stopeslite

On Isobel and Merton - I don't think either of the boys are married, right? Which, again, eligible men in their 30s post WWI and haven't been snapped up yet? It must be that their personalities are visible to everyone. So I think that would mean that if Isobel married Merton, they'd all be living together in the big house. She'd have to deal with those prats constantly. Maybe he could tell them the only way they'll inherit is if they go to America now and don't come back for the next 20 years.

It's interesting how Edith seems so much more at ease with everyone, even Mary, in this episode. I don't know if it was Fellowes not remembering how Edith is supposed to act, or Laura saying to heck with it, or actually supposed to be that Edith is now completely fulfilled since she has Marigold with her, but it was nice to see her not be upset all of the time and even laugh off some of Mary's barbs. I noticed after Mary said "don't leave me here with just Edith" that Edith actually did a little side-eye and SMH move at her. Heh. Still annoyed at Fellowes' trait of doing a time jump of a few months, but keeping everybody in the middle of the exact same conversations like they were frozen in time. I also thought that Violet and Isobel were a lot more easy and open with each other. Nice to see their relationship progressing like that. I almost audibly cheered when Violet pulled Isobel in the side room so they could get away from the crowd together - so conspiratorial and friendly. :) Even half a season ago, it would have been Violet in there, and she would sigh in annoyance if Isobel dared to come in after and try to share the space.

It may be because I can't stand Mary, but I thought it wasn't so much because of the car as because he could obviously afford that car, popping him up in a more "suitable" price range for her.

What does the winner get, besides the honor and the cake stand? Is there a monetary award? I really thought Richard would take it, but he flubbed everything from the start on.

The purposeful ambiguity statement that lets the viewers decide what happens puts me in mind of the end of the Muppet Movie: "Life's like a movie, write your own ending, keep believing, keep pretending, we've done just what we set out to dooooooo.... thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

I don't mind adding an extra gimmick, but I hate when they throw a bunch on at once to see what sticks. It's blind dates! And selfie sticks! And a u-turn right at the beginning! And a date card that gets you extras at the pit stop! And everybody has to wear fitbits! It's too much. :( The fan was to cool the noodles down as you eat, I think.So they could be served piping-hot but diners wouldn't have to wait forever to eat it. Plus, it's a bit of a schtick for that kind of restaurant to have its thing that makes it stand out, I guess.

In the case with Travis, there could be a good case made that he was innocent because his coach, who had an extreme amount of power over him, was coercing him to do it. At least, I think it would be a mitigating factor that would make any punishment he'd get a lot less. It's not like he went out looking for a paper to buy; his coach was telling him what to do, and if he wanted to stay on the team, he had to stay in the coach's favor.

"When people yell at me, what I hear is them caring very loudly."

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Jamm's racist pan-Asian fetish. I had felt a little sorry for whatever happened to him to lead him into being a restaurant cook, but maybe that was him following his dream. ;)

Watching the producer's cut: Oh my gosh, the Shawna Mulway-Tweep bit was AMAZING. They know their characters so well. I also really liked the deleted scene with Tom and Ron - it set up the "Tom becomes a writer" thing and made it make sense, rather than being out of nowhere. But was that supposed to be the same cabin of Ron's? The shot of outside looked totally different. Although, he did say once he had three or four of them, right? In the extra bit from the Very Good Building company, Ron called one brother Vaughn, but then the accountant called the other one Vaughn? On rewatch I saw that there was a sign outside of the city hall for signups for the Harvest Festival. It's still going on in 2025! :) I also caught Andy saying that Jack's head was extremely large, just like his old man, and then remembered the conversation between Andy and Ron about how big his head was. Nice callback. Oh man. That look on Adam Scott's face, the instant that Ben made his decision to not run. That was some damn fine acting. Just that one look should get him an Emmy. Proud, and happy, but indulging in just a fleeting moment of sadness for himself. Sheesh. I noticed the look he gave Leslie after he announced it and thought that was great, but the little one right before, when he decided what to do, that was heart-wrenching in all the right ways. I cried at the end again. Barely made it through the final lines of the show, but then when they said "series wrap" in the credits, lost it. I'm so going to miss this show.

I thought that too after - my first thought was how great of an ending he had, but then went "Wait, but he never got to Muncie..."

That, exactly. This show has only two sour notes for me, and the treatment of Garry is by far the primary one. It was always a few shades too mean to be funny, and his personal payoff never made up for the blind spot they had. There were a few times he legitimately, really contributed (like, say, when Ben and Leslie couldn't have actually gotten married without him), and even then he got nothing but grief from them. (the other sour note is April, who again, the meanness was a couple of shades too far. She never did anything to really deserve the adulation she got from everyone else)

I think what they hit spot-on in the finale, and what the most satisfying thing for a viewer really is, is to be shown that the characters turn out ok after. That's always the big question, right? What happens to those characters? What do they make of their lives? And we got to see it. In a way it's the most blatant kind of fanservice, but it's also so satisfying, and so right for the feel of this show. Waffles aren't great for you to have every single day, but here, you've earned it, have a big stack of waffles with syrup and whipped cream and strawberries cut out to look like hearts on the top. And it's a lovely treat to have.

