sweetandsour

For anyone who wants to watch Eli Stone - either to see it again or to check it out for the first time - it's available for free streaming through, at a minimum, abc.com and the ABC app on Roku. I can't speak for other app devices since I don't have them. But you can find it listed under All Shows or Throwback, along with plenty of other great past shows, like Reaper and FlashForward. As for Zoey, it's not inherently my kind of show, but I did enjoy this. Its mix of light-heartedness and serious emotional beats has piqued my interest. I love Jane, too. Ugh, if Jeremy Sisto were to guest star in an episode with her, I'd be totally eeeeeeee! over it. Honestly, I'd totally take Parker Young guest starring, too. If they want to make the sort of chauvinist co-worker more tolerable, they need to tone him down or at least give him some redeemable backstory and/or personality traits. I know his chauvinism was done on purpose (not that the writers think it's totally fine), but sheesh. I can't imagine a real-world scenario where two men are seen talking and people automatically assume they're sharing secrets or giving unfair advantages, instead of, you know, just doing work. And that womp-womp line about "now I have two female bosses" - well, sure, that IS notable, especially in tech, because the vast majority of the time, hierarchy is male but no one says anything about that. Boo hoo for you, buddy.

OK, here is what I would like to happen to the Twirling Mustache Bros. For some reason, Logan Kim has some kind of dire neurological problem, either from injury or disorder, I don't care. But he's still cognizant for now and can make his own medical decisions. The only surgery that could save him from a horrible, debilitating decline to death is both super risky - he could die on the table instead - and so novel/emerging that Cain is the only one who could possibly succeed. (So Kim can't just go to some other neurosurgeon.) Kim tells Cain that he'd rather die during surgery than be sent to a vent farm to live on machines indefinitely. Bc they're BROS and Cain should see him as a partner, not just another rando patient, right? Even though Cain is like "But MY STATS!" Kim signs a DNR. But bc Kim knows he can't trust Cain, he secretly gives his lawyer a sealed envelope and/or laptop of all kinds of incriminating documents to publicly release (to police, medical board, the press, etc.) if Cain defies his medical wishes. Kim ends up coding on the operating table and Cain does in fact defy the DNR (or deleted it from hospital records in the first place). Kim goes to the vent farm where his neighbor is the lady from the Mother of All Surgeries; Cain is exposed, his license is revoked, he is sued by tons of old patients / their families and his personal assets are drained, and he goes to prison for a lengthy prison term; Bell takes the throne again with Lady Voss by his side; and Conrad is allowed to return to Chastain as chief resident with back pay. This might be too mean, but maybe also a scene of Marshall Winthrop standing over Kim's bed at the vent farm and saying, "I guess those bodies you know about will stay buried, huh?" and a complementary scene of the Raptor visiting Cain in prison, talking on the phones through the plexiglass screen, saying, "Still proud of the man you are?" I could really go on and on ...

It's been over 25 years since Stephen Dorff was in Aerosmith's "Cryin'" video and he's still pretty attractive to me. As for this show, I'll stick with it via DVR season pass and it's got some things going for it, but I really hope they recognize and address the early kinks. I like the relationship between Stephen and Yara, small doses of family life with small doses of the daughter, and I think Brian Van Holt is good in the role, even if the fostering storyline is ridiculous. Compared to another midseason procedural (Lincoln Rhyme), which presented a lot of threads to pull on in the last few minutes of the premiere, Deputy didn't really do that, so I don't really blame viewers for dropping the show after one episode. I, too, thought the camera work was strange at times. David Ayer directed the pilot - I did not see End of Watch, but I did see Suicide Squad and could barely make it through. Will Beall, the creator, was also behind the Training Day tv show a couple of years ago. Thematically/structurally, I see some similarities between the two shows, but I recall side-eying less in the Training Day pilot.

