was studying in the US, he got blue in the face trying to tell people that the "g" should be mute, and ended up choosing "Henry", although he would have prefer keeping his (Chinese) name. And now I thing that maybe if people had call him Hon, or Hen, rather than something rhyming with kangaroo, he might not have felt to need to rename himself :)

Hey, this could describe Sarah Moon pictures!

Play hooky? Isn't that what they do all year long, with your assistance? :)

Come on, it's supposed to be "tell me something I don't know"! Anyone who studied Latin knows that :)

Hey, she might have been up against ever worse vocal fry in her debate! We'll never know... Henry seems ok with the team dynamics, so there's that. I'm still not crazy about that team, but they're doing well in the race. The beauty of not having a "love" or a "hate" team is that I can enjoy them all for what they are, and watch the race with an open mind :) Kind of like that time when I watched horse racing and was told of the pros and cons for each horse/jockey combo. [Talking of which, I miss Phil's "pros and cons", or am I misremembering, and was that only in foreign versions?]

I feel for you and can relate. I was even further away, working in Hong Kong at the time. But yes, the feeling of dealing with your own grief while both not being supported by the person you feel should get you, but also having to tiptoe around her is very, very painful indeed. [Aside to all: I seem to remember that last season we had a thread to talk in more details about the experiences or feelings that happenings in this show brought back to mind, what was it? It might be worth reactivating so the discussion can go on past the episode while not over saturating the episode threads]

It is indeed a comforting tradition, and I wish we could all abide with it. I experienced something very similar, but only for a few days, and in a Moslem sitting, where the bereaved family was the one feeding visitors. The Jewish tradition seems kinder, in that the grieving family is being taken care of rather than having to care for others, but still, what I saw of the Moslem tradition wasn't that different, with the extended family making sure the dozens of visitors were fed and the grieving family left to share memories of the deceased with visitors. Are the Sephardic and Ashkhenaz traditions the same?

Red is the color to have in Chinese culture!

Nope. Moroccan.

If I had gone with the tradition on my father's side, my wedding would have lasted at least 4 days (the cheap version) and have requested at least 12 outfits, if we were playing it low key. And of course, counting extended family, about 400 guests just on my paternal side. On my mother's side, the wedding would have been one day only. Get family, extended optional, feed them a fantastic meal, collect your gift and voilà! My hubby's side was the weirdest: in his culture the bride has to pretend to be kidnapped by the groom....??? Yeah, we went with the simplest one, one day wedding, just close friends and relatives, but now I'm thinking that the big hoopla could have been much more fun,as the marriage didn't last anyhow

Having received something "before" and getting a memento "after": both powerful, both needed, trust me. My mum (a trained soprano) always said that she liked the music we kids were listening too. It makes a lot of sense to me because I've discovered many artists thanks to my son, the same way he discovered some because I was listening to them. Nobody I know who likes music and/or has kids they are interested in stays in a bubble music wise.

off topic, slightly, but when my brother died it helped to be able to share fun parts of him with people who had experienced them too; when my father died, there was only my mother left, and she didn't want to hear of any fun memories I had of my dad, because they had been apart for a while and (as it took me a while to understand, she still mourned the end of their relationship more than his death). This show has made me realized that when I or my ex die, my son won't have anyone (other than maybe the other parent left, but that would be awkward in any case) with whom to reminisce the fun stuff. And it's a weird feeling, having lost a sibling I thought him being an only child, at least he wouldn't have to suffer that. I also never though my marriage would end (yes, I'm very naive), and therefore never considered how tough the future losses could be for him.

This feels like a very dumb downed Survivor version. It's not as if any of the things TBTB now want to highlights haven't been considered by the various players over the course of many seasons. I think that this kind of blueprint that will now be given to them ("accountability chart", for real??) would be laughed at and disregarded by good players who play to win, but might unfortunately work with contestants who want to please TPTB in order to be brought back. The fact that this bunch of contestants is apparently the youngest ever plays into that both ways: maybe (especially if they're not real fans) they'll buy into the new blueprint, or they're young enough that they can be brought back again, and again, and again. It's a bit sad that this organised blueprint is trying to bring back elements that were organic in earlier seasons, while at the same time everything is done to wreck havoc on what made earlier seasons work. I wish TPTB consulted with this board, they may not like all our ideas, but collectively we could make change happen in a more interesting way, I think.

Interesting... That reminds me that a few times, years ago, I dreamt about a small house, two or thee times, always the same one, that I have never seen in my life but that in my dream I knew rmeant I was safe - the first time, I was running away from some kind of danger and once I got inside I knew I was safe. Then, weeks or maybe months later, I dreamed again of this same house, once or twice more, and I recognized it from my first dream. Being in it or reaching it was a great comfort each time. It's a bit weird, because I was probably at mildly unhappy/at best blah time in my life - And what I saw of the inside of the house was only the small front yard and the entry way/hall, which looked more like a grotto - the outside was was some kind of white adobe or lime washed walls, with a plain wooden door - but I knew it was already safety and an entryway to an unknown but peaceful and comforting place. And I was going to ask what you made of this, but just writing it out, I think I'm figuring it out :) And I now feel that describing a dream is one of the most revealing acts - much more than a nude selfie :D

Me on a sunny day, looking at the mess I made on the French windows when until then I though I had done a job job cleaning them - how on earth do you clean these monsters???? Agree about being a good host when you are the host. Back in the 60s, my mum was very impressed that my paternal grandfather, a teetotaller, always offered good Champagne and wines to his guests. I never got the point of spending more than you can afford for a big splashy wedding. I'd go for a lavish holiday if you really want to splurge, and dinners with family and friends (dinners, plural, because it might work better to separate those for different vibes). Maybe the internet is to blame, I would have thought Hollywood and the big wedding movies who I think the industry that has emerged around wedding must be grateful for, but as I'm not on social media, it's possible that it's even more hyped there. My youngest brother in law was despairing about how much was going to be spent for his big event of a wedding, but went with it because as the last one to marry, he felt he owed it to his parents (none of his siblings had gone for the huge all-extended-family wedding, which seem to be a huge thing for them).

Really good episode - fiiiiinally this is the Maze I love and missed. Ella was also more of her old self. Hope it continues in that vein!