Pop Tart

I think if SS were still writing this then Nikki would never be going back to Victor. I liked how she had that break-up happen. Not huge amounts of crying and drama on Nikki's part, just cool, calm, "I'm done with you" behavior with Victor and then she moved out. She made no apologies for dating Jack - made no drama about it either. It was all so adult of her. And now she's right back where she started with Mal dropping her maturity levels by about 20 notches.

Ah in that case I agree. I do think she's doing an interesting job with the character - just don't like a lot of the way she's being written (this goes back to earlier episodes) where it's all about emotion for her (as opposed to her male colleagues).

I disagree with this. I thought she was being an idiot through much of the episode. She's a resident - you do what you're told when you're told and she just kept arguing about things. When she and the female doctor were first discussing what had happened before getting the shooter up to the OR (with Claire seemingly wanting the victim to go first because she was working on the shooter), it was clear that the surgeon was trying to train her/impart some wisdom about treating the patients no matter who they are or what they've done. Then Claire says she doesn't think she was doing that (being influenced by who the patients were), okay fine. She's just responding. But then the doctor explains why the shooter's injury was worse and needed more immediate treatment and Claire told her she was wrong and kept on insisting on the point. In front of nurses and anesthesiologist and whoever else was in the room. You do not call out one of your bosses that publicly in any job, but especially if you're in an OR. And then when the woman surgeon gave her the punishment assignment of taking care of the guy for the night she argued about that (very childishly I think) and again did so in front of others if I remember right. At that point she should just be saying, yes ma'am, whatever you want. Just like Shaun had to take scut work when Melendez assigned it to him. That's how the hierarchy works. I didn't even like when she came in at the end and gave a public apology to the surgeon - she's still bringing other people into the drama even if she's saying that she wants to publicly respect the woman surgeon like she publicly disrespected her. By making her grand speech in front of others, she's still putting her boss in an awkward situation. Didn't like any of that. Did like Shaun's progression, in fits and starts, from the beginning of the episode to the end. And I too appreciate that sometimes he's wrong. I liked too that when he said he was wrong about the treatment for the shooting victims, he credited Aaron (?) as being right, and Melendez even said, sure you were wrong but you also realized a critical thing so they could find the bleeder.

Except now she's going right back to Victor! And of all the things that SS did as writer, I liked best what she did with Nikki finally, truly and for sure, being done with Victor and all his evil-doing. Under SS the writing for the women wasn't perfect, but under Mal they're taking about 1000 steps back. Victoria is right back under Victor's thumb and being evil to Abby. Abby is now determined to take her down (I expect a mud-slinging, catfight is in their future).

I agree. And what bugged me last night was they showed her praying with Shannon in the bathroom at The Quiet Woman and wasn't that sweet of her (according to the viewer comment that Andy read), but she was the one who made sure Kelly appeared at the QW. Kelly wasn't invited, but Lydia called her and let her know that's where she and Tamra and Shannon and Peggy were going to be. This was one of the very first eps of the season so Shannon had not yet made it up with Kelly. In fact, I think she hadn't seen her since the last reunion. So Shannon thinks she's having a nice getting to know you outing with Lydia and Peggy and then here comes drunk Kelly. But Kelly would never have been there if Lydia hadn't passive aggressively encouraged her to come. That's when I truly began to hate Lydia - didn't like her before then, but that was a turning point for me. I generally try not to comment negatively about how the women look, but what the heck was up with Peggy last night. She was barely recognizable. If Tamra had some work done, which she talked about, Peggy looks like she's had about 3 times as much done and it isn't good. I barely recognized her at first. I admired Meghan for keeping her cool with Lydia's very aggressive response to her. Megan started to mildly comment (I thought) about something Lydia had done and Lydia was right away "You're coming for me now" or something like that. Meghan looked startled and then every time she started to talk Lydia jumped in a way that was clearly meant to rattle Meghan. Meghan starts again "I'm trying to say..." and Lydia interrupts again with a very aggressive "What are you trying to say!?" before Meghan can even complete her thought. She was hoping Meghan would go off like Shannon does and then she could call her crazy, or unstable, etc.