The only thing I "like" about Cain and his stupid former hedge fund henchman is that I know they will look out for #1 when shit starts hitting the fan and they will turn on each other. Sure, there's a plot avenue where they could stand united for the sake of self-preservation, but they are no Conrad and Nic. I hope they each throw the other person under the ten-decker bus of destruction they've created. Hopefully we don't have to wait until the 18th episode for this to happen. (I assume s3 is 18 episodes, but haven't checked.) And please let them go to prison! It's sort of unbelievable Cain has been able to dodge so many bullets in his career, given how he conducts himself, but I'm happy to assume that's coming to an end. And I hope he's publicly disgraced like Lane Hunter was, so he can't just jump to the next hospital that wants him and crow all over the place about the millions of lives he's saved, including Lord of the Rings elves and Abraham Lincoln. This douche needs some "Good Place" accounting. He's always hyping himself to the heavens, but refuses to see all of his negative points putting him at, like, minus bajillion.

I'll be honest, at first I really thought they were implying the cat had Julia's spirit or something like that. She wouldn't leave David's sweatshirt in the laundry basket - Kristen had to forcibly pull it away and the cat hated that. And it seemed to be hissing a lot at Kristen and possibly Renee, too, like Julia the cat didn't like them (due to their relationships with David) in her right spirit mind or an off-kilter spirit mind. I don't actually think she's the cat, but this show would go there. I can't doubt that after the alien baby snuggles in the corn field. I really hope they do better with the whole Grandma presence/impact on the show in s2. Not just "ugh, you're ultimately a terrible person in seemingly every aspect" - if the show wants to do that, then at least execute it well and commit to the storyline consequences. Andy is back with his icy dynamic with Sheryl well-established last episode, plus he followed through on his deal to not tell Kristen about Sheryl's nasty fuckbuddy (fuckdemon?) time in Kristen's office. All of this information withholding seems like really convenient setup to support writing only one parent at home. Like the parents can keep thinking it's okay for one of them go off separately in the world bc the other one at home has help from Sheryl, but neither of them really know how irresponsible Sheryl is and the danger she regularly places the kids in. If Andy really knew the things that had happened under Sheryl's watch and how her fuckdemon is, well, a fuckdemon who giddily salivates over child rape, uh yeah, I don't think he would wave goodbye and return to the summit. If Kristen really knew what had happened under Sheryl's watch and that she's still with the fuckdemon, uh yeah, she would need more help at home instead of relying on her mom. (And yes, she can have paid help instead, but that makes Andy look like even more of a heel for being gone all the time living the dream.) Figures the writers couldn't resist the tradeoff of minimal child screentime with maximum noise levels. They need to have a Come to Jesus moment about the kids, too. They can personally like the cacophony all they want, but most sane people who rely on viewers would not decide to play an incessant alarm clock or fingernails on chalkboard over and over. They don't seem to realize that the girls' undisciplined screaming and yelling is arguably as annoying. I am really hoping they address Andy's simmering "curiosity" about Ben by having them meet in person and Andy walks away from that encounter, shrugging and saying to himself, "huh, he really is magnificent."

I usually watch with closed captioning on since tv dialogue can be hard to make out sometimes. Sometimes the subtitles don't align with what's happening on the screen - it's either too early or too late (or omitted entirely, like with difficult names). During the end of Buck and Eddie's kitchen scene, the subtitle said "[romantic music]" before it cut over to Hen and Karen at their getaway. But I mean ... I don't think the subtitle was out of place, despite its inaccuracy. Re: meteor girl, she must have had the same magic/treatment as Goldie Hawn in "Death Becomes Her." NBD!

