Nmissi

That's it, I'm out. Three and a half episodes in and I'm thoroughly disgusted. I think of all the scenes Rice crafted so beautifully, the way she built the tension and the horror and the palpable sense of dread... even when I saw what was coming vis a vis Lasher in the flesh...i couldn't look away. Damn this show, and its writers. I can't recognise a single character in this muddled mess.The scenes that have stuck with me for decades...like Rowan walking up the aisle at the funeral home...wrenched out of all recognition. Stripped of all emotion, symbolism, and purpose. This is not the Mayfair Witches story. It's just crap wearing the name.

Love Stanley's aesthetic but the unhemmed nature of the first dress just disappointed me. It looked like he ran out of time and still needed to put on sleeves and hems. Fabio's bird top would be cute with jeans, the stripey skirt cried out for a fitted little top, or even a bandeau top. Way too much fabric top and bottom, she looked like a lampshade. Ken got screwed; his pants were impeccable and he did the perfect little black dress in an hour. Anthony is the second coming of Yves Saint Laurent; someone above said women look at his dresses and think, "I want to be her!" and that is pure truth. So naturally he will not win, but I'm glad we get to see more. My money's on Stanley at this point, but all four were fantastic and I'm sad we don't get to see what Ken would've done with more time to explore colors.

I'm impressed so far. The source material is relying on survivor's accounts, and the account of the hostage negotiator who wrote a book about the subject. It's much more evenhanded than previous attempts. (Anyone remember the tv movie that came out right after? Pure propaganda.) Yes, Koresh was a whackjob- but this was all on the ATF and FBI. They wanted to get headlines and look like heroes after they'd screwed up Ruby Ridge, and they made a giant mess. What blows me away is that the same guy who shot Vicky Weaver at Ruby Ridge was a sniper at Waco. Sheesh. Overall, the acting is pretty good, too- the "Koresh" character nicely treads the line between religious zealot and sympathetic protagonist. I find myself hoping that things will play out differently, even when I know what's going to happen.

I continue to be perplexed by the Brandon love. He's adorable, but his clothes look like he dresses his models in old bedsheets. At least he's branched out to the faded fifties florida flamingo motel bedsheets now. Kentaro is the "fashion" designer of the show- in the vein of Betsey Johnson and Vivienne Westwood- his stuff is usually"out there," but interesting. I don't get how the judges fawn over Brandon and yet don't appreciate Kentaro. Margarita designs for 1970s Mattel. It's all uniformly awful. Ayana bores me to tears. And while I understand why they sent her home? Kenya is the only one who sent anything up there that I would actually wear. I'd rock the heck out of that black dress (with a better bra and better styling) and the cover up fabric was gorgeous- but it should've been a wrap, or scarf, maybe shrugged over the shoulders- not a whole sleeved garment. Kenya won't lack for offers- she makes pretty, feminine, traditional clothing that appeals to a wide variety of figures- I expect she'll have more success out of this venture than whomever (cough, Brandon, cough) wins this season.

I thought Carrie and Sami were both well developed- Carrie is the responsible, older sister, who stepped up while the parents were being rotated in and out of the twins lives. Mature beyond her years, martyrlike and long suffering. Carrie was only weak where "True Love" is concerned- perhaps in part because of the example set by all her adult role models, constantly finding their "soulmates" only to lose, and regain them, tragically. Sami is the schemer, named for her crazy aunt- kidnapped in childhood,and passed through multiple sets of parents, with one horrible trauma after another, along her way to adulthood. The only thing the writer did right in that era, IMO, was teen Sami, Carrie, Lucas, and young Billie. They all make perfect sense as the culminations of their backstories. (Austin, alas, was never acted well enough and seemed the weak link in those plotlines.)

Marguerite may have designed the best cup print, but that's because her dress looked like it was designed for one of those knock off fake barbie dolls from the Dollar General. Seriously, to complete the homage, she should have done the back up with badly positioned velcro in one long strip. Barbie pink, with bright blue notions haphazardly affixed, to a sleeveless (and shapeless) rectangle of fabric. And paired with a bolero jacket made out of grey car upholstery. The only redeeming feature of that dress was the thoughtful inclusion of pockets.

I beg to differ; I'm shortwaisted, long legged, and the two best dresses I've ever owned had peplums at the waistline. It's an issue of fit, cut, design. That "empire" peplum was six inches too high and cut too full. Also, the "echo" peplum at the hemline was too much. She overdesigned, and frankly, I question her color palette as well. Don't blame the peplum, blame her execution of said feature. She did those poor peplums no justice.

Reading between the lines, I think Robert and Ned grew up together as best friends, almost brothers, fostered by Jon Arryn. Until Robert's Rebellion, it's likely Ned didn't know the extent of his vicious character. He knew he liked to whore and fight and drink, but he probably had never really sat down and had a deep philosophical discussion with the guy. Then they go to war, and his best friend is a monster who thinks it's okay to kill babies. But now the monster is his King. They part company, and he heads out to find his sister- notably, without Robert her fiance. Then as Lyanna lays dying, she tells him to take care of her son. And she gives him his surname; so Ned KNOWS this child is a Targ, he is legit, he's the heir to the throne Ned's fomer goodbuddy just usurped. No wonder he hightailed it back to Winterfell with a "bastard" baby story. He knew that child was toast if Robert ever found out the truth, and so he kept him well away from him, and had to be dragged to Kings Landing by the king himself. I think after experiencing Robert's true nature, the king was not his friend,but someone Ned feared and abhorred.