I hate Henry. I liked the early version of him as professor of military history who occasionally had something to contribute to world events. But this Henry? Who is now in on meetings in the oval and is being called Director (director of what?) by his subordinates and who is not only an expert spy on the ground in the middle east but will defeat Russia in the spy game and is so arrogant about his job and abilities (though he's only been in this spy game for like a moment), arghhh, the list goes on and on. Last night's episode was all about Henry and barely about Bess (the titular character). Henry lost his agent, Henry has angst about it, Henry pouts about Bess not supporting him, Henry proclaims that US policy needs to be re-examined because his agent has been kidnapped, Henry pontificating to Bess and the President (both of whom spent years working for the CIA and facing difficult choices) about how wrong they are....Argghhhh to the nth degree. And though it was nice that Bess's team came up with the solution and got the agent freed, I knew that she'd have to sop Henry's feelings by telling him that now the president was going to take a look at the policy regarding hostages. Because of course Henry is truly right about this, not anyone else. I don't mind Dmitri/Alexei as a character but this pushing of a romance between him and Stevie, just no, no, no. Partly because it is way too soap-opera-y (and I enjoy soap operas), but also because it will once again be all about Henry's angst. I hate Henry.

Yeah, I'm back to barely watching. Can't stand that the focus seems to be shifting back to Victor as center of the universe and all Newman's under his thumb (except for Nick). Within the space of a couple days Victoria has gone from "I must be independent" to "okay I'll go back to working at Newman Enterprises", majorly shafting her sister in the process. And Noah is going to be running TOTT. And then you have Nikki at the event. Why was she there exactly? It was supposed to be for Abby and both Victor and Victoria were keeping Nikki in the dark about the true purpose, so why would she even go? She's there to support the Newman brand? And then Neil insists she has to be in the Newman photo to show support for the public? What? She's moved out of the ranch and has been gone from there for months, she's dating Jack, and now she's being put fully right back into the Newman orbit. I'm guessing that Dina stabbing Nikki will somehow set her and Jack apart and that will pave the way for her to get back with Victor (hate with the heat of a thousand burning suns). I don't like Nick, character (hate) or actor (meh), but I guess I'm slightly, mildly curious about what the plan for him is? He's the only one who isn't falling instantly back into the Newman fold and he's a core character. So he's going to be doing what? Living with Chelsea? And side note, for a grifter she sure has a winner in him, when she started dating him he was a millionaire running a business and living in his own home. Now he's unemployed, has given away most of his money and has moved himself and his daughter into her condo.

I think the disconnect for me with Sheldon's being ashamed of working with Bert on geology was that Bert just won the MacArthur Genius Grant and that's a pretty prestigious thing. If Sheldon is working with a MacArthur Genius in any scientific field no one would blink. In a much earlier season there was a handsome scientist who came to work on campus who Leonard developed a bro-crush on, until he started dating Penny. That guy had a MacArthur Genius grant and the guys were all agog with his rockstar status. I do think this plays, again, into my theory that Sheldon doesn't really have any original genius idea in him. Everything he's worked on that he thought was it was a mistake or made up (his newly discovered element came out of his wrong math, his polar experiments that he thought proved something, didn't because the guys tricked him). The only things that Sheldon has had real recognition on are things that others have thought of or majorly contributed to, Leonard's wave theory thing (for which Sheldon got sole credit in the magazine article), the guidance system they worked on last year, when he worked with Kripke on a project and realized that Kripke was way ahead of him in his research, etc. I don't dispute that Sheldon is a genius when it comes to knowing science and math, but I'm not sure he has any truly groundbreaking, genius theories in him. I did so appreciate that Leonard had gone to Bert to work with him after Sheldon screwed it up and that he didn't give up his collaboration spot with Bert just because Sheldon changed his mind. There have been far too many times when Sheldon has been completely and totally in the wrong where all the others eventually cave to him (mostly to do with non-work stuff, but still).