Sorry if this has been discussed heavily in previous episode threads, but what have Carly and Shaun done beyond lying in bed together with their clothes on? I feel like that's the last thing I saw them struggling with and starting to make strides with. Have they done other stuff? Because there is a chasm of physical contact between lying next to each other for more than 15 seconds at a time and full-on sex. Sure, a lot of people can jump right to sex, but obviously Shaun's the polar opposite. He's felt her breasts and really enjoyed that, but have they touched each other below the waist with clothes on, clothes off? Have they stimulated each other manually or orally? I don't expect them to show this, but there are other ways to convey those incremental steps. It's coming off as they went straight to trying P in the V. It also seemed like taking their shirts off and looking at each other was a first, too. But Shaun was supposed to go from that "first" immediately to the plunge of penetrative sex? And Carly was disappointed (not sure if she was surprised) that he wasn't able to do that yet? ... Has she met Shaun? ... Debbie continues to annoy. I really have to wonder about her own personal life. I don't expect the show to give screen time to her friends and family, even when she got married, but does she have any? I feel like she doesn't understand the paternal relationship between Glassman and Shaun, and the fact that "having other people in his life" doesn't mean that Shaun doesn't need Glassman. And she's incredibly hypocritical talking about needing to set boundaries when she's shown as not being able to acknowledge/heed boundaries herself. (See: free coffees on the cafe's dime, not hers; insisting Glassman hire her; etc.) She strikes me as the type who would expect to be the #1 person in Glassman's life at all times by virtue of being his wife, even if Glassman's daughter was still alive.

April/Ethan - I don't think they've communicated a single thing about having a baby except for the actual conception. Literally, nothing else. I'm 100% positive that once a baby is born, an exchange about something incredibly important would happen, along the lines of - Ethan: I know you'll miss working in the ER, but you'll be doing the most important job of staying at home with our child. April (with a blank look / one of only two expressions she has): What do you mean? I'm coming back to work after 6 weeks. I thought you would stay at home with our kid since you wanted to be a dad so badly. Ethan: No, we never discussed that. (failing to recognize they never discussed a damn thing) April: OK, well, while I'm on my maternity leave, I'll look into childcare that can work, oh I don't know, 80 hours a week because of our hospital schedules. Ethan: No way is a stranger taking care of our kid. How could you do this, April?! April: How could you do this, Ethan?! And then they glare and stomp away, unable to have an adult conversation about something they obviously could not have foreseen or planned for??? Natalie/Will - They're a total mess except for Will's bout of sanity, finally, but I'm really just going to comment on her son, Owen. Poor kid. Natalie drags him back and forth, integrating these adult men deeply into his life, because she's a lunatic and is going to give him more figurative whiplash than Jordy had literally. And one of these men was Philip, of all people, a crazy dude she really barely knew and the father of a patient with pretty special physical needs. Owen is a few years away from doing what Brittany Snow's character in "John Tucker Must Die" did with her mom's revolving door of men - don't bother to learn any of their names and just call them all "Chip" or "Skip." I reallllly hope they never get back together. Natawill should stay Natawon't. Abrams/Latham - They aren't a canon couple, but I got really excited when I saw them both in the opening credits, like please at least give them screen time together. Alas, no. But I did get more Abrams jargon, so yay for that, and Dr. Latham citing Connor as the reason he was doing the surgery, so double yay for that. And in the grand rule of threes, I have another yay for Abrams' saying that he wanted to see Jordy compete. Oh, I hope he brings Dr. Latham to the rink! Conventional wisdom would call them "Labrams," I guess, but I like the flirtiness of "Samidore." And Maggie was less SMH this episode, but if she had followed through with her quarantine defiance and gotten her man to his apartment for his final days, he would have died there. Not that there will ever be any personal reflection on past actions and wrongdoings on this show.

Oh no, that's terrible! Ugh, I assumed they were doing the same kind of thing Riverdale does with "American Excess" and "23 Hour Fitness." Ugh, the last thing the world needs is more of that grossness. I think CBS should really just lean all the way into the promos - "Evil will take a break until after Christmas." "CBS, the exclusive home of Evil." "The second coming of Evil will arrive in September 2020."

