mrsjoe

I think it’s ridiculous that whitelighters are so easy to kill in this one. What good is a healer/guide who can be easily taken out by a powerful witch or demon? I'm sure that they made a big deal about the fact the source of magic can be good or evil depending on who controls it totally does not mean that Parker’s two halves will be in conflict, fighting for control. Cole indeed...

Yeah I’m with you. I think we’re meant to think it was Charity, but it’s either someone shaped like her or she’s possessed. Don’t forget, Parker’s dad was able to mind control her and leave her with no memory if it with no difficulty. I think what made the Charity killing the elder reveal at the end so surprising is that they must have directed interesting Elder lady to act suspicious the whole episode. When Macy saw the memory, I figured it had been implanted there to frame Charity, especially after the out of nowhere “you must have gotten premonitions power from your mom” and shooting the thing at Macy’s head. The show really feels like they are not optimistic how many episodes they are gonna get, so it’s possible the reveal of Charity being the killer this early was real, but I doubt it.

I don’t think they did a good enough job conveying what Roger was going through to make him not seem like a jerk for second guessing returning the Bree. In the book, he’s in terrible pain, still hates Jamie, deeply in regret about many of his choices, etc. the show seemed to portray it as a “hot showers might be more important to him than Bree” thing. It’s especially annoying when in the after clip, they mentioned the writers had to talk about if Roger was not redeemable. They really made some bad choices along the way with Roger due to the whole time constraint. This episode leads me to believe that those who are thinking Sophie’s main problem is concentrating on the accent all the time. It seemed like when she was not speaking, her acting Improved drastically. And I guess she can’t be blamed by the oddness of quietly laying there waiting after childbirth to even know the gender of her baby or see him. Were the writers trying to convey depression mixed with exhaustion? I can’t imagine popping the baby out, not even looking at him and then everyone running out of the room while I just sat there quietly, and I’ve given birth three times. So weird.

Thank goodness we spent almost a whole episode of Brianna recovering from a fall in Scotland, not even showing the Murrays, so that we can just fly through these last two episodes. I thought we would at least get Claire and Jamie with the Mohawk today, seeing as that happens before the fire, and I figured the after intro clip was the Mohawk sampling Jamie’s whiskey. Unless we discover next episode that’s why the barrels were near the fire? That would be frustrating. The preview makes it seem next week will be a rescue mission instead of a negotiation, but we know Ian will end up staying, so I am thinking that’s a fake out. Wonder if Roger will baptize the baby. I assume it will be the baby’s uncle who asks, but how would he know that Roger is “son of priest”? Maybe they’ll not waste time on that next week? I'm not sure my feelings on the Steven Bonnet escape not being corrupt soldiers and instead the result of Fergus’s Murtagh rescue team conveniently dropping keys.

Besides a lot of River Run visitors being Scottish, I believe we also learn in a later book Well and I believe at that time an engagement was basically as binding as a marriage, so consummation occurring would make them married in most eyes. Roger ending up alive will make her ineligible to have made a contract with Lord John, since the handfast with consummation makes the law see her as married already, thus allowing them both a way out of the engagement. In the books she and Lord John even discuss they don’t think she is even eligible to get married anyway while Roger lives, even if she did cave to her Aunt Jocasta. In the book they all know, and I seem to recall her even emphasizing it to try to get the gay judge's mother to stop looking at her, but it turned out she was misinterpreting the stares and the mother had realized that Bree coming into the marriage pregnant was her only shot at being a grandmother and her son having an heir, since she’s figured out being gay is why her son never married. The book calls it “granny lust”, which I have used in conversation... the other suitors don’t care because they want River Run, but I can’t remember if Jocasta appoints Bree her official heir before or after the dinner.

I loved the interplay between Jocasta and Bri, especially when Jocasta is furious and bitter (pretty sure she can’t let go that she did the honorable and dutiful thing while Ellen was given a pass), but can’t help herself but almost be impressed and affectionate that Bri showed herself a true Mackenzie.

