peggy06

It was interesting to me that they didn't really delve into the mom's mental illness. It was just there. Perhaps the book does so more thoroughly. I especially wondered after that Life interviewer questioned Beth about a condition in which a person sees patterns that others don't see, and presented it as a mental illness. (THat was cruel IMO.) The "rounding error" comment, I think, was mathematical lingo for a small mistake. Her mother had a PhD in Mathematics. I assume it was heavily ironic. I, too wondered why the school accepted all the absences when it was clear she wasn't out sick. Great series, though. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the wardrobe was to die for.

Funny thing. I was raised in a religion that believes in Heaven and Hell, and in my younger days, I used to worry that Heaven seemed boring. I think this was because I envisioned Heaven as a place where we were our corporeal selves and had the same feelings and wants as we had during life. It was explained to me that this wouldn't be the case; we would be beyond those considerations. This is pretty much how the show presented it, too, with the exception that it wasn't boring...at first. For me, delving into the details of The Good Place was the show's mistake. And they went out of their way to make it look bad. Hypatia could barely put together a coherent thought. The long termers all seemed depressed and/or zombie-like. Shakespeare lost his mojo. The PTB were shown absconding as soon as Michael was sworn in. Why was this even necessary? Just do the thing where Michael is made human (maybe with a full life and no memory of what he's been through), and end on a scene like Eleanor and Chidi on the couch the first time. Or, if they wanted to introduce the concept of becoming one with the universe, either have that happen as the hot air balloon floats farther away, or have them spontaneously turn into light spheres as their selves evolve beyond human emotions/needs. Having them make the choice introduces very troubling associations. The finale was moving and yet it does bother me.

In S2, a grandmother made it to the final four. Granted that was in 2011. Contestants like Nancy are what I'd love to see more of.

I almost always prefer the older bakers. Experience counts for something. I hope this doesn't become another reality show where they cast for looks.

I saw that story, too. There was a small article with a picture of her in the Daily Mail. On the plus side, she owns her own pub now! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8545691/Bake-Offs-Candice-Brown-indicates-feeling-hopeless-split-husband-Liam-Macauley.html

I didn't know all that stuff about Aaron Burr, either. Ditto for Hamailton himself, though I always had a sneaking liking for him amongst the Founding Fathers. Thought that came to me while watching: In this production, Aaron Burr=Antonio Salieri. (Except for the part where killing AH really did happen.)

Maybe it's because I only know this from watching the show on Disney+, but why does everyone laugh when he goes into character as AH to say the name? I didn't think that was funny or even really meant to be funny.

While I don't 100% agree with your assessment (Carol was breeding cats at one point), this is pretty typical of online attitudes about any female leading character in a fictional series. So why would reality be any different?

The continual sneering is making it very hard for me to watch Kerry's scenes. Not that the Richardsons don't sometimes deserve it, but not to the extent she does it. This show is really capturing the casual racism of well-off liberal white suburbanites.

I'm so mad at Mia right now! She had to run off and get her friend all worked up about the baby? She couldn't just wait till morning? She had to give her the address, for crying out loud? May Ling wasn't going to disappear overnight. If I were Elena, I'd be super suspicious to find Mia upstairs in the dark holding the baby. Wanting to take pictures of a sleeping baby doesn't make it any better TBH. For a minute I thought we were going to have a kidnapping. My thought was that Izzy's friend is the one who's gay and something happened over the summer that was a misunderstanding, but Izzy would know that that was what lay between them. Maybe the friend is attracted to Izzy and is scared by it and so she's overcompensating by starting all these rumors. I feel so sorry for Izzy. I kind of feel sorry for Elena, too, because she wants to get it and she just can't. That clueless story about padding her bra, putting lipstick on Izzy. That wasn't what Izzy needed from her. Good intentions, but a closed mind. I think the dad gets it a little better.

Is it something like Trey, for a kid who's named after both father and grandfather? Third=triple=Tripp? I didn't like Mia very much, but her character is more interesting than Elena. Elena as played by Reese might as well be Madeline from Big Little Lies.

I pretty much only watch Hulu and the Roku Channel, so my exposure to commercials is limited to the ones they show again and again and AGAIN. But there's a cute one I haven't seen in a month or so. It's for the purple mattress, and it's a young couple The guy says, "Our doctor recently turned us on to something great. It's called sleep." The woman says "It's like being awake, only better." For some reason, I get a small chuckle every time I see this, because of the wry delivery of the lines. The rest of the purple mattress ads, you can have.

I'm not quite done with the series and wavering on whether to finish S1. I don't look forward to any upcoming plot developments with Brady. Right off the bat this seemed like a cross between Hallmark Channel and Hart of Dixie, though with more melodrama than the former and less humor and charm than the latter. The acting, to me, is so-so. I like almost everything to do with Doc, because Tim Matheson is far and away the best actor in the ensemble. He can sell the crochetiness as well as the schmaltz. Hope got on my nerves with butting into everyone's lives, but at last, finally, she seems to have learned a lesson. I am meh on most of the characters other than Mel and Doc. Jack's OK and does the yearning thing pretty well, but it's not a great character. Even with PTSD he's pretty one-note. ETA: I guess I am done with S1! That being said, I'm not sure if I'll be continuing when S2 comes out.

Just finished this and I'm really let down by the ending. Such a weak motive for murder. $5000? Really? I mean we already had one crazy psycho guy (Katz) murder a woman for no good reason. Now two? Also, embezzlement is so mundane for all the mysterious buildup. I actually hadn't expected Corinne to be dead, and that was an additional bummer. But worst of all was Adam shooting Tripp, and Jo covering it up. Adam was entitled to murderous rage, but to do that right after Tripp points out his kids will be parentless if he goes to jail? It just didn't make sense to me. Even less sensible is a police officer seeing someone shot pointblank, and immediately deciding to cover it up. It makes more sense by far for her to make a case for self-defense. I liked both of these characters bad felt bad that their characters were written this way in the end. So this had a very intriguing start, but the most interesting parts just fizzled out. I do hope to see more of Siobhan Finneran. She was great, and so nice to see her in a role other than that one in Downton Abbey.

THEY GOT ME! After all the switcheroos in the course of this series, I should have seen it coming. And I did, briefly, consider that the funeral might have been Jamie's, except for McNally's remarks. All I have to say is that I'm so glad I was wrong? Was prepared to hate this show like I've never hated any show before. In the end, this was very very sweet if unrealistic.

I hope this turns up on streaming somewhere!

That was a weird episode, with Tom seeming to go into a fugue state or something every so often. I get that they were setting up his retirement, but it was unsettling. At first I thought he was having a stroke or something.

I'm glad you liked it! I also listened to the first episode today. You can tell they are super fans! Spoilers galore, so for anyone who hasn't watched the show, be aware of that. I thought they were a little hard on Troy, but I have to admit he wasn't the best in that first episode. he grew on me. I like how they mention the other roles played by some of the guest stars. Supposedly they're going to talk about locations, too, which I would love. The villages are one of my favorite parts of MM.

I just discovered there's a podcast! Midsomer Maniacs I haven't listened yet, so I can't vouch for it. Definitely going to check it out!

Well, I finished all of Midsomer Murders. I miss it. Granted that the last couple of seasons weren't as good, but it still had the basic ingredients of setting and premise. I could have done without the emphasis on John Barnaby's home life. I could also have done without the sparring and attempts at UST between the various sidekicks and the female MEs. Is it me, or did the mysteries become ever more convoluted as the show went on? A bit darker as well, perhaps? There were a few in the last two seasons where the story was so grim that it jarred me when the end theme music came on (too lighthearted.) Still, I wish there were more episodes. If anyone has a suggestion for a series with this particular vibe - rural or small-town England setting, not too gritty or depressing, some humor - I'd love to hear it. Series I've already watched include Morse, Lewis, Miss Marple and Poirot, Death in Paradise, Agatha Raisin. I've dipped into Grantchester and Father Brown but am not really grabbed by them.