In real life, Sebastian delivering the package to the barista would all be caught on a security camera aimed at the register at the coffee shop. He would have been clearly visible, the fact that he handed her the box would be clearly visible, and even if she didn't know his identity, if he'd ever paid with a debit or credit card, they would be able to track him down. Now would she, the manager, or the police go to all that trouble for a box of shit? I don't know what potential charges could be, but I would have loved to see Leland's plan backfire on this little douchebag. Who undoubtedly would turn away any girls interested in him that he thought weren't pretty enough or were too socially awkward/weird to him. He was born in America, you know - he's an American and he deserves to have sex with and get laid by PRETTY girls. Uggos need not apply. I never stop getting riled up by incel storylines, and sooooo many shows do them. I did, however, laugh at 8chan. And welp, the four daughters will be back next week. Great. And I can't even imagine the excitement/volume they'll all talk over each other with, based on what was shown in the previews. Also, please bring back Karima!

A big yes to Dr. Abrams! He also had my favorite jargon moment this season (probably over the entire life of this show) 1-2 episodes ago, with the young girl who hit the front and back of her head in a car accident. (Kayla? - when Curry started to show her humanity after the mother lost her daughter). I believe the term was "coup contrecoup" or something like that. Don't know what that is, if the show used it correctly, nothing - but I loved it coming from Brennan Brown's dispassionate face/mouth! I just need the show to reveal that Dr. Abrams and Dr. Latham have been in a long-term relationship. Imagine their homelife! That's the only relationship I could ever care about on this circling-the-drain show.

In addition to "The Cutting Edge," the ice skating scene was also a touch of "Showgirls" for me. When the sequin flew off the costume and there was a close-up of it falling onto the ice, my mind totally flashed back to that part of the "Goddess" rehearsal where that one girl purposefully throws some beads onto the stage floor to sabotage the other girl she doesn't like. Obviously, on 911, there was no sabotage, but I guess "Showgirls" made such an impression on me I can't help but think of it. Though I'm pretty sure all of the 911 characters know how to pronounce Versace ... I couldn't put my finger on where I recognized Evelyn's grandmother from, since it wasn't from One Life to Live or any other roles mentioned above, but when I looked her up on imdb, I was like a-ha! She also played Harvey Specter's mother in "Suits." At this rate, I'm hoping that Hen or Karen have family in the area that can take care of Denny for a while without disrupting his life too much. Will Karen snap out of her depression due to necessity and desire to support her wife/family? Will Hen be functional enough to take care of Denny, even if she's got the downtime because she's placed on administrative leave? I know it's apples and oranges, but when Karen was talking about needing more time to grieve the six embryos that were a part of her and now Hen is going to need indefinite time to grieve this poor girl's death - I hope this brings them together and makes their relationship stronger vs. pulling them farther apart. And actually, if the embryos had been viable and they were able to move forward with another child, I can see how that storyline would have been hell on Hen, too - feeling tremendously guilty about celebrating this new forthcoming life after feeling like she took one, to the point where she didn't feel she deserved it and led to ripples of havoc in her family. Bobby really has to dress as Ziggy Stardust in next year's Halloween episode.

I just skimmed through the comments - they're probably much less fanatical than what's being posted on tumblr or twitter, but I still side-eyed them. Lots of people saying things like "99% of people get into situations like this when they go to bars" and "like you've never made a mistake." Some lady even said something about how she hoped the employees suing Jared over a little fight get fired bc they're suing. LOL. So she obviously doesn't understand anything about appropriate employer-employee relations. Maybe TVLine wanted to nip this kind of toxic commentary in the bud. I used to be a bigger Jared fan ten or so years ago and lately he's been just another actor on a show that I used to like more, but I will still be disappointed in him if he stays so mum about this that it tacitly validates everything his fanatics are saying. I get that it's in his own self-interest and he has a team that's helping him make decisions, but I don't have any respect for him allowing his fans to blame the employees that were hit or normalizing what he did. He'll basically fall off my radar at that point. I won't go out of my way to watch him in things I normally would have no interest in, like the Walker reboot.