I loathe Peggy but I almost felt a smidgen of sympathy (almost, just barely) for her when she realized that Vicki had totally abandoned her. Here she came on the show as co-chief Vicki cheerleader (with Lydia being the other co-chief) and has spent the season propping up Vicki as the most wonderful friend in the world, and then the minute Vicki gets back into the good graces of Tamra, Vicki is ready to drop Peggy like a hot potato. And is all "oh I can't get involved in all that drama". She literally abandoned her that last night in Iceland to hide in the bus. And though I hate Peggy, I don't hate Diko, don't love him, but think he sometimes says something that is on the nose (perhaps inadvertantly). Peggy was moaning to him about how all of the women ganged up on her, but doesn't say that she set the whole thing in motion, and Diko asks her a couple of times, very directly, why the women were upset. He in fact gets her to kind of, sort of, admit that she might have said something to upset them (which she of course couches it in they're misunderstanding her).

I was talking about an earlier episode, not the fish skin trial in this one. In episode two, think it was, Melendez sidelined Shaun to scut work but it was Shaun who came up with the solution for the woman who had a tumor completely surrounding her kidney. Can’t remember what the solution was but Jared presented it to Melendez as his idea and Melendez accepted it without a blink.

Had we seen the guy who killed Ruby before? When she saw him taking money out of her purse at first she turned and told him to put it back. He said he wasn't satisfied so he wasn't going to pay, so she told him she'd sic her "man" (meaning pimp) on him and he said something that made her back off totally (like she suddenly realized something about him or knew him or something). It was only when he called her thunder thighs that she got angry enough to talk back again and then he shoved her out the window. What was the backing off about? Did she have some realization of who he was, who he was connected to? That question aside I had mixed feelings about the finale and the series in general. It works well as a series of character explorations, but doesn't really seem to go anywhere. As I watched each episode I loved the actors and acting and was engrossed by them, but ended each one thinking 'what's the point?' And though it makes me happy that Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz are on the writing team, I do still have some issues with the absolute degradation of the women within the show, and yes I realize it's about prostitution and the porn industry so degradation is part of the deal. Will have to mull it some more.

But he was still super sexist when he insisted that the titanium femur couldn't be Claire's idea and had to be Shaun's. He said it was because he'd known Claire for the past six months and she hadn't shown this kind of thinking before. But when his other intern, Jared (?), came to him with the brilliant idea that he actually did steal from Shaun in an earlier episode Melendez never once questioned that it was Jared's idea. And from what we'd (and he'd) already seen from Jared there was no reason to think he could have come up with something like that either. I also think Melendez has shown some pretty traditional ideas when it comes to his romantic relationship as well - nothing wrong with traditional unless it's making him treat the women in his life differently when it comes to a professional setting. I did like this episode better then the rest so far and think that was because it had more of a balance in the story-telling (still some corny stuff going on) and because Melendez actually let Shaun do his job. Sure Melendez needs to keep an eye on how Shaun does, just as he should with the other interns, but his insistence early on to sideline him was not only wrong, but probably lawsuit-actionable from a discrimination standpoint.

The thing that got me was that Peggy was sooooo upset that the other four were just sitting there eating and not rushing to the hospital, but by the time she actually made the decision to go to the hospital (because Diko told her to) they were nearly done with dinner. So that means she wasted just as much time as they did, but didn't get a chance to eat. By the time she actually went to the hospital Vicki was on her way back to the hotel and didn't seem at all upset with the ones who stayed to have dinner - because they gave her a casserole! Even Lydia had an epiphany about Vicki's "illness" when she called it a 'case of the Vickis' on the ride back from the hospital. She looked like she was majorly regretting having hired on for the season to be Vicki's cheerleader. But any sympathy I had for Lydia (very, very brief moment there) was erased when she again tried to gaslight Shannon and stir her up while they were shopping. I do think Shannon gets threatened by Tamra getting close to Vicki, not because she's her friend and no one else can have her (who'd want her??), but because she and Tamra are supposed to be as one when it comes to all the lies Vicki told about the cancer and about their marriages. So yes she definitely gets threatened. But I thought last night she was doing her best to let things just flow. She did snark to Meghan during the makeup cry session between Vicki and Tamra but she wasn't saying those things to the group and I think the only time she got kind of shouty there was when Kelly kept trying to insert herself and Tamra told her this is "between A and B and C you later" or like that? And when Vicki was so "ill" she was mostly supportive, or not any more snarky then any of the others. So then you have Lydia. She hears that there was some kind of makeup session between Tamra and Vicki from Kelly who also tells her that Shannon seemed very upset that they were now friends again (Tamra and Vicki). Next they all go shopping and Shannon actually jokes with Vicki about the statue and a hair on the chin. And then Lydia zeroes in. She tells Shannon how nice it is that she is joking with Vicki and mentions that Vicki and Tamra made up, so how nice that Shannon was getting along too. Then when Shannon says it's only for the trip and that Vicki is still Vicki, Lydia pokes her again. You can tell she's trying to get a reaction and get Shannon to go "crazy" but for once Shannon doesn't bite. So Lydia then has her talking head about how there's something wrong with Shannon because she just can't let things go. Hate Lydia. Still hate Peggy. Wanted those doctors/paramedics to shove her out the door and slam it in her face. When she told the doctor to stop asking Vicki questions and help her, I wanted him to tell her to shut up and let him do his f*cking job! He has to come out here and be included in their circus, but at least let him do what he's trained to do.

