Pop Tart

Agree with all of this. And what I often find so weirdly maddening/fascinating about Fellowe's shows. The writing and plotting is mostly just kind of there, solid, but not great most of the time, and sometimes just bad. And yet... I love this? I'm drawn to it and find myself lost each hour in the goings ons with the characters. And I watch the episodes multiple times. It's weird. The same was true of DA. I hated the plots oftentimes, thought the writing was certainly nothing to rave about, and yet...I looked forward to each Sunday night when I could watch. And when they made a movie? And I heard the orchestral version of the theme music for its trailer for the first time? I'm actually loving GA more than DA. Because...? Hard to explicate. The gorgeous households and costumes? Definitely. How hot I find George Russell? That's a part of it. How much he loves his wife? The interesting view into Peggy's family's world? The snarky moments that sparkle in each episode. Yep. The small, often petty moments of triumph Bertha has? Totally there for it. Makes me think of the Full Monty quote: "We may not be young, we may not be pretty, we may not be right good, but we're here, we're live and for one night only, we're going for the Full Monty". That's GA for me - all sorts of "nots" but I'm here for it. Whatever Fellowes and company are doing? Guess I'm just as easy to hook as Marian. 😉

I don't think she showed no reaction. When she left Raikes office and got outside she was breaking down in tears and Peggy rushed her to the carriage. Then after she got Larry out of the house (before he could give her letters to the Aunts) she had a moment there at the door. And really it's the day of the ball and she'd barely have time to do anything past that point other than to get ready and go. At the ball she has to hold it together, but does again have a moment in the corner after talking to Raikes. Small moments, sure, but they were there. And after the ball, she's clearly still upset when she's laying on her bed. It's been about 24 hours all in all from when she left the house thinking she was eloping to, finding out she's dumped, to then having to attend a major ball, so being numb and putting on a good face all seems pretty natural and relatable to me.

I don't think the actor pulled it off very well (for all the heat Louise gets for her acting, I'd say Raikes is equally not good or even worse maybe?), but I do think it is realistic that he pushed to marry Marian when he was first in town because he liked her and he thought she'd maybe give him entry into society. Then as time went on he began to realize there were other options but was too weak and cowardly to cut bait with Marian. And though their engagement was secret, to dump a woman you're engaged to was considered to be a scandalous offense that could ruin a young woman. Even if she did nothing wrong and it was all the jerk-guy, having an engagement ended was a big deal. And again, this was a secret engagement, but this could have been in Raikes mind. It's not just letting a girl down easy, it's breaking a serious promise. I agree that I kind of like that the end of their relationship wasn't because he was some grand schemer after her secret fortune and she discovers it or some other super-dramatic plot. He's just a craven guy too chicken to face Marian and tell her he's going for someone else with more money. He didn't even have enough courage to tell her face to face but was writing her a letter. This is not to say that I thought it was as well-written (or acted on his part) as it could have been, but I do think it was realistic plotting. This has been bugging me for a few episodes now. Marian's aunts should have been making sure that Marian was going to social events, parties, etc. to meet eligible men. Aunt Agnes didn't like Raikes, but just who is Marian supposed to be matching with? Marian, like Gladys, should have had some kind of introduction to New York society and been part of the events going on. Instead they just had her tagging along to Clara Barton speeches and charity bazaars. Initially I had thought that the Aunts didn't have much money left, but as Marian's wardrobe grew I knew that wasn't the case. So if they want Marian to make a good match, they would have been taking her out and about, hosting dinner parties, etc. I do wonder if covid protocols had impact on some of the choices made in the filming. They perhaps wanted to limit the number of scenes with big swaths of the cast and kept separate little pods of people?

Agreed. Everyone gets criticized, but the critiques about Melissa often seem outsize for the perceived mistake/error/wrong she's done. I thought the conversation between Melissa and her daughter was very normal mom/teen daughter conversation and her talking to the ladies later appropriate level of combined worry and frustration expressed by the mom of a teenage daughter. Yes it's hard on Antonia to have to move in high school, but her parents made the decision to move for a variety of reasons, with getting their kids into a better school system as one of them. Presumably this means the school Antonia is now in is also a better school so not a wrong thing for her parents to be thinking of. They all make poor decisions or mistakes when it comes to their kids - some normal stuff that any parent might do and some because they're on a reality show, and yet...with Melissa? Just feels outsize. There are still Teresa fans who petition to get her thrown off the show because she's only on the show because of Teresa. And it's been like what, 10 years? she's been on the show?

The wife, Erika?, was interviewed about Chuck's behavior and she said he was "acting". That they have discussions with the producers ahead of time (all guests do) and the producers ask about what they're going to do, etc. etc. She was careful to say it wasn't scripted, but clearly there is story-line planning that goes on. She said his behavior at the first night's meal, when he was complimentary, is more the real him. I don't doubt that these discussions happen and that some of the guest's behaviors are exaggerated (on most of the cruises), but I also don't doubt that Chuck is really just so classless and gross. If it was all a put on, then the tip would still have been generous. But the tip was ludicrously wrong and I fully believe that these are the kind of people with money who feel entitled to anything and everything they want but don't want to have to pay a penny more than absolutely necessary to get it. They've got theirs and they're keeping it.

Whitney made clear that Lisa spends much time off camera also spreading rumors and gossip about the other women. She told Meredith that Lisa has said much the same as her on-screen rant, off camera and has talked about everyone else too. So I think it's hitting the fan for her in this reunion because clearly she does start a lot of shit and likely too because Mary isn't there and they have to fill the time with something.

Yes, the proper route for Archie to take to pursue a relationship with Gladys was to gain an introduction to her parents - and that likely would have required his parents getting an introduction to the Russells. Or he could have tried to make Larry's acquaintance and gained an introduction to the Russell family that way. Of course we have no backstory for Archie so we don't know his reasoning. But his meeting Gladys in secret and then writing to her (which would have remained secret as well if Bertha hadn't found the letter), is all totally improper. So while he is of the correct background, his behavior has not been correct at all. And given that correct background, he has no excuse as he definitely knew better.

I see both sides of the argument regarding the Russells' parenting and Bertha as good or bad mom. Gladys is 17 and Archie is the very first boy/man she's met at all, so it's not bad guidance to tell her to put on the breaks. Gladys had sort of put them in a corner by her secretly going out to meet Archie (how did she even meet him, do we know?), so that her parents had to take it a bit more seriously. Of course Bertha and George, as they do with most things, come in with a sledgehammer where a toy hammer might do. It certainly could have been handled more kindly, to say the least, but it's not wrong to think that it's much too soon to settle on this one person she's met. We know that Bertha has grander ambitions, for sure, but Gladys has met no one else at all. And in fact this is a mistake that Marian is making as well. Raikes is the very first man who's shown an interest, as far as we know, so it's far, far, far too soon to be be considering marriage. The other dynamic I see is that while George did support Bertha's wishes, he did make it pretty clear to Gladys that while he was doing so it was against his own inclinations, that "if it were up to him..." Yes, in this world, and in this household in particular, domestic matters are under Bertha's purview. So George accedes to her wishes, but he makes sure his kids know that he's on their side, just can't do anything about it. The thing is, again Bertha's ambitions aside, she, as a woman, knows what happens to women if they make bad choices. Making sure a daughter makes the very best marriage possible in this time period was a matter of survival in many cases. It wasn't just about a mother's ambition - though here it is more-so as Bertha is so determined - but about making sure a woman, who had very few legal protections on her own and was at the mercy of the men in her life, would be set for life.

His own book, Society As I Have Found It, is one of the things I've read chunks of - though I'll admit his own "history" is certainly colored by his own touting of himself. Otherwise I've been reading what articles I can find about him. He did travel to Europe and he does say in his book that he studied the manners/isms of those he met in Europe.