I don't think people should be making fun of his mugshot, though I can admit that I have had a chuckle over ridiculous civilian mugshots (sometimes, but not always, associated with "Florida Man" or "Florida Woman"). And that's not kind of me because they might have issues I'd be sympathetic towards, but if I don't know that, does that really give me license to laugh? Anyway, Jared himself has made fun of other celeb mugshots. He tweeted about Justin Bieber's, saying, "I gotta admit, she's kinda hot without all of her usual makeup on ..." So he really doubled down on what he was making fun of and how he chose to. I think he deleted this tweet later (of course). Maybe he learned from that and understands it's in bad taste, and just bc he did it before doesn't make it "right" for other people to do it to him, but he has done it to other people in front of his huge follower base. (And many probably thought it was hilarious bc their idol said it.) And even if the Bieber joke is somehow "okay" (it's not) because Bieber is an asshat and at the time, people might not have known about his mental health problems, is that what makes the difference? So the people who know about Jared's problems can't make fun, but the people who don't, it's fair game? Even after this dies down, I expect that Jared will stop making these kinds of tweets, including the ones I mentioned in a previous post about Philip Seymour Hoffman. They weren't good at the time, and they haven't aged well when applied to him.

It continues to astound me how adamant some people are that this physical violence was NBD and oh well, it's just a punch, who cares, he was just blowing off steam. I'm not so sure that they would shrug this off so easily if they were the one being punched or slapped by a drunk 6'5" man who is showing no signs of self-control. If it does happen to them, it's totally their prerogative to say "I don't care" - but I keep side-eyeing the claims that it should be generally viewed that way. I assume that all people who were physically struck in some way (some articles say four people?) were all male - not that that makes it okay - but damn, if he had struck a woman, even more yikes. I'm not at all saying he would or did, but I'm also not saying that belligerent drunk people can always draw the line at "hit man - OK, hit woman - no way." In whatever way Jared publicly addresses this, it will 150% be approved and wordsmithed by his management team and lawyer(s), and I expect it'll be more vague in terms of what he did and maybe less vague in terms of what he'll do to avoid this in the future / be better. He doesn't really have a choice about the vagueness if there is a civil suit or any potential for a civil suit later. He can admit he acted in a way he's not proud of, but he will be advised to refrain from admitting specifics that can be used against him. I'm not sure how it works in tv production, but I often hear about insurance for film actors, like how Johnny Depp and Lindsay Lohan are basically unemployable. It's not just a matter of whether a producer wants to hire them, but how much it costs to insure them in case they don't finish the project. I can see the Walker reboot moving forward with Jared from a pure decision perspective, but I'm not sure if there are ancillary consequences like higher insurance premiums? Or does this not exist in tv? It's not like he's habitually not showing up to set or anything, but when you're trying to get a show made with a lead actor who, at least optically, may appear to have personal problems that could impact production - the people spending the money may want to make sure they've reduced the risk enough to their satisfaction.

I'm sure this has been sad in the forums and other places, too, but I still remember Jared's really insensitive and grossly oversimplified peanut gallery tweets about Philip Seymour Hoffman's addiction and passing. I don't have a twitter account and I'm only a casual fan of SPN, but I heard about them and read them. Sorry if this is redundant after someone else's post - just scroll by if that's the case! As a reminder for people who don't remember or didn't know about this, the tweets can easily be found here - https://jezebel.com/jared-padalecki-thought-philip-seymour-hoffmans-death-1514593163. He said and then later deleted, "'Sad' isn't the word I'd use to describe a 46 year old man throwing his life away to drugs. 'Senseless' is more like it. 'Stupid.'" Now if that's how he still feels and is self-aware enough in the harsh light of day to not be a hypocrite about it, then he should recognize that alcohol, while legal, is not his friend, and continuing to make mistakes while drinking is senseless and stupid. Obviously I'm not arguing that he's at the point of "throwing his life away," but he sure did make some uneducated snap judgments about the nature of addiction - when I'm guessing he would bristle at people making uneducated snap judgments about his drinking and depression. I do think he has a lot of people in his life who care and will help him to address what's going on. If the adult faces and voices trying to help him aren't enough, I'd like to think that the three child faces looking up to him figuratively and literally are the push he needs. And I think he'll take this incident as internal motivation as well. Private behavior will still stay private (who knows what he does at home), but there's a certain level of informal reinforcement that will exist in public. For example, I'd be shocked if he continued to drink (even beer) onstage at cons after this. I agree that fans letting him slide are not doing him any favors and it's disconcerting to see the downplaying of what he apparently did - but hopefully it's really the opinions and needs of his wife, children, parents, extended family, friends, co-workers, etc. that he takes to heart and inform his behavior going forward. In many cases that's not "enough" - ironically it wasn't in the PSH situation he callously criticized - but hopefully his path will be different.