Agreed. The way that Billy was trying to turn the tables and make this somehow all about her betraying him? What? Yes, Phyllis sent Ben H. in Victoria's direction, but other then that what has she done exactly other then wish for B&S to fail and help to make Jabot a success. That she betrayed him by not telling him that Jack had figured out that he was using Phyllis's laptop to spy on Jabot (an actual crime) and set him and Victoria up? What kind of convoluted 'ish is that for the writers to be trying to sell? And they had Phyllis kind of pause and accept that she had some part in all of this. Made my head want to explode. He stole Dina's password and logged into confidential, corporate files on Phyllis's laptop! Not once, but multiple times. And now somehow Phyllis has betrayed him because she didn't tell him that his corporate espionage had been discovered? And Jack is an evil, duplicitous villain because he set B&S up? Gah!!! Jack may have been playing tough with them, upping their rent, trying to beat them to the punch in business deals, but he has not done anything illegal or even particularly shady. He's tried to best them in business and if B&S goes under, then so be it. But there's nothing wrong with any of that. Billy and Victoria knowingly stole corporate information and acted on it - even borrowed money from Neil to do so. That's on them if it goes wrong. But now they want to be mad that the information they STOLE! was a red herring? I'm guessing that this will somehow drive a wedge into the Nikki/Jack relationship because Victoria will be all about how her mother can't be with the villainous Jack. And with Mal in charge we'll probably have another new round of Victor determined to destroy Jack - makes me wonder which crazy female character he'll resurrect in order to get Jack.

I get the impression that Aspen is with the nanny for the majority of the time when they are filming, but I think Meghan spends a lot of time with the baby when they're not filming. The fact that she's breastfeeding is a good indicator of that. If she were really just handing off the baby at all times to the nanny, she wouldn't still be breastfeeding. And she seems to really delight in Aspen.

I think Vicki was really feeling ill, but I'm also sure she was playing it up as far worse then it actually was in order to garner sympathy. Having now heard what Vicki was saying about Terry while they were on the Ireland trip, I better understand why Tamra, Shannon and Heather don't ever want to make it up with Vicki. At the time they were filming that trip last year, Vicki was becoming aware of just how bad things were going with her "Brooks has cancer" storyline. By those final episodes and the reunion she knew it was all tanking and she and Brooks were looking very, very bad. So she systematically began to try and take down the other women's husbands - and she attempted to do so while they were on camera. She did so through her mouthpiece Kelly, but it's clear that it was all coming from Vicki. She got the rumor out there about Eddie being gay (which to me is no great calumny, but to her and Tamra, clearly was), she got the scandal restarted about whether David beat Shannon, and now we hear that she tried to smear Terry as well. Clearly she was willing to do anything to take the focus off of Brooks.

Tonight I realized that part of the reason Shannon comments on her own size so much and “jokes” about it is because she’s doing that thing some people do when they’re afraid others are noticing their flaws. She’s making a joke first so that others won’t do it. It’s a defense mechanism I’ve used when feeing self conscious about my weight or being out of breath doing an activity that my skinnier friends are having no issues with. I make a joke at my own expense or comment about my own size because it feels like I need to be the one to mention the elephant in the room (no pun intended) and sort of take control of my own narrative. Of course no one else is obsessing about Shannon’s weight as she thinks they are and generally aren’t going to say a thing about it, but it can feel like they might so instead she jumps in first. Not only was Lydia incredibly immature about the group text (the gist of which was that Tamