CeeBeeGee

Shannon's hair flip in the opening credits is so gorge. I have very long hair (too long really) and a lot of it but it is very fine and never ever gets off that casual "flip it over my shoulder as I smile my perfect transplanted California girl smile."

The show really, really dropped the ball when they didn't hook up Ohhnnndrea and Steve as a couple. Whyyyyyy did they dangle that possibility in the SAT episode and then just forget about it? They had crazy chemistry together and the characters would've brought out the best in each other. Ohhhnnndrea would've inspired Steve to be the best he could be instead of just partying, and Steve would've encourage Ohhhndrea to let down her hair once in a while. Tragic. Oh--and yes, the actress playing Emily is just not good. I hate attacking actors--I'm one myself--but her affect is so. flat. I see nothing on her face. no subtext, no beats, nothing. People criticize Tori Spelling but she had energy and you could tell she was up there trying. (And she got better--she was terrific in Death of a Cheerleader.) Honestly I think the Emily actress was cast for her hair. (That is a thing. A cool look plus an overconfident director ("I can MAKE her give a good performance!") can seal the deal.) I love Steve. He is what he is and is not in denial, and is very charming about winning you around to his way of thinking. I don't like that he cheats and I don't like his veiled racism in the S1 basketball episode but he is a lot more likable than Brandon, because one thing Steve never is is self-righteous.

Holy crap, I am old enough to remember the vile poisonous wannabe swill that is carob. My stepmother (at the time something of a hippie and I love that she introduced whole wheat bread to me but...) tried to sell my brothers and me on carob and it was GROSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So, so, so disgusting. So flavorless, so awful, so completely inadequate in every way as a substitute to chocolate. The mental scars remain. For a LOT of this episode I was thinking "okay, this isn't very well written or shot." Too many stock shots of the party crowd, too many cuts back to Donna and the lame "Spring dress retread" (at least they lamp-shaded it with Steve), SO much filler. This ALL changed when Donna and Brenda walked in on the attempted rape--Brenda running to the door and bellowing "DYLAN, I NEED YOU" and Dylan showing up seconds later was my everything. I just fucking loved that--Brenda, instantly sizing up the situation and deploying her attack dog. Fantastic. And then Steve with his throwaway "How dare you hurt her, I LOVE that girl!" with the coup de grace punch later on. I like seeing consistent and nuanced character writing and as annoying as the Steve/Kelly bickerfest can be, that reaction of Steve's was golden. These two love each other.

Jesus, Svetlana, SHUT THE FUCK UP. Goddamn her and her shitty sportsmanship and her racism and her utter, utter lack of empathy and compassion and just being a goddamn human being.

This is also addressed in Heavy Medals (thanks xaxat for posting that. Fantastic, hard-hitting set of episodes). Maggie thinks Penny told Marta to leave Maggie off the team, she said that Marta was crying. Even at the time, no one could understand why Gabby was chosen over Maggie or Mackayla Skinner. Maggie was better all around and more consistent, and Mackayla had a very solid shot at a vault medal. And the word was that Penny thought Gabby was...more commercial? Somethingsomething about her endorsements with big-ticket sponsors like Bank of America? And even at the time that made absolutely no sense to me. And hearing now that he targeted Maggie because she spoke up about how the USAG-sanctioned doctor who was trusted with their well-being was assaulting them???? Assaulting the children he'd been charged to protect? And this had been going on for nearly 20 years? What the actual FUCK???? And the girl who speaks up about this is left off the team in retaliation? The former girl, now woman who spoke up about what had happened in 2000 (Jamie Dantzscher) was slut-shamed by USAG? What a greasy, repellant, corporate fuck Steve Penny is. UGH. Just fuck off in prison. Marta is still in blissful denial, BTW. The one interview she gave after the allegations went public, she insisted she knew nothing about it (which I can believe) and is therefore not responsible in any way. She doesn't see the connection between the abusive, oppressive environment she and Bela fostered and Nassar exploiting that for his own use.

