Luckylyn

There was some talk in the first episode about their being some sort of a secret agenda beyond running a theme park. I thought it would be good to have a thread for us to discuss theories about what is really going on. My theory is that immortality is the goal. They want to someday when a human is dying be able to implant that person's consciousness in a host. That is why they keep putting in updates to make the hosts more and more realistic. I think they want the hosts to become independent of programing so that when they implant their minds in a host they don't have to worry about being controlled by programmers.

I really liked Esther and shipped her with Jack. I felt like she was a hybrid of Ianto and Tosh.

Oliver was a favorite but is now getting on my nerves. He ruins Connor's chance to get into Stanford even though Oliver knew Connor was desperate to move away. Then when Connor forgives this betrayal, Oliver holds that against Connor. So Oliver does everything he can to trap Connor where Connor doesn't want to be and then dumps him.

I noticed that too. I wonder what it means especially since that moment happened during the part of Ted Dason's speech that dealt with soul mates. I think he's the one who left her the note at the end. I really enjoyed the show. It was fun to watch.

Flipped - Bryce planting the Sycamore tree in Julie's yard. It was just the perfect gesture to show he cared about her and took interest in what matter most to her. Beautiful Thing - The dance in front of everyone at the end Latter Days - The Airport "I love you" Starman - Jenny was told she was infertile but the Starman gives her the child she always wanted. Mr. Wonderful - Mat Dillon puts lights all over the trees as a way to say "I love you"

Alexis Arquette dies at 47

I really appreciate the DA's office refusal to prosecute the Ramsey's despite the pressure from the police, politicians and the public. There just is not enough evidence and too much that can be used to promote reasonable doubt for a successful conviction. There was a case of a man accused of raping and murdering his ex. His girlfriend went to the police and said she was a witness and that he had her take pictures of him committing the crime which the police didn't find. The DA went forward with the case with only the girlfriend's testimony as evidence which the defense was successfully able to discredit because she had a shady history leading to a not guilty verdict. Decades later the man moves out of his house and the new owners found the pictures of him committing the rape and murder hidden in a wall but the police can't go after him because of double jeopardy. There's no statute of limitation on murder and so it is better to wait until you have a strong case than to rush when it's weak. Any conviction would be difficult in this case because there seemed to be a lot of incompetence in the investigation from the very beginning. They claimed they searched the whole house and yet didn't find the body in the basement. The police never properly secured the scene to protect possible evidence. During the period when the kidnapping story was still being pursued, the police allowed various people to come and go through the house unsupervised. Things were moved and rooms were cleaned. There will always be a question mark of what evidence was tainted and/or possibly removed because of that. They insist an intruder wasn't possible but the unlocked storm grate, open window, and foot print on the case by the window show an intruder was possible. The DNA in the underwear and leggings do not belong to anyone living in the house and not to anyone involved in the investigation who may have touched them. All evidence from experts about the use of a taser were discounted even when the experts were able to replicate JonBenet's injures with a taser. When the investigation lead to evidence that didn't support the police theory that the parents did it the police delayed sharing it , tried to bury it, and the special prosecutor tried to have it destroyed. All of that would give a defense attorney for the Ramseys a path to attain a not guilty verdict. It seems to me that if the Ramsey's were guilty than the police screw ups did irreparable damage to the case. Whether it was the parents, someone the parents knew (maybe one of the guests they'd had over for their holiday party or knew the house in some other way), or a random intruder is something that may never be definitively known because there were just too many errors during those first critical days of the investigation. Who knows what could have been uncovered if the police had thoroughly searched the house immediately and not allowed friends and neighbors to possibly contaminate the scene in those first hours.

That random Gunsmoke previously had me laughing so hard. I'm so glad that Gareth's in the loop and that the scientist from the CDC is still involved. There was something so sweet about Laurel taking care of Gareth as he struggles to deal with this situation. I can't help wondering why Red hasn't infected Gareth considering the potential the relationship with Laurel has to divide his loyalties. The fight to kill the Queen was such a great scene but why didn't they come up with some sort of decoy to make sure the intern wouldn't interrupt. They were so close to killing the Queen. The Aliants plan to trick Luke into believing that the government is going to get the Aliants and that Laurel needs to back down was clever. They basically mixed a lie with a ton of facts. This could backfire on the Aliants because now Luke believes the bugs are real.