I'm looking for reasons to excuse Lyanna and Rhaegar. What if there's some sort of reason why the annulment had to be done in Dorne? Legally speaking, that is. Dorne has no stigma on bastards, maybe by divorcing/annulling there, he would be able to keep the children legitimate? Perhaps Elia wanted out of the marriage as well, for some reason? And maybe Lyanna left home to avoid the marriage to Robert and they met along the way, and fell in love? I'm grasping at straws, I know, but I really, really don't want to hate Jon's parents. I have always wondered why the belief is that she was kidnapped; and since I hate Baelish I have always wondered if he perhaps saw them together and gave the Starks word. Recasting an elopement as an abduction seems right up his alley. Or maybe Lyanna sent a Raven and someone intercepted it?

On rewatch, I think we're all misinterpreting the sansa/arya scene. Arya starts by talking about how the rules aren't fair, and girls can't be who they want to be. She's making common ground with Sansa. But then she throws the letter in her sister's face, to put her off guard. Later, she catches Sansa searching her room, threatens her- then hands over her dagger. I think Arya is demonstrating that she's capable of protecting Sansa, she's showing her what she can do, how much she has learned. Then Littlefinger advises Sansa that brienne is her best protection and wouldn't let Arya harm her... so what does Sansa do? She sends Brienne away. I think she did that to PROTECT her sister- she's afraid Arya will come at her and Brienne may have to intervene- to prevent that, Brienne has to go..

No, she said, "Who did this to me?" Ergo, she did not recognize the attacker.

Sherlock's dad was allergic to dogs, and the phony graveyard was a bizarre version of the traditional "folly." Perhaps his parents, or a wacky ancestor, had it constructed, because the senseless names and dates amused them.

My guess is that most of the harem are destined for the slave markets in the Mediterranean.

I'm fanwanking that Floki just remembered the last time they slaughtered a bunch of people at prayer during a raid, he got stuck with a decade of Aethelstan. Dude is just trying to avoid history repeating itself.

If Ivar is as smart as Ragnar thinks, he will wait to exact revenge on Lagertha. Right now, he needs to be amassing the Great Heathen Army and while it's out kicking English arses, someone has to be protecting Kattegat. The person best suited for that is Lagertha, and she can even frame her argument that Aslaug was broken, weak and dangerous as leader- To protect the legacy of Ragnar, she deposed this weak queen and is preserving the rights of all Ragnar's sons. (After all, she hasn't whacked any of them.)

If they do it right, I for one would LOVE to see Felicity and Laurel become friends. It would make sense for them to gravitate toward one another; they both just lost Sara. But I'm weirdly fine with the whole "are we favor friends" thing... actually, I kind of loved it. Because Felicity is somewhat candid in the way she talks to people- she lacks social filters and says whatever comes into her head- at that moment, what came into her head was, "are we friends now?" and I don't think it was meant meanly, but as a genuine question. She'd want to define terms, and affix labels- so as to categorize the relationship scientifically. Has Laurel moved from "Oliver's ex and Sara's sister" into a category defined by a relationship with Felicity herself? I don't think she has yet, and so Felicity was taken aback by the sudden phonecall and favor request. As for Laurel, she seems to have no friends- she's lost her boyfriend and her sister in fairly short order- her life is all askew, she's lying to her dad, and feeling disaffected at work- and here's Felicity, who is just sort of convenient. Laurel doesn't have to explain anything to her or lie to her- Felicity already knows what's really going on. The immediacy of their situation has created a false intimacy between them. I'd like to have seen Laurel realizing that, realizing the social faux pas she overstepped right into. Maybe it would give her some insight into how lonely her life is right now, and she could make some actual overtures toward genuine friendship with Felicity. Oh, Lord. I want Arrow to pass the Bechdel test. With Laurel and Felicity. I suddenly, desperately, want to see them have a conversation about... themselves. One that never even hints at Oliver.

Did anyone else get a suicidal vibe off Joe at the end? Because I thought he was headed to the observatory to jump off of it.

" On Netflix there's a documentary called Secrets of the Viking Sword about the Ulfberht sword. I'll have to go back and watch to make sure but I'm pretty sure that was what they used for the "Sword of Kings". It wasn't the sword of kings in the documentary. It was a sword that was made of crucible steel. It was the best of the best. I think they called it the Rolls Royce of swords I haven't looked into it other than watching the documentary before I even started watching the series (must be fate) but it's sword that was for elite warriors. There was even copycat versions that weren't as good. They don't even know why Ulfberht was inlayed in it. No real point to this other it made me sit up and say "Hey, I think I know that sword from somewhere" and I think it was an interesting connection. Guess the writers saw the documentary too." When that sword came up on screen, I was pausing the recording and squinting like mad, trying to make out the writing down the middle. I couldn't read it, and didn't see the characteristic cross in the words- but yeah, it reminded me of an Ulfberht, definitely. Love that they put in these little historic details.

Definitely those were Horik's brood; to me, it looked like they slew the males, and Bjern told the grieving sisters to get out. As for Floki and Siggy...I actually think the whole thing was one long con. It may have begun with Siggy's trip to the Seer. "I want my old position back." Perhaps the Seer passes along the info that Siggy's ripe for turning her cloak; Floki starts distancing himself from Ragnar and stages that "trustworthy" tiff for Horik's benefit. For all intents and purposes, Siggy's Ragnar's sister in law right now; it's a pretty strong position to be in. She's also been nursemaid to his children; that's a pretty close bond to the family. Trade that, for second-wife status to a man who already has half a dozen heirs? When it's already clear that Ragnar is the up-and-coming power in the region, and she's set to benefit from that? (Assuming Rollo recovers, that is. Siggy's got a better shot at a good future married to him, than cowtowing to Horik's primary queen and broodmare.) Floki hasn't much liked Rollo since his baptism and betrayal... and he needed a test subject to see if the mushrooms would work. Why not try them on a dying man?