As someone above said, credit cards were very easy to get in the late '80s/early '90s. There were booths on college campuses and I remember walking through a mall and someone tried to get me to sign up for one. (I was about 20 but looked much younger, maybe 14-15 and she still tried to push it onto me. I just told her I wasn't old enough.) Interest rates were much higher then--the typical interest rate was somewhere in the mid-high teens and some cards went as high as 25% APR) and the idea was to push this person to build up a balance and then just keep revolving that balance, cycle after cycle, and paying interest on it. They didn't want you to pay in full. When I started cleaning up my credit and paying in full, I was part of a trend and I remember reading an article about credit card companies issuing veiled warnings about their customers who did this, saying something like "we see you, we have plans for you"--because they would then lose all that interest.

Did the show open with animation? I'm thinking they either wanted to bookend it or it's a nod to the graphic novel. I'm so confused about the decoupling--which cars were decoupled? I thought they wanted to let go of First but Pike was in the Folgers' car toward the end (and he threw out LJ), correct? Or was the idea that most of First was in the school car where the "treaty" was supposed to be signed, so they decoupled those cars? I wish they did better character work but I'm still hooked on this show. It is truly surreal watching this show, this summer. The actor who plays Miles is incredible for a child actor! Very subtle work.

I agree! This is the correct amount of Ani. She is a good character, IMO, and I like the actress. Just don't make her front and center, sharing her insights with us about characters that we know better than her, and we'll be fine. And Stu in the miniseries The Stand! I noticed this as well. It's especially ridiculous that Justin--small, slight, however athletically talented Justin--is on the football and basketball teams. Whatever, I adore Justin and the actor, I'll let it slide 🙂 The Clay Pass this season has been un-fucking-believable and it's a big part of why I don't care for the character as much. He grabbed the security officer's gun out of its holster and he's not DEAD? Seriously? He walked into a police station claiming to have a gun and he's not DEAD? Seriously? Must be nice being an upper middle class white kid. Also, ever since Carrie came out in '76, a lot of movie/series have made reference to the spring dance as being THE dance, the most important social event of the year, where dramatic things happen. At least back when I was applying, for a good school, you had to have an interview. So Clay and Jessica definitely would've had to sit down. (But not at school. That was weird.) It's obvious they used the idea of the interviews to explore the trauma the characters are experiencing. I was wondering if the lesions on his body were a harbinger of AIDS--but then I thought "Wait, doesn't AIDS take forever to manifest nowadays? And can't they prolong it pretty much interminably?" I will say, Justin's scenes in the hospital room had me bawling. Flynn is a phenomenal actor, one of the best of his generation IMO, and Alisha Boe is also excellent. (They all are. For all my problems, the cast is excellent.) Yes, essays are common in the States, for any kind of competitive school. Bryce raped many girls--not because he was angry but because he felt entitled to do so. Afterward, he threw his actions in his mother's face and then enjoyed an erection while reminiscing about them. (One of the all-time creepiest moments of the entire series.) Monty had time to plan Tyler's rape (enlisted two colleagues, found a broom/mop). He was angry about losing his season but he had time to consider. Courtney kind of redeemed herself during Season 2 (and she hugged Clay at the dance as part of the At Least We Tried to Get Justice League) but did we ever see Ryan again after his shitty behavior in Season 1? In a cast of uniformly excellent actors (even Minette, whom I'm not crazy about, I just don't think he should've been the FRONT AND CENTER of this season), I find Flynn's acting absolutely extraordinary. He says so much with his eyes--he's really very, very good.

Working my way through Season 4 and just finished Ep. 6. Jesus. Fucking. Christ, Clay. I just cannot. I think yet another season crawling up this bougie white guy's nose and hearing his endless thoughts was a mistake. Winston might've been a better choice as narrator, since he is driving much of the action. Or maybe Justin since he is at the center of everything as much as Clay is. Or even Alex since he's the one who actually killed Bryce. Part of the problem is sadly, that Dylan Minette is just not that interesting being front and center THIS much, with endless, endless variations on aNgSt. He doesn't really have a ton of range as an actor--90% of what he's given is some kind of trauma or shock and he seems to deliver all of that the same way, with that slightly slack-jawed expression. Occasionally he is given some sassy, snarky stuff ("Unhelpful Yoda! Unhelpful Yoda!") and he sells that much better, IMO. And I did love the the sad resolve of his final address to I think exploring the long-term trauma of all they've experienced over the past several years is a good choice but I just don't think he's the actor or the character. Right now I want to slap him. And I feel so, so bad for his parents--the SHIT they've had to put up with--and Justin. I really liked Estella's conversation with Tyler. Not surprised that Alex is exploring--I called that back in Season 2 when he got an erection after wrestling with Zach.