I figured Roger would be practical and shaved it to reduce chances of beard lice in addition to fashions at the time. Right. That’s what I was thinking. It always seemed like Frank trained Brianna on all those skills like shooting, hunting, etc from the time she was a child, so the timeline doesn’t add up. I thought it was telling that Ian says she has her mother’s eyes, as if to acknowledge no one would believe it if they said Brianna looked just like Jamie. In the book, Everyone, including Jenny, believe her right away even without the pearls because she looks just like Jamie and is clearly built like him. Jenny even figures it out with no mention of who brianna could be. It’s only Laighoire who doubts her, so it’s interesting that Laighoire believes her immediately in the tv show, but then she says she’s Claire daughter first, not Jamie’s. I’m not sure what to make of the shifts in Laighoire’s personality. Seems odd that someone who attempted murder previously would have such a generous nature, but maybe part of that is her hatred of most men leading her to assume Brianna has been wronged by a man, kicking in her generous side.

I think the show was pointing towards him not. It would take a lot to counter his mother's influence and the impact of his dad just walking by and leaving him as he was scared and getting arrested. They showed that it actually took many years and a lot of events, both big and small, to radicalize his dad. Here’s hoping Samir gets a better life. I too kept waiting for Victor to be relevant. Maybe they are setting him up as a main character next season?

I figured I would start a topic for general season one discussion. Overall, the storyline wasn’t exactly creative or unpredictable. I mean who didn’t guess early on Kathy’s Ebola work was connected or that the prisoners got medicines so they could be infected? There were many examples like that. I think what made the season so engaging, besides John Krasinki’s charm, was that they put so much thought and definition into all the characters. And then they did a great job casting those characters, and that’s what kept me into it. I am hoping next season they can take the characters they developed and put them into a surprising plot, but with how much the spy/government agent thing has been done that might be too difficult to do.

I think what made Melissa’s ep so slow is that her problems were too normal. Lots of people getting a divorce, lots of single moms struggling, lots of people fighting to make ends meet, lots of people weighing in the 200s wishing they weren’t, etc. I tend to watch more for the problems that I don’t see every day! That being said I could definitely relate to snacking because the kids are snacking and getting overwhelmed and needing chocolate, so I feel like it was a good episode. You root for her because her emotional and addiction issues have not turned her into a complete jerk like so many on the show.

Omg. The GoFundMe. Someone must have pointed out that she didn’t come across as knowleged on her first couple attempts and corrected it with upgrades such as punctuation. What I’ve been searching for is what she specifically is trying to say was inaccurate in the episode. Has anyone found this? First she says she didn’t eat the pizza, but they didn’t really lie about that. Dr. Now was giving his opinion she was lying and about 99% of viewers sided with him. It’s not a lie. And she says they glossed over her medical issues, but the episode showed even the issues she has must be controllable enough to allow for weight loss, since the hospital stay resulted in loss, so that doesn’t appear misrepresented or a lie. She also claims she was “dragged”to Houston, but I don’t see how volunteering for the show and moving is dragging anything. She also mentioned them leaving out her emotional issues, but I thought this was pretty covered in discussions of her traumatic abuse and recommending multiple times she needed therapy. So I guess I just wondered if she had stated what was a lie and inaccurate in the episode. Like, if she went to therapy and they stated she hadn’t, that’s one thing, but my suspicion is there is nothing she can point to like that. Unless of course she is saving all that for her “true story” she is using the gofundme for...