At the beginning of the episode, they made it a point to show Atwater's commenting that Ruzek was already having another cup of coffee, so it did seem like they were saying Ruzek was atypically tired or in need of caffeine. That's what I meant about them seeming to be so tired - they dropped it as an anvil for Ruzek and implied it for Kim. We can agree to disagree. We can agree to disagree about Voight, too. From my perspective, yes, he is a hypocrite. It just doesn't work for the show to have him pay for it the way he brings other people into the criminal justice system to pay for murders they were involved in or are taking the fall for.

Ugh. This show. Look, I take responsibility for continuing to watch shows that I think are often poor quality and then posting about that poor quality. That's a choice I'm making - I can easily do the opposite. But. I don't! Anyway, I posted earlier about how Voight handled Anne Heche killing Kelton was mostly a retread of how he handled Ray Price - confronting her and then letting her go about it the way she chose. And so was this. This time, he confronted the guy he had developed some kind of rapport with (obviously to a lesser degree with Vasil than Price) in his home and lets that guy take the rap for a murder Voight knows he didn't commit, but is just covering for a loved family member. Like, come on, guys. It's been, what - not even ten episodes since the Price downfall and four episodes since the Anne Heche one? The writers can't muster up any more smidgens of originality? Regarding Ruzek, the whole Chicago block is basically 3 hours of Jerks R Us that totally gets away with it from a viewership/ratings perspective bc they are procedural shows that are easy to follow and digest. Nothing to do with the quality or lack thereof. So Ruzek is just part of this long-standing pattern. And re: Ruzek and Kim being so tired (I think they were trying to show that she was tired in the backseat with Ruzek and Atwater during the stakeout - not that she was bored of the stakeout) - what's that supposed to be telling us? That they're so busy banging each other all night, every night that they're so sleep-deprived? "A man is dead," Voight says to Vasil. "I can't just forget that." Unless it's personal to HIM and it involves HIS own son and someone who killed HIS beloved family member. Then Voight can definitely forget it, and spend all season trying to cover it up, and then end up with his best friend murdered in prison because of it, but oh well! Voight's not Voight if he doens't have a set of rules that only applies to himself.

During this episode, I finally figured out what I think of Ronda's facial expressions besides "wonky." She distorts (and probably not intentionally) her face like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who must have endless unflattering screen caps out there. I have zero intention of going into any political aspect, but I feel bad drawing this connection because of what an insult it is to Ronda. Does she do this when she's not acting? I've only really seen her in that small part in Fast and Furious 7. All of the things the lawyer brought up in the arbitration per Buck's intel were pretty bad, and once it was clear it was going down that path, I was super cringing and warding off the idea that they would get into the details of that awful Minnesota fire. They sort of skirted around it - talking about Bobby's suspension that was lifted - but I was sitting there thinking, Buck is not going to be able to come back from it with 118 or the viewers if they get into the painful details. And besides giving Bobby such a hard time in particular, I thought the worst part the lawyer cited was Chimney's most recent injury - stabbed multiple times by his "girlfriend's ex-husband." I was like, Buck. That's your sister and you were terrified she was going to be murdered. Chimney would have done anything to protect her - he just didn't get the chance bc Brian Hallisay surprised him, right? Yes, "girlfriend's ex-husband" is a correct relationship description relative to Chimney, but Buck. That's your sister. At least his physical reaction showed that he knew that was a terrible thing to use in the arbitration, but sheesh. I'll give Buck a small percentage of a pass, though, about his naivety about what would happen in the lawsuit and how could he possibly come back to the 118 with the same friendships intact. I've seen it many times in the workplace, as an example, when people think approaching HR a certain way about a problem might help (bc they don't really understand that HR isn't there to protect the employees vs. the company that pays them) and then it backfires. It's clear in hindsight, but people were just so optimistic about an avenue available to them that "could work," they don't recognize the full picture of possibilities. Anyway, a ton of other things happened in this episode but I've already blathered on enough.