Don't care how sappy it was, loved it.

NOT READY.

I think there's only one noble way that Robert can solve all of this mess for the good of everyone and to prove that he really does love Callie. He needs to go to Callie and tell her that he wants a relationship with her, no strings attached, because he wants to know that she's spending time with him because she wants to spend time with him. And to be sure that happens, he hands over the signed papers giving up his claim, and a bank account for half a million or so for her "inheritance" (to be hers on turning 21, held by a lawyer in the meantime). Then he needs to tell her that he's walking away, that she doesn't need to respond to him about this at all, that he understands if she never wants to contact him again, but that the ball is entirely, 100% in her court now. He won't try to buy or litigate her affection, but he'll love to have any relationship with her she wants, either now, or in a few years, or ever. And then follow through and really do it.

I want it to turn out to have been Green's mother, who had come to visit. He was surprised to see her, said "What are you doing here?" and she moved in for a hug and accidentally knocked him off-balance and into traffic.

Jude was taller than Callie in one scene! And his face when he was sitting at the diner looking at Callie and Robert... jeez. I'd admit to kidnapping Tasha to stop him from looking like that. I hope Hayden has a long and lucrative acting career. Glad that the thing with Jesus didn't die, and that he outright pointed out that Brandon was getting super special treatment. Because yeah, remember the whole arrest thing? Yet they think Brandon is "responsible", when Jesus at least hasn't ever done anything illegal. I'm glad they brought that into the light. Stef was so out of line with Rita, but I liked that they played it as if she really was out of line and even she knew it, but couldn't quite help herself. Timothy is getting on my last nerve. I am against using standardized testing in just about every way it is being used. But, it raises alarm bells for me when one person claims not all of the global arguments against it, but instead focuses on how they are such a SUPER SPECIAL TEACHER with TEACHING SUPERPOWERS that will be rendered entirely inept if even the hint of a standardized test comes anywhere near their precious students. Dude. If you're that good of a teacher, they will do ok on the standardized tests. If they totally tank it, you probably are actually doing something wrong, and your flailing around indicates either that you are so deluded that you really do think you're the best teacher in all of civilization, or that you know you're pulling a con job and can't deliver. Either way, that's not a good teacher to have in the classroom. A more realistic reaction, one that would show that he cares both about the students and the success of the school, would be for him to research alternate tests (there aren't many out there, but there are more than one), find the one that matches how he teaches best, and lobby for that one to be used for their benchmarks. Yeah. I was surprised Mariana didn't say "Oh captain, my captain" as she walked out.

I'm worried about this Prince Kuragin thing - I think he's a gold digger, wooing Violet so that he can get back in the lap of luxury. I don't trust him for a hot minute. Even if they don't get married, being her paramour would give him a big step up from the refugee living in a hovel status he's at now.

The thought just came to me: I wonder if Susan is the result when you have a Mary-Edith dynamic that bleeds down to the next generation. Violet is Susan's aunt, right? So it could be that Susan's mother is Violet's younger sister, and Violet and her sister had a Mary-Edith thing going, and all of the Edithian resentment and outrage at mistreatment got communicated to her daughter as a sense of the world being against them and everyone else being terrible, and boom, there you get someone as nasty as Susan.

I was surprised at "grill" for what I think of as "broil" also. :) I wanted to keep Chetna over Nancy. I think she's been stronger throughout the season overall, and her flavors are outside the boring norm. But she really did whiff it in these challenges. :(

My (charitable) take on "Marigold reminds me of Gregson" was that it was Donk's way of taking the shortcut to say he knew the entire story at once. She looks like Edith and that's what he noticed, but he realized the most likely father was Gregson, so asking Cora if a resemblance to Gregson was correct was asking about the entire set of relationships at once (and without saying out loud what Edith had done). I actually saw that as a more subtle, gallant way to broach the conversation. Thomas is nice for once! Yay! Rose was beautiful, the dress was beautiful, all of the hats everyone had were beautiful.

When the IOW decided to give Ron an award for Leslie's Camp Athena project in Season 2, Ron refers to it as "Camp Xena". Whether they had Lucy Lawless in mind for Ron's love interest then or not, it's cute.

Oh, that makes so much sense! Much better explanation in-character. King of Birds - also, somewhere further down in the disclaimer it just says "Greg Pikitis sucks".

I'm still not sure what inspired Leslie to go all out for Garry at the end there - given that she had been doing the same-old putting him entirely down right at the beginning of the episode, what was it that finally made the light bulb go off in her head that she needed to make this a big deal for him and congratulate him for once?