I think there was definitely a deference and fascination with the British aristocracy, even with this powerful, moneyed crowd. So to gain an Earl or a Duke for a daughter was beyond desirable to the matchmaking mothers. Even if they were beyond powerful in their own social circle in New York, they were also extremely interested in (and likely insecure about) the much older aristocracy. I was reading up on Ward McAllister and part of his cache at the time came from the fact that he had toured Britain and Europe and supposedly hobnobbed with "society" in those travels. When he became the societal arbiter of what was good and proper, a lot of what was determined to be correct was what they might be doing in those countries. When Agnes's butler went across the street and had a tour of the Russell home, much of his commentary was about how curious (read passive aggressive insult here) it was the way they had the silverware and the glassware and that they were having chicken soup, etc. etc. All of that was connected to an idea of what's socially correct.

Young women did not "put their hair up" until they were officially brought out, so because her mother is not ready to present her and bring her out (launch her on the social scene) she's still wearing her hair down as a young girl would. I don't know if we'll see her with her mother again in this season, but if the show continues for a number of seasons I'd see this more as the writers building some backstory/context for characters that could be used as subplots in succeeding seasons. I thought it was a good scene in that it gave some color to her sort of generally bitter behavior. It's more than we've got yet with Turner - who is equally bitter behaving, but with far less reason as far as we know.

Do we know how they even met in the first place? I get young love and all that, but not great idea on either of their parts. I kind of love the ruthless Russells, but that was a pretty brutal scene between Russell and Bolton - just on a power/maturity level alone. An interesting article from Town and Country about Mrs. Astor and how she went up against the government when she was having designer dresses brought in from overseas (and not paying proper taxes). Interesting in and of itself, but also interesting in that one of the dresses is very reminiscent of something Marian wore in this ep. Wonder if this is where the wardrobe dept got the idea? https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a38952075/caroline-astors-gown-scandal/ I think the maid that went to the show with the footman was in the Van Rhygn household.

I get that Taylor's deal was shady but Rian's reaction seemed like a complete 180 from a couple episodes ago. In that one Prince had given a directive and Taylor was trying to make sure her team was doing what Prince wanted and Rian was all about how they were losing money and when there was money to be made, then ethics be damned. Or words to that effect. She/they even were on the verge of being fired by Taylor for disobeying a direct order. Granted, that deal, whatever it was, was not shady, I think. But it was clear that Rain was there for the money first and foremost. So I thought her/their reaction in this episode didn't fit at all with how they behaved a couple episodes ago. That's the problem with this whole season, almost no one is acting in character and not only are they different from earlier seasons but they seem to veer wildly back and forth from one episode to the next. And don't even get me started on Chuck's storyline - which makes absolutely no sense at all. Not only does it have nothing to do with his actual job as AG but it came out of nowhere and is not logically connected to anything else. Because Prince wants the Olympics, it's the oligarchs against the people? Again, it's true the Olympics can be a boondoggle, but not always and they can bring a lot of money/economic growth too. Taylor's plan to get free wifi for a lot of people (thought I didn't fully understand it) was scuttled because...??? by Chuck. I get that they were trying to preserve the antagonistic vibe that Chuck had with Axe - but even that had gotten way old by the time Axe left. So to regurgitate it in this nonsensical way with Prince? So beyond aggravating. There are good actors here, but man the writing is bad. I am basically hate-watching at this point because I still like Taylor.

The drug lady told her that if Rue didn’t bring her the money she’d have Rue kidnapped and sold. I’m thinking it will be Jules or Gia who end up taking the punishment in some way.

I'm thinking they must have been exposed or still in a quarantine period. I can't imagine that they could be unvaccinated as most of these shows are being pretty rigid about that if someone wants to be filming. I don't have specific info about this show and vaccination, but there have been actors on other shows who have been fired for not being vaccinated. I think it has become a bit of an industry standard as there is so much money involved in making these shows and having to shut down production because everyone is sick is something they do not want. There have been rumors that she's pregnant so perhaps her dress was ill fitting and tight because of that? I'm in the minority in that I like Katie more than most, but even that aside I was happy that she was telling Sandoval all those things. Yes, Schwartz was dismayed that she was revealing the things he's been complaining to her about and normally I'd be totally for a spouse keeping their counsel. But Sandoval is so terrible and makes it a point to make it seem that he's 99.99% responsible for any success the Toms have had. Katie must get so frustrated both in having Sandoval do and say these things on the show to make her Tom look like an idiot and in having to see and hear from her Tom as to what he's contributing and how aggravated he gets with Sandoval's behavior. Yes, she shouldn't reveal things, but we know that Schwartz would never say anything. And if it's true that he's doing the bulk of the work while Sandoval swans around doing his music and whatever (which I totally believe), then I will cheer her on in revealing that. I loathe Sandoval but had started to soften on Ariana, but this reunion is reminding me why I dislike her. She is so convinced that she's the cool girl (I think she even said it this season). I think of the description of the 'cool girl' in the book Gone Girl: That's Ariana to me. And I do not like.

I will say as regards the Meredith informs the FBI on Jen idea: I'd say it is in the realm of partially true and possible. If Meredith did hire a PI, which she hasn't denied, then it's likely that the PI figured out (and how could they not) how shady Jen's business was. PI reports to Meredith with this info and it's possible that she then passed a tip on to the FBI or someone official. Now do I think that she's wholly responsible for the Feds coming down on Jen? No? Do I think that some information she got hold of and shared could have been part of a larger package of info the Feds had? Maybe. Often with these kinds of HW show stories there are kernels of truth that exist, in between all the screaming. It reminds me of the "Lisa VP went to the press" storyline many years ago on BH. She denied it up and down, but eventually it did come out that she'd done it. The story itself was blown way up and caused much screaming, but the bones of the story were always there and true. There was so much screaming last night that I kept switching to another show, but that other show was Euphoria which, while really good, is also painful and tawdry (in totally different ways). So I then would switch back for a break from the teen sex and drugs to the adults screaming at each other. It was an interesting pairing in tv show watching, I must say.

I think this was interesting. Way back in the first challenge he was very dismissive of Christian's advice/suggestions and was actively rude to him. He seemed to mellow a bit as the season went on and engage with Christian when he offered thoughts and recommendations. And then we got to this challenge and he once again completely ignored everything Christian, and Coco, and Christian again, were trying to tell him. As to the dress - I loved the shimmery blue but could not tell if the effect of the dress was all because of the fabric he chose? Basically it was a tight sheath dress and the fabric made it look interesting? I'm not even going to comment on the massive denim coat and head wrap? Those were the things that everyone was telling him to lose and he persisted. As to the photo- I thought his was by far the worst as it made Coco look compacted/reduced. It certainly did not evoke tornado in any way, shape or form. It was way too leaden and weighted down (mostly by all the things Bones added to it). A tornado is movement and energy and wildness, none of which was in the photo. Chastity's was bad for other reasons, so I thought they were the correct bottom two. I think Bones definitely had a more original design, but if the challenge rested partially on the photo, then Chastity did edge him out as her photo was good. Chantal - ladder Coral - fan Christina - blue bin Bones - ? what was his prop Chastity - pallet?

Thanks for the link to the YouTube discussion. So much interesting background information. I had missed that the meetup between Porsha and Dennis where they talked about Pilar in the last episode was 4 months after the events in Mexico. So that was an interesting tidbit - and that it was something Porsha demanded of the producers (to film that extra scene) and that she thought it was going to show her in a good light and make Dennis the bad guy? Solid gold. Dennis throughout this "series", or whatever it's been, has shown that if nothing else, he's definitely the more mature of the two. Knowing that Porsha wanted her meeting with Dennis to go badly for him. And that she went there with plans to try and enrage him so that he'd react badly and perhaps hurt any custody asks he'd have? That is some true manipulative evil right there. I truly hope Dennis has followed through with the paperwork and court process so that he has legal recourse when Porsha is jerking him around. Also found it interesting and not a good thing for Porsha, I'd guess, that the new house is only in Simon's name. Porsha has trashed her life and reputation and career for this guy and she's going to come out of it with nothing, I predict. And at this point, I'd be kind of here for it?

No, in the van she said she likes Kaylee but she did not give her $100 or she did not give her any of her money or words to that effect.

Misty did warn her that smoking was bad for her (would kill her?). Misty had thrown the cigarettes away and seemed to be trying to give her a fighting chance. So if Jessica hadn’t insisted on having her cigarettes back, she wouldn’t have passed out and crashed. I’m not sure Jessica is dead, but say she is because of what Misty put in the cigs. What was Misty’s plan if she hadn’t asked for her cigarettes?

The tip was $25,000. Captain Lee gave everyone $2200, then gave a $100 to Kaylee, as did most (all?) the rest, except Rayna.

Early in the season they had him seated in all of his scenes so that his growth spurt wouldn't be evident. They've been doing the same thing on Young Sheldon as the kid who plays him has also sprung up. It's been bugging me with both shows, though I understand the why of it. With Mark I think it makes some sense given how short Darlene and David are. His height is especially notable. But with YS, it makes less sense. Adult Sheldon is a string bean, so it would make sense for YS too. But I di-Greg (to quote my fav teacher on TikTok). I really appreciated that Jackie was allowed to be a lot more normal in last night's episode. Since this reboot started they've really leaned into her more exaggerated characteristics and it's been bugging me. (guess everything is bugging me). Jackie of original recipe Roseanne certainly had some big, histrionic moments, but she was also very normal and thoughtful much of the time. This last aspect has been largely absent in the reboot. So I appreciated some thoughtfulness from her in regards to Neville (after the requisite wackiness).

I think the problem is that he's been "promoted" to First Officer and Jake is supposed to be Bosun. On BD the First Officer has never been a full-time cast member, not one that is on every episode. So it feels like whatever Eddie's new duties as FO are supposed to be aren't film-worthy. Or perhaps because those duties have nothing to do with what the interior and deck crews are regularly doing, the producers realized that his promotion would not have him interacting with the rest of the cast (notice I say cast, vs. actual crew who are seldom seen). So though he's supposedly made Jake the Bosun and is meant to leave him to run things, Eddie ends up jumping in (both on his own and because the captain tells him to) to be part of the action. In previous seasons there would be a Bosun and three deck hands, right? If yes, then Jake is effectively working short-handed unless Eddie jumps in? So I think it's partially producer set-up and partially that they've short-changed the deck crew by "promoting" Eddie to FO. side note: wonder if Malia will be promoted on next season of BD Med? Ugghhhh.

I thought it was interesting that the producers were desperately trying to get them to do something interesting at the morning-after meditation thing. It was clear that Porsha had put the kibosh on anyone talking about it at that time and the producers were very frustrated - with her I think especially. And then later at the dinner she'd clearly had time to make sure the message was controlled because suddenly, as the production tells us, they were going to discuss it. Even then it was sort of a non-discussion. I've never been a Porsha fan, but in the last couple seasons I'd started to think maybe I should give her more of a chance. Not anymore. She is so beyond full of the wondrousness of herself and the people closest to her clearly want the gravy-train to keep running so they're not calling her on her ish. Makes this all so boring and painful. Admittedly I only watched in small dribs and drabs as I could not sustain more than five minutes at a time of interest, so I may have missed things. But lord, Porsha is insufferable.

What I noticed about the other apartment was that the sheet music on the piano was La Campenella with a handwritten note on it that said “It’s impossible”. That’s the piece that Sarah had mentioned struggling with in the past and she said something like it was impossible. So I’m thinking the apartment was Sarah’s, so no suicide. Jeevan told Kirsten that when spring came and it got warmer would be when everyone else would emerge and be fighting over resources. That’s why he wanted to head out while it was still winter. Every episode of this show has me enthralled and then breaks my heart. And this one was no exception. Kirsten trying to get Frank to come out of his room before they left even though a part of her knew he was dead? She couldn’t acknowledge it but clearly adult Kristen dreaming/remembering those days “knew”. Both actresses were phenomenal in those scenes.