I often don't remember things from this show, but when did Kevin become a Detective? Platt clearly addressed him as such when he walked off with Rojas in the beginning. Is this the show telling us he took the exam and passed? I don't really have a problem with him achieving that rank before Ruzek or Kim, who are both pretty questionable themselves. Although on the chalkboard with the call signs, Atwater was still listed as PO along with Ruzek and Kim. I guess Kim updated the board with his new rank while she was rubbing salt in her wound of erasing Dawson's name. Also, set production spelled Halstead's name "Halsted" on that board. The upper right-hand corner said "Furlo Request." I'm not sure if that's acceptable shorthand in some parts, or set production also does not know it's spelled furlough. But even with limited screen time/lines and a misspelled name, Halstead was still treated 1000x better than Antonio in this episode. Rojas says she'll get Platt to lighten up after meeting her that first time. Um, I get that Rojas comes in very cocky, but who does she think she is? Erin Lindsay? Lindsay's the only one Platt has ever openly liked (besides Voight and Olinsky) in normal, everyday circumstances. And no, Rojas, no one is waiting for you to make an introductory speech.

If they cut out any main-character-building scenes for so many minutes of the divorcing couple on the ferris wheel, I'm face-palming that decision. That wonderful, wonderful woman who carried Christopher for an unknown period of time / distance. I know in reality, there are many people who would have done that, too - including posters in this forum - but that doesn't detract from what she did. That must have been so tiring, after all the physical and emotional consequences of the tsunami itself to boot, and she was pretty small. Honestly not much bigger than Christopher. But Christopher was probably buoying her spirits in his delightful Christopher way.

Is Lena running and storing her VR simulations only on her own personal, secure servers? Or are they running off of Obsidian North's / does ON have any access to her simulations? If Lena runs simulations that identify Kara as Supergirl within them, she had better watch out - they might not be as private as she wants them to be. I like to think Lena is smart enough to keep this stuff protected, but with the writing on the show, I don't know. I can easily see ON mining user's simulations for their own gain, and if not mining users at large - Andrea would totally access Lena's data if she was angry with her or thought she could benefit from it. And that would go with the season's apparent heavy-handed message about the perils of technology. (As would Hope going all Skynet.) lol about Andrea's touting the idea of doing half-hearted crunches in favor of paying attention to some VR visualization and Instagram. What's the point in that? We can all do half-baked crunches while watching a movie, but it achieves nothing. Sure, climb on a spin bike and run a simulation that you're biking through some forest - way better than staring at the wall. But at least you're still physically exercising and reaping the benefits. VR doesn't create core strength and ab definition in the real world. I think Andrea referred to the shitty contracts as "brand new, three-year contracts," which (a) seemed to be quite a shock to the employees that they even exist and (b) implied that they weren't pre-existing Catco contracts under Cat or Lena. Andrea can't just buy a company and impose contracts that weren't signed by the employees. And even if she tried to strong-arm them into signing or else they're fired, at least people could walk away on their own terms (or per the terms of their existing contracts). I know these shows handwave the contrivances that are convenient for plot purposes but totally unrealistic, but the threat is just so whatever to me. I hope Cat is offscreen somewhere, professionally fulfilled with whatever she's doing and being totally satisfied in every way by some man who adores her and closely resembles Clark Kent and his ass. It's better for her to not care about what Andrea's going to turn her old company into.