If I didn't like SA performance as Oliver and he didn't sell those heart eyes at Felicity so well, Season 4 would have completely killed all my affection for Oliver. It really bothered me that while Felicity was stuck in the hospital going through surgery and traumatic bad news about her ability to walk that Oliver didn't visit or even pick up a phone to talk to her leaving Felicity to wonder if he was breaking their engagement and have her forgive him immediately once he bothered to show up. His reasons were about his personal insurities about not beating the one who hurt her with very little thought to what Felicity might need in her recovery. I would have been fine with her refusing to take back the engagement ring after that. Oliver's behavior is especially glaring when they've showed him steadfast with characters like Thea and Laurel, being there for them when they have been hospitalized. Felicity has always been there if he needed it and so his temporary abandonment when she needed him most was really frustrating to watch. Then there's Oliver as a terrible father to William. Dark targeted people close to mayoral candidates and Oliver being the Green Arrow endangered William yet he did nothing to protect the child. He had no sercurity for him even after Malcolm reavealed he knew about William and wanted to do harm to Oliver. The boy had been kidnapped for a couple of days and Oliver had no clue because he did absolutely nothing to protect William from obvious dangers. Oliver kept the child a secret from the people who could be most trusted Felicity and Diggle and had the best skills to protect William. His secret visits to see William would have raised a red flag to enemies who Oliver should know could be watching Oliver which is probably how Malcolm found out. Everything Oliver did endangered William and made him vulnerable to his enemies all while Oliver claimed to be protecting him. The William story could have been handled without stupid illogical lies and Oliver looking like a fool. The show never ever provided a good reason for him to lie about William to Felicity. She has been Oliver's loyal secret keeper for years and would have been an asset to keeping William safe. I think the writers failed to give Samantha a reasonable justification for insisting Oliver to keep William a secret when they could have easily made her terrified because the previous mayoral candidate's daughter had been kidnapped instead of the lame you used to be a douchebag excuse. All of this has soured me on Oliver a lot and it's a credit to SA that I don't completely hate Oliver and hope the next season redeems him enough so that can rediscover why I used to enjoy him more.

That is the great thing about Felicity in that she has a role on the team regardless of whether or not she and Oliver are together. I like Oliver/Diggle/Felicity as a team and don't perceive Felicity as being the boss although the skills she brings are very important.

Thanks

I liked that the ending of Ugly Betty left the possibility of a romance between Daniel and Betty an open question. It's clear Daniel has feelings (he quit his job and followed her to England which is clearly not a platonic action) but what Betty's response will be is left up to the imagination of the fans. I rooted for them to get together.