I was actually glad for Dr. Now to clarify that. I think we’ve gone back and forth on the boards whether that was the success rate for with or without the surgery, and I’m pretty sure Dr. Now said 600lb patients with the surgery only have a 5% success rate this episode, so I guess we have the answer. I laughed her out loud at this. She can claim the episode was edited to make her look bad, but the bottom line is she recorded the line the doctor said she couldn’t stay on her diet while pregnant I guarantee at most the doctor said she should adjust her diet up 300 calories or so. There is nothing on the banned foods list a baby needs to develop. I would have thought she was just stupid and misunderstood the doctor, until she didn’t even deny the fact that she was stating she had cancer when no biopsy had shown that. I believe Dr. Now when he says her situation is almost never cancer and her records show it’s not over her and her husband claiming it is. Anyone who has ever been pregnant can sympathize with wanting to eat terrible foods. I just never claimed I ate French fries at 8am on the way to work because a doctor told me to. When she talked about the rough patch she and her husband were going through, I wondered if she only had the baby to “save the marriage”, but it’s hard to imagine her husband leaving her baby or no, so I’m not sure why she wanted a baby. It maybe she realized it would give her tons of excuses. I’m almost surprised she didn’t claim she had postpartum depression and couldn’t diet due to that. At one point Dr. Now commented “you’ve started smoking again” which implies to me she stopped long enough for the surgeries and restarted.

This is TLC. I’m more surprised they didn’t park some unpaid intern at the grocery stores and fast food joints closest to the apartment with a camera and sneak a bunch of secret footage of the husband coming out with heaps of food. Anyone know if she moved back to Indiana? I am guessing her latest excuse is she couldn’t lose weight without her mom there, even though I suspect we only saw the tip of the iceberg of her personality based on her mother pointing out how nasty she turns the second she doesn’t get her way.

I think in the voiceover she confessed that once she allowed herself the casserole she went on a multi-day eating binge, so I think the 14 lb weight gain was from days of eating, not just one night. I’m wondering though if the main reason she confessed is that five days before her surgery I would expect she was supposed to be on a liquid diet, and she decided to let Dr. Now know in case going off the liquid diet made her surgery more life threatening. But now that I think about it, not a single episode has mentioned the liquid diet that usually proceeds surgery. I can’t even imagine these people when they can’t eat anything for two whole weeks. I got that sense too. And you sort of understand her “punishing” her mom, but my guess is she treated her sister like crap too and that’s why two days into traveling with her, Heather was already rethinking moving with her. I can’t even imagine Heather’s perspective. She grew up in the same crappy household, yet because she didn’t get huge, she is expected to give up her own life for a year to wait on her ungrateful sister. On top of which, when she rightfully calls her out on not sticking to her diet (clearly she wasn’t since she gained and didn’t lose), her mom sides against her with the sister. The McDonald’s thing made me think this was just a snack for her and they had already eaten dinner. Does anyone really believe she would only eat one burger and two fries if she hadn’t eaten the whole day they were traveling? I know we all keep talking about the grilled chicken, subs and salad options when you have to eat out, but wouldn’t just eating one regular fast food meal, no extras translate to weight loss for these people who usually eat four meals at once? Eating out is just an excuse to continue eating a huge meal.

I thought this episode felt off. Like she seemed to have some severe emotional issues but then was so successful. Part of me wondered if there was some acting going on. I know they cut parts of the therapy session, but I was turned off by the way she made it sound like her husband had been having an affair and was leaving her, with no mention of the fact they haven’t been truly married for years, all the while calling him abusive as he tries to help her out. The reality was that they were both barely out of high school and got married because she was knocked up without knowing each other well, so hardly an ideal situation for a stable, happy marriage. Of course, I thought she might be faking her hallway collapse, but the Dr. Now explained it was caused by pneumonia, so what do I know? Well I think this episode stood out in that even though they were making unhealthy foods often, it was mostly home cooking. Without the enormous restaurant/fast food bills of the other patients, I have to think they would have a lot more money. The home cooking may have also helped her a lot with her wait loss goals. Like once she stopped eating frozen foods that alone would have cut calories and fat.