South Pacific is literally about white racism--that's the overriding message of the play. Not "everyone's a little bit racist"--white racism, specifically Nellie and Lt. Cable. Can you imagine the kerfluffle if Tootie is cast as "the racist"? Just do a different play that can be cast with no regard for race. And cast someone who can actually sell a song.

RIGHT???! (I've been saying this for years. Nellie is written to be a sheltered, white person from Little Rock whose latent racism is exposed when it is revealed that Emile has two bi-racial children. And her audition is awful--I hate the way she ends "Wash That Man..." by staying on the note instead of climbing up the scale the way it's written in the score. And the limp, awkward way she renders "Some Enchanted Evening"...! She has that abortive jerk with her right arm, she's not focused--oh, she's terrible. She's not necessarily that unusual for the typical HS performer, it's just that everyone is saying "oh NO, Tootie HAS to audition, she's so GOOD." No, she isn't. Background: someone who has performed in musical theater all her life, including professionally all over the world.)

I love I, Mudd! Seeing an annoyed Kirk effortlessly tear Mudd apart is always fun and it's a blast when they all work together to drive the androids crazy from illogic. The sexist part is the stereotype of the nagging shrew...I think her name is Stella? (Which is '60s lazy comedy tropes at its cringeiest.) Yeessssss. Plus Extremely Hot Shirtless Kirk, plus Adorable Kirk bluffing to get Spock off the bridge, plus some hilarious fight choreography in the hallway (at one point Kirk pushes himself off the wall, it's hilariously awkward-looking), plus Awesome Kirk tricking the Orion ship, plus a great conversation between Spock and Amanda. Ih yeah, plus Sarek's too-cool line "Threats are illogical, and payment is usually expensive." (Plus Kirk in dress uniform. Rowr.) Amok Time is fantastic throughout but one of my favorite scenes in all of ST is when Spock is haltingly trying to tell Kirk about pon farr, and the fight music is played under it in a very slowed-down tempo. It adds such great tension to the scene. I have Black Fire but haven't read it since the '80s--he wears one black earring in that one, right? GREAT episode and HandI just re-aired it tonight. Newmar is so completely badass as Eleen. "Not you. Only Mak-koy may touch me." I love how she surprises the audience when she lies that K, S & M are dead. And that outfit!

Have been rewatching Season 3 to prep for Season 4 and I have rethought my position on Ani. On second watch I found her COMPLETELY ANNOYING. I feel badly for the actress who does a great job with what she's given--this is completely not her fault and she is an excellent actress--but this is a structural error. For a series where so much is made of explosive secrets, who confides in whom, a character like Ani is a huge mistake. There are so many scenes where something interesting is happening onscreen and then Ani's voice floats over, telling us how to feel about it, bringing the momentum to a screeching halt. Like when Jessica made her "apology" at the rally--an amazing scene, she is able to take control of the moment and turn it into this righteous, powerful carol sung by the unheard....until you hear Ani telling us "Jessica was fearless...." Shut UP! We know her! We've watched her evolve and grow for two seasons now! You just moved here two months ago! Anyone would've been a better narrator than her but I'm especially bitter that Sheri wasn't brought back.

I like to think of that as a jazz Okino--a triple turn with a bent leg 🙂

No, she misstepped (didn't fall but lost her footing a bit) on a punch front tuck. She executed the 2 1/2 wolf mount perfectly. Teren Humphrey also did a lovely wolf turn mount in 2004.

I don't think they have jobs because Ruth (?--fur-wearing woman who makes dramatic announcements to the Tailies) said some thing like "unlike the rest of us, you don't have to ..."--I don't remember how she put it but I had the strong impression she was saying they were basically skimming off the system as opposed to perpetuating it.

You see him a lot standing near the Lilah (red-headed former corporate lawyer) and LJ (red-headed bored daughter who wants to slum in Third Class and eat noodles there) family. (The family was also seen in this episode in the casino car and watching the fight from above. LJ, the daughter, is always cutting looks toward him and in fact did so when the witness wandered into the car where the fight was taking place. Not exactly sure who he is in relation to the family.