The writers didn't seem to know what to do with Laurel. They seemed fixated on her as the love interest to the expense of developing her as a character individually in Season one even when the lack of spark between her and SA was apparent. They didn't know how to course correct for her. Other characters were there to fill in slots very effectively that she logically should have been able to fill, Felicity (love interest), Quentin (liaison to law enforcement), Sara (Black Canary). They tried pushing her into the Black Canary role at Sara's expense which was the last straw for me. I thought Sara fit in so well as the BC and as part of the team and resented her being dumpstered to force Laurel into a position that to me seemed unearned. I shipped Olicity but would have been fine with Oliver/Sara being end game because they made sense for me in a way that Oliver/Laurel never did. The frustrating thing is better writing could have made Laurel work. I really think Felicity benefited from not being part of the original plan. They didn't have a fixed idea of who she would be to force her into which let her develop as a character more organically. The writers seemed to crumble under the weight of what they thought Laurel should be vs. what they could execute. The writers also seem to struggle with writing romance which is why fixating on Laurel as love interest in season 1 damaged the character. Sometimes they can get romance right like early Season 4 Olicity and then contrived BS like the Oliver/Laurel/ Tommy triangle and the horribly written William drama that made Oliver look like an idiot shows the lack of imagination the writers have when writing romance. Once the show committed to romance for Oliver/Felicity the writing for Felicity and Oliver got worse. Romance is not inherently bad but writers falling into lazy romantic tropes is. The things that made Oliver/Felicity good were the ways they were different from other cliche pairings. They were honest with each other, could lighten each other up, and had a real partnership. They can get some things so perfect and then get other things so shockingly wrong. It is possibly to let a couple get together, stay together, and still be interesting without a lot of bs tropes (Ben/Leslie, Parks and Recreation, April/Andy, Parks and Recreation, Dr. Mike and Sully, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Amy/Jake, Brooklyn Nine Nine. etc...) I hate the mentally that once a couple finally gets together they must be broken up to make things interesting. So I sympathize with KC because she was offered a particular type of role, and it went wrong pretty much from the beginning and then she eventually was fired from what started as a starring role and evolved into more of a minor character. It seemed she could be a bit rigid in her thinking on her character and struggled to adjust to the direction things went on the show but I think the writers are ultimately to blame. I think KC was miscast but the writers could have been better about figuring out how to use her effectively. They never really organically integrated her into the team. They could have made her develop a closer relationship to Thea in Season 1 and 2 and made her less randomly contemptuous of Felicity in their first couple of scenes together. I thought KC was fantastic on Harper's Island so it was a shock how much I disliked Laurel.

The picture's not working for me. Can you post a link, please?

The Robby Benson factor for me is one of the biggest hurdles. His Beast was perfect. I've liked Dan Stevens in other things. I think I just have to give him a chance and stop comparing him to Robby. It will be hard because I've crushed on Robby Benson since I was a kid (Ice Castles, Harry and Son, etc...) and that just made my attachment to his Beast even stronger. Belle is one of my favorite Disney heroines. I could identify so much with a woman who loved books. I think Emma can do a great job with Belle. I think Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney animated feature to get the romance right. Before Beauty and the Beast the romances were basically love at first sight with no development to show why the two characters should be together. Belle and the Beast have to get to know each other and forge a bond, and it makes their love story compelling in a way the past films weren't.

I liked John in SCC and T3. I felt like I understood where he was coming from. I always remember that flashback in SCC when Sarah is tucking John in as a child and instead of a teddy bear he sleeps with a gun. Knowing since you were a child that people wanted you dead and that the fate of humanity is on your shoulders is traumatic. John's future was decided before he was even conceived, and so much pressure is on his shoulders. If he fails, humanity as a whole is extinct. He can't just live in the present and be a kid. His whole life is about either about being hunted, preventing Judgement Day, or saving what's left of humanity if stopping Judgement Day fails. Brian Austin Green was fantastic as Kyle Reece's brother. I totally bought him as a ruthless solider who still did have a heart he tried to bury to survive. The scene where he watches terminator Cameron perform ballet and is shaken and horrified by her ability to mimic humanity was quite effective. One thing Sarah/Derek shared was their discomfort over Cameron and her usefulness to protect John vs. the danger of John trusting and depending on her too much. The tension between Derek and Sarah over who should influence John was really compelling to watch. There was so much conflict between them, but they are both so alike in how battle hardened they were. I remember someone describing the Sarah/Derek dynamic like they were exes struggling to be co-parents to their kid. They had wonderful chemistry but were never ever romantic. That moment where they are at Kyle's grave and Derek resents Sarah's refusal to fully trust him was frustrating but understandable because she had good reasons for being hyper protective of John. The scene where Derek takes John to the park and John realizes the boys playing in front of him is Derek and little Kyle was one of my all time favorite tv moments. I'm sad that Derek was never included in the films. And that scene where Derek tells John that "We all die for you" really had an impact. So much weight is on John's shoulders since he was a child. I like that John isn't perfect, that he has some resentments for what his life has been, that the pressure strains him, and that he has a learning curve. He has to grow into being the Icon John Connor and that doesn't happen overnight. I sympathized with Sarah being confronted with the possibility of death from cancer which is something she couldn't fight her way out of. Her worry about leaving John and who would be there for him once she was gone was well done. Her distrust of everyone and the tension between being John's mother/military trainer was understandable. She really struggled with the idea of stepping back and letting John lead. Although John at times didn't seem ready, Sarah trying to control him would delay him being ready to lead. She could be his greatest helper or his greatest obstacle to gaining leadership because she wouldn't let go of the reins. He had to stand on his own at some point which is why the final episode separating them made sense. John needed to be dropped into the deep end without knowing Sarah would always be there to charge in if he needed help in order to become the leader he needed to be. Lena Heady was a great choice to play Sarah. I really miss SCC. I think there was so much story to tell if done right and that SCC got it more right than wrong. The conflict over who thought technology could be helpful and those who were anti tech through the Jesse story was promising even though I thought Jesse's plan was idiotic. Plus the whole John Henry thing and the concept of an AI who is anti Skynet was a worth exploring. Also the episode Allison From Palmdale might be the best work Summer Glau ever did.

That's a good point that a sentient AI does not automatically have to lead to humanity's destruction. T2 delaying Judgement Day could have given people time to create other AIs that are more inclined to support humanity. Skynet doesn't have to be the only AI that gets created. The John Henry subplot on The SCC had a lot of potential. I don't think they'd be able to stop the creation of an AI but could affect whether the AI is geared to aid or destroy humanity. They should have made Kate someone who works in the tech industry involved in creating something similar to Skynet instead of a vet. John would have had a "Let's destroy all potential AIs just in case" mentality while Kate would argue that an AI could be made that would help save humanity rather than doom it. They would meet when John shows up to blow up her lab but then a terminator shows up to kill Kate. They could have had a terminator targeting Kate because she was on the verge of making an AI that could defeat Skynet and save everyone. That could have been a fascinating conflict where John's distrusts the tech while Kate sees how it can be used and Skynet would have to deal with competition from a similar kind of tech. John and Kate would go from opponents to allies to lovers while on the run from the terminator.

I think it's realistic that T2 wouldn't be the end because the progress of technology in general is hard to stop. They stopped one company from developing Skynet but other companies could easily be working on the same type of technology. I just don't buy that destroying one company is enough to stop the creation of a sentient AI. So I think there was room for sequels but that the sequels we got weren't executed well. The right story could continue the saga quite well.

I love the first two films. The third film was flawed, but I still liked it. T3's ending really resonated. TS was just okay. T5 was a mess. I think it was a mistake to bring Arnold back because T3 would have worked better if it had been John and Kate on their own fighting to survive the new terminator. It would have paralleled the first film in some key ways. I think the franchise's dependence on Arnold is a problem. Arnold was never the only reason the first two films succeed. What was done with Arnold in T2 worked for Sarah and John's development as characters but after T2 Arnold's continued presence in these films seem so contrived. 'It was always Sarah, John and humanity's struggle against the machines that for me made the films work. I think Sarah going from innocent to warrior is one of the most interesting character evolutions on film. She was so vulnerable in T1 and so deadly in T2. It made perfect sense because of what she'd been through and because of the responsibility on her shoulders to raise John with the skills to save everyone. T3's ending was logical. You can destroy the hardware, but software is way more invasive. You can't just blow it up. It's everywhere thanks to wireless internet and how computers are so much a part of our lives. One thing that is interesting in the Terminator series including the Sarah Connor Chronicles that was that the efforts to prevent Judgement day seemed to making the future outcome worse instead of better. I don't think judgement day realistically could ever be stopped. Even if you stopped one company from developing Skynet another company would probably develop the same tech elsewhere at some point. The only way to every stop it would be to eliminate all tech with something like an EMP which if used would save the world from Skynet but put the world back into the dark ages causing all sorts of suffering. We are too dependent on modern tech to ever be prepared for an abrupt loss of it all over the world. A movie about the effort to stopping Judgement Day causing worse consequences and characters having to go back in time to ensure that Sarah's and John's efforts to stop Judgement day is blocked could be an interesting plot. I think stopping judgement day wasn't likely and so the key is humanity's survival after and John's growing into the leader that ultimately beats the machines. John's knowledge of what is to come the the training he was raised with because of Sarah gave him a tremendous advantage. The effort to getting a head start preparing for the battle to come (like stocking up on weapons, medical supplies, recruiting skilled people, etc) should have gotten more attention. There's an interesting critic of Kyle Reese. He was a great character and his love story with Sarah is one of my all time favorites. Micheal was perfectly cast. I bought him as a solider and also in that moment when he's so vulnerable in admitting his love for Sarah. The parallels between Kyle and the Terminator and how ruthless and robotic Kyle could be really showcase how much Kyle had been through growing up after Judgement Day. It was interesting to find out that Arnold had wanted the Kyle Reese role. The video makes a fascinating observation of how Arnold's continued presence in the series allows him to be in that hero/father role that was Kyle's.