I laughed out loud at her complaining to Dr. Now about his income. Oh yeah how awful that he went to school for 8 plus years, became an expert in his speciality, helped pioneer new procedures, worked until his 70s and makes more money than her after her lifetime of not working or moving from her bed?? Anyone else having images of her losing an entire steak in her folds and the maggots developing because she doesn’t even notice, just like the chip bag? Keep in mind based on what I’ve read, the definition of success in these cases is not maintaining a normal weight, but losing at least 50% of your excess weight. So for the people on this show, maintaining even 400lbs or less is successful. By that measure, quite a few people are “successful”. I agree. Withholding food from someone who can’t get it is totally different than offering someone way too much food and then letting them choose to eat it. I am wondering if we are getting tapped out on the 600lb and over crowd and the show should sideline to more relatable people like Danielle who are 300 to 400, but probably more likely to be able to turn their lives around given the resources provided to the 600lb people. Danielle probably can’t afford the surgery and the time away from responsibilities for the surgery (whoever would haul her mom up if she couldn’t lift for 6 weeks)? But then I guess TLC is probably not interested in patients who aren’t mentally ill and just have food issues that could be helped by therapy...

I watched the episode late and had to come on and check if anyone else didn't buy the Sheldon storyline. Bitcoin was 17,000 today. No idea how many people got when they mined them, but even 100 would be over a million now. No way Sheldon loses them over a million dollars and you just let that go. The flashbacks were great, but the laptop shuffling with everything booting right up seemed strange to me, but then the resolution just lost me.

Interesting that Jamie changing Willoughby's identity never really causes anything on the show. I love that Margaret gets a true happy ending instead of basically becoming a fragile deity. The only problem with eliminating "the fiend" story line is that it made Reverand Campbell's killing seem a little bit like murder more than justice. I get it was sort of self defense, but it just seemed less justified somehow. I too thought it was pretty odd to have Claire do the totally cliche cough after almost drowning when they did. Having one book per season and only doing 13 episodes makes some things go so fast. The whole Geilles storyline, including her death, felt rushed. I have to wonder sometimes about the stuff they drag out (like the boat sex scene) compared to the stuff they cut or shorten. Interesting to me how the show really emphasizes Diana's reliance on huge coincidences for storylines to happen. Oh well. We'll just get to wait now for all of next season's enormous coincidences.

Love that you guys timed it out because I too thought it was way too long and slow for how much the show has been trying to cram into one season. I hit the forward ten seconds A LOT, but that may have more to do with starting the episode at 2:30am and wanting to get to the good stuff. Interesting that they left in Mamasita's immediate dislike for Claire, but then didn't juxtapose it with her liking Marsali, mainly because Claire is taller and Marsali was short. I was waiting for a quick mention of her two daughters during the Marsali talk and a bit sad they left it out. Still, in spite of being bored for half, I was left with a good impression of the episode overall. Not looking forward to how they are going to depict the slave trade next week (at least I assume that part is next week...)

My guess is the Willie confession probably had more to do with the fact that they have so far been able to find any actors who even remotely look like Sam, let alone look so much like him that everyone who knows him would guess they are related. Lord John springing Willie on Claire really only works if the audience buys she could tell Jamie was the father the second she saw his portrait, which we all know would be complete BS. Seeing the portrait tonight my first thought was "wow, that kid still looks nothing like Jamie." Just another workaround for the books. Sort of like how they confessed the glasses were a cheat to age Jamie, so we lost Claire joking he needed glasses and him saying his eyes were still great. The aging could be better, but lets face it, Jamie and Claire are both pretty unbelievably non-aged in the books, especially Jamie after what he's been through. Maybe having such a young actor playing an older Jamie will somehow make all the upcoming adventures more believable on screen. I too am anxious to see where they go with Mr. Willoughby. It's always been a dark area of the books for me. I can't imagine them going there. Today seemed like a decent compromise. We get the casual reference to Jamie basically changing his identity without much thought, and we get to see Claire's treating him more respectfully than likely anyone else he has encountered in Scotland.