That's what I thought as well, he was drawing a map of the different cars he'd seen so far.

I don't get the let them eat cake attitude with the First Class. As you say, what does their money mean now? They can't access more of it--or is there some kind of nascent banking system, complete with speculation/stock market, that creates income for them? Good point--either they have redundant cattle cars, or there's an animal husbandry car where they're breeding more cattle. I don't think dairy cows are slaughtered while they're still nursing? So I think there might be some more. Yeah, I thought the Layton rebellion was not strategic, in addition to being bad storytelling. We had a violent uprising at the end of that last episode, a violent punishment for said uprising at the beginning this this episode (Jesus, the thing with the arm was horrifying) and we end the episode with...another violent set piece, ending with his interrogation with him wearing a literal mask of blood. I did like the Third Classer with the punk haircut (can't remember her name) who was so suspicious of him last episode and at the beginning of this one, gradually start to respect him to the point that she took down the bigoted heavy-set dude toward the end. In these first few episodes, I want to see as much of this world as possible.

The cows are frozen--frozen meat is still consumable.

YES. This. There are fewer than 3,000 people left in the entire world and people are arguing they should be tossed out? Seriously? The survival of the species is at stake. Every one of those unwanted Tailies is an opportunity to improve the situation--to design more and better cars (is there a factory car?), to figure out a way to mitigate the climate (is there a science/research car?). Every one of those Tailies is a human being with potential to help solve the dire situation all of them are in. Capitalism is immaterial here, whether or not the passengers and staff believe it is. What is relevant is the question what must every passenger on that train do to help advance the species, to help protect all of them so they can procreate and build up the species. The idea that the Tailies are prohibited from procreation? Staggeringly stupid. Human rights are rights, not a commodity for sale, and the first right of every human being is the right to try to survive. The idea that some people were wooed by caviar and saunas into purchasing a ticket for their very survival--and that those amenities thereby reduced room for greater numbers of human beings* (which would mean a likelier chance that the species would survive)--is...improbable but I guess that's the premise I have to accept--that Mr. Wilfred was either a sociopath or someone who knows nothing about functional extinction. I have to wonder if the show will ever explore the literal existential crisis of the premise. *Yes, yes, I'm aware that Wilfred couldn't let everyone on the train, that there had to be some kind of way of winnowing them out.

The narration early on said something about how "Mr. Wilfred was the only one to see what was coming..." and so "he" designed and built this incredible train. If he had that much foresight, he would have to have seen that current infrastructure could not support such a train. He would therefore also have had to laid down a new, wider set of train tracks--there's simply no way a train as narrow as current trains are could support a beach, an ocean (the website says the Aquarium sustains multiple species, including one in the illustration that looks like a dolphin or perhaps a shark--remember, it would have to have hundreds of these larger fish to sustain a species), a greenhouse, the spacious living quarters we see for the First Class...I think new, wider train tracks would have to have been laid down. And of course our current train tracks don't go from the western hemisphere to the eastern hemisphere.

I went to the website and they have an interactive feature where they pretend you're a prospective customer, and they try to sell you on the train's features and you can explore some of the cars. I'm assuming as the narrative progresses, they will open up more and more cars. I went through all the ones I could, some of which were not on last night's episode. There is a library car, an art museum car and a car for live entertainment, including theater. The ocean car surrounds the sushi bar--they show passengers standing in the sushi restaurant looking up at the water. Which makes me hope Naked Sushi Chef was swimming when the restaurant was closed! All the different cars are fascinating but I have to wonder if there's some kind of rapid transit function--it's tiresome enough walking through three different cars when riding Amtrak to get to the cafe car. Imagine having to walk through 100 cars--or 500 hundred--just to get to the library. No wonder no one wants to go down to the Tail.

That's what I got--the big twist.

Okay, I'm hooked. I have a deep love for dystopian stories and how people live under hellish conditions--how do they eat? Where do they sleep? What do they do for amusement? And I also love trains in general, how everything is miniaturized. I'm already impressed with the world-building here. They have an ocean car? Fascinating. Huge cast but the Wikipedia page helped me sort them out a bit. Jennifer Connelly is such a fantastic actress. Utter badass competence just oozes out of her every pore, it's all in her body language. I like the uniforms that the hospitality team wear.