I'm finding Megan Ory unsympathetic in her custody battle. She violates the custody agreement by taking the girls out of state for what was supposed to be a weekend but ended up being permanent move. If my ex decided to move abruptly and take the kids, I would be pissed. Also the show dropped the workaholic plot way to quickly. I don't buy that she can just drop everything at work with no notice to her employer and get another offer from another branch of the company so easily. Whose gonna hire somebody who just leaves town when they feel like it without asking for vacation time in advance? It should be more of a struggle for her to figure out how to manage her work situation now that she wants to shorten her work hours.

I don't mind the Laurel/Gareth stuff. I enjoy them. There are valid reasons why their being together would be complicated, and it doesn't seem contrived to me. The stakes are high with the baby at risk now. I really have enjoyed every episode and am upset the show hasn't caught on. I hope we get a satisfying ending since a season 2 is unlikely. What can Laurel, Rochelle, and Gustav do about the ants if they can't get others on board to believe them? I feel like getting more people on board is the only way to fight since they are so out numbered. The first step to preventing more infections is to teach people what to do if they get invaded like Laurel did. Yet they can't help anyone if they aren't believed. I know the CDC was blocked from continuing research but maybe the scientist who they first were dealing with might be willing to work with them during his off time. He took them seriously before his boss took the project away from him. With so few episodes left, I wonder if we will get a win against the aliants in the end or if we lose.

A United Kingdom My Blind Brother

They were really high quality movies that people looked forward to and talked about. The whole reason Hallmark Channel exists is because of these movies they showed on network tv that had such acclaim. I don't understand why they've stopped producing those kind of prestige tv movies. They are making more movies than ever. So there's room to have more variety in storytelling.

I loved the Anne Tyler adaptations. Back When We Were Grownups is one of my favorite Hallmark movies of all time. Her struggle with being taken for granted by her family and a romance where a woman decides at the end she'd rather be single than with the wrong person was so compelling, The ending was so bitter sweet. I just loved it. None of the new movies this year hit me emotionally the way Hallmark movies used to. I used to be so excited to see the next Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.

I don't mind some fluff but more variety would be fantastic. Stories with more depth and some realistic stakes is something Hallmark used to do well. I remember how much I loved Hallmark Hall of Fame movies when they were on CBS. You might get a drama, romance, a biography..... Those movies were must see for me and then there was a shift and all movies eventually became bland romances. I remember a change in quality when the movies moved to ABC and now on Hallmark exclusively. I love romance but don't necessarily only want to see only romantic movies on Hallmark especially since they've become so generic. I wouldn't even might all romance all the time if there was some variety in the storytelling (comedy, drama, tearjerkers). Also even when the leads have chemistry they're restrained by Hallmark not letting them generate as much heat as they could. I'm not saying I need a love scene but constantly saving the kiss for the end is ridiculous. Let the characters show passion a little more. I really liked the way the leads in Summer Villa had a nice sexual zing even if they weren't touching like in the "come here scene." I want to see more of that in these movies.