The accent is one of the few things that doesn't bother me about Sophie. If you have ever talked to people raised by foreign parents the way Brianna was raised in Boston by English parents, they often have muddled accents from time to time. Certain words and phrases they have heard since childhood, a slightly off accent sometimes, etc.. I had a friend raised by Scottish parents in Australia who's parents were called in for a meeting with his teacher for his "speech impediment" in grade school which just turned out to be the influence of his parents. A slip here or there would actually be expected from Brianna. I'm much more bothered by her not looking like Jamie, not being tall, not being striking enough to draw the attention of others, lacking Jamie's je ne sais quoi, on top of not being a good enough actress to hold her own against all the other amazing actors in the cast. Seems like she should have at least one of those traits. Yeah, I'm with everyone. I get why it was in there, but it still felt a bit too much "poor poor Frank". I always felt the books were pretty clear that Frank wouldn't have been faithful no matter how much Claire had loved him and put into their marriage... Glad they spent some time with Joe. Has anyone heard if we might be running into the same actor In the Caribbean?

I think the money would have been the other way around. Ellsmere would have received a large dowry as part of the marriage contract. In exchange, the Dunsaneys got a step up in society by having an Earl as a son-in-law. Many nobility, especially lower nobility, throughout history have married "beneath them" when they found themselves in need of funds. But I'm basing this on weak recollection, so it's possible this specific situation was reversed.

I agree. If any hint of Willie's parentage got out, I'm sure there would have been some distant relative of the Earl ready to fight for the Earldom, especially if Willie was still a child at the time. Pointing out the resemblance was not likely a way to explain it away, but a sign of ignorance I think. My guess is both Geneva's parents fooled themselves into believing the verdict that the Earl had gone insane at the death of his wife. The fact most people would have said something much sooner than the birth if the baby couldn't be his left them with the plausible deniability of Geneva's virgin status at her wedding. I seem to recall in the books the Earl was going to "keep" the baby, knowing it was his only chance at an heir, but really was a bit crazy when Geneva's parents got involved. I'm not sure either the show or the books explains why he went from saying nothing the entire pregnancy to threatening to kill the child so fast...

Thanks for this perspective. I also thought the only reason they did it was because the hairstyle was aging, but then I can at least see the possibility that it's just one of the things she's doing to try to be who Frank and society want her to be, since she doesn't conform in so many other ways. Sort of "I won't give up becoming a doctor and loving someone else, but I'll dress and style myself as the perfect wife". It's sort of her sacrifice. And doesn't hurt that the curls returning will be her returning. Well spotted. As far as Murtaugh goes, I'm wondering if we'll ever get the whole story. I am struggling with Jamie hiding out in a cave while Murtaugh was in prison, so wonder what explanation there will be. Guess it could be as simple as Jamie assumed he was dead until they ended up at the same prison. I wondered though about Jamie calling him Murtaugh Fitzgibbons. Wasn't his full name Murtaugh Fitzgibbons Fraser? Were they purposely not using their clan names because of being in prison? Or did I hear it wrong? Time to rewatch I guess.

I guess not having been alive at that time, maybe my understanding is wrong, but it seems odd to me that a woman who had always been a house wife, living at a time when women were just starting to get small financial opportunities would have the power to completely keep her children from their father. Obviously Frank is right to be afraid since Claire makes a good income and has the power to out him as not being the actual father. I'm just finding it hard to imagine the Millie we met had as many options as Claire. I'm glad I'm not alone in disliking the drastic changes in the Claire and Frank relationship. In the books, no one outside the marriage realized how empty it really was (except maybe Joe who at the very least figures out Frank is not Brianna's bio-father). Frank genuinely feels he has done a great job of hiding it all, and I seem to recall him being surprised when he's announcing he's leaving that Claire knows this is just one girl in a stream of many. I feel like this was important because it sets Brianna up to be completely shocked when she eventually sees a happy and passionate marriage versus two people who genuinely care for each other and make it work. The relationship portrayed on the show is two people barely tolerating each other, and just doesn't match my image of what that actually looked like. They both loved Brianna enough to fake it and would never have waved their failings around so loudly. It's about as unlikely to me as the hairstyles they keep giving Claire. Can anyone who has read the books really believe she would take the time to straighten her hair and tease it into the current style? I can't see that being a priority to her when this episode emphasized what a balancing act she was doing with family and work. It's been bugging me all season and tonight when she came out of surgery perfectly coifed...well...yeah...