Right? I listened to the podcast from This American Life after watching the series. Both foster mothers are interviewed. It really came off like Peggy (Judith) had some issues with Marie to begin with, because she jumped to conclude that Marie was lying. The so-called "evidence" of Marie "acting weird" was incredibly weak. I mean how are you supposed to act? Being detached seems to me like a classic coping mechanism after trauma. The other foster mother at least had the grace to admit they may have fed each other's suspicions. As of the time of the podcast, with all the facts known, Peggy was still complaining about Marie's weird behavior. Unbelievable (pun intended). I suppose I should allow that Peggy lived with Marie for a couple of years, and I only know her from a few quotes on a podcast, and a fictionalized version of her life. So maybe there's background for Peggy making those conclusions. But if she really, truly had doubts, she should have tried to talk to Marie. NOT gone to the police. That was simply officious. In the podcast, it is stated clearly that her phone call is what caused them to stop investigating the rape.

Dang it, looks like Midsomer has disappeared from Netflix. And my Britbox deal has only a few weeks left. Also: I'm well into the Neil Dudgeon episodes. He's all right, but the show has become so cutesy since his wife came on the scene. They exchange sitcom-like dialogue that makes me yearn for the conversations between Tom and Joyce (and that is saying something). The entire show has a different feel to it, I can't quite put my finger on it. I am up to the Christmas Haunting episode.

I thought this wrapped up really well. Even though it uses a lot of rom-com cliches, I give the show props for not rushing the reconciliation between Ainsley/Kash and Ainsley/Maya. Being left at the altar has to rank as one of the biggest humiliations ever. You don't get over it in a hurry. Having your best friend be the reason for that humiliation - ditto, if not more so. I don't know if I could ever be friends again with someone who jilted me like Kash jilted Ainsley, and this is only 3 years down the road. Sure, you can say he did her a favor, because they weren't suited to one another. But the fact remains. He should have voiced his doubts privately and much sooner. As for Maya, if I thought my best friend stole my fiance on the eve of my wedding, it'd take more than a year for me to be reconciled to that. So Ainsley was acting petty and hung up, but they gave a realistic explanation for that. Another wedding brought it all back. I'm glad they didn't smooth over all the rough edges from the whole mess. And when Ainsley finally did forgive Maya, it was sweet and credible. My only quibble is that the show did make it seem like Kash fell for Maya and that caused the breakup. There wasn't much time to establish anything negative about his relationship with Ainsley. Just, maybe, the tiniest of hints. Most of his angst seemed to be directed at his job. So when he told Ainsley that Maya wasn't the cause, it seemed a little out of left field. One of my favorite scenes in this episode was when Giles tearfully asked if loving Duffy was disloyal to his father. That's how a kid really might think. Like I said, it's a rom-com and it's kind of cliched, but they rise above the tropes with some genuine emotions. Count me among those who enjoyed seeing Marcus as Maya's campaign manager. Maybe the next series can feature Marcus and his friends. I like the vibe of the show and would like another season, but the story of these couples has been told. I don't want it ruined by having them break up/make up.

I upped for the recent sale on 3 months of Britbox, starting to seem like a really good decision. I am just to the episode where the second Inspector Barnaby is introduced as Tom's cousin in Brighton (The Sword of Guillaume). It's a pretty grisly episode with some shock moments beyond what I'm accustomed to in this series.

Andrew only proposed like that because of thinking he had to vote for the hard borders bill. If Tony2 married him, Tony2 wouldn't be subject to deportation. Not to say Andrew wasn't sincere, but the circumstances are what pushed him to take that step so suddenly. This show has some corny and predictable aspects for sure, but at least they didn't soft-pedal Ainsley's reaction to Maya and Kash. Like, make her be instantly forgiving because she's found real love herself. I'm sure she'll get there next week, but at least she had a realistic initial response. Gemma and Duffy deserve one another. That's not meant as a compliment.