I'd really rather they make Dr. Latham a regular since their two surgeons who were regulars have been written out. I love Dr. Latham so much, but maybe Ato Essandoh doesn't want to be a regular (and who can blame him), and as a higher-up in surgery, he wouldn't be working in the ER regularly. Even with the hybrid OR, mwahahaha. So I guess we get this new guy Marcel instead. Which I understand has the benefit of introducing a character with new traits, behaviors, beliefs, backstory, etc. and that can help keep conflicts, interactions, storylines, etc. fresh, BUT! With this writing team, I'm thinking the actualization of fresh anything is limited. I checked and I did get Hank mixed up with someone else when I referenced the waiting room accident, when the car crashed inside and trapped a hospital worker underneath it. That was some worker named Don who was terribly injured. That's the episode when April slid underneath the car with Don so she could keep pressure on a leg artery that was bleeding out and keep him alive while Severide and others worked to free him. I mentally associate Don with Hank because both characters were treated to Choi's jolly brand of black and white thinking and very selective empathy (that only extends to April every now and then). Choi had insisted that April get out from under the car in case it collapsed further, even though she insisted on staying and Don would die without her. Because he only cares about her, but also doesn't care about her own agency and her own professional judgment. He can take chances and put himself at risk when he feels it's right, but she can't. Anyway! Who is Hank? He's a male nurse that may have always been in the background, I'm not sure, but was brought to the forefront in an episode last season. An older man came in as a patient and it turned out that Hank recognized him, because he had been sexually assaulted by this man when Hank was a child (taking piano lessons or something?) So Hank was PTSD'ing and all of the other nurses, including April, were flanking him in support and didn't want to treat him personally. (Not that they didn't want him to be treated at all - they do know their professional obligations.) Choi was being his usual Choi self, except even more so after the patient died and Choi found some used syringes in the room's trash, like the patient had been dosed with something that wasn't ordered and led to his death. Then he suspects the nurses and April is like, I am not having your shit, today, and maybe not ever again. Of course, Choi is wrong and I think he apologized later, but it's not all about you, Choi, especially after you've been a dick.

I don't think Christopher will die solely based on the fact that they added him as a series regular this season, instead of continuing to be a recurring actor. Sure, they could made him a regular for a small number of episodes (it's not like that's impossible), but I don't think they're going that way. And Eddie "just" lost his ex-wife (only a few episodes ago - but there was a time jump), so I hope they wouldn't saddle the same character with a truly unbearable family member death. It seems like an odd thing to do to Buck's character as well - like is this how they propel him forward with a purpose in life and still striving to come back to some kind of emergency personnel duty? To save more lives after he couldn't save Christopher? I also appreciated how Buck lost his shit when Christopher fell in the water. No pretense on the actor's or production's part of "gotta sound manly" bc he's a hero and it's tv - he was shrieking.

This was my lowest priority Chicago episode and having watched it now, I wholeheartedly agree that's the right ranking for me. Not only was it entirely predictable, but the retread of Voight confronting a trusted friend/ally, who was sometimes a frenemy in the past, about a murder they were caught up in and then letting them go about the post-confrontation their way was especially tired to me. They already fucked up the Ray Price character in a way where he can never really come back in any context. And while I don't care to ever see Kate Brennan again, it was just sooooo been there, done that. This literally just happened in episode 6.19! And then four episodes later, they basically do it again. Inventive! Aside from that, it was just a whole bunch of Halstead being Halstead and one nice moment when Atwater talked down that Slo-Mo suspect. They explained Antonio away, but that was just so blah as well. I think all of the Dick Wolf shows (and I'm including FBI in here as well) really have to shake up their writers' rooms with new blood or at least a higher bar. They seem to be (for a long time) resting on the fact that they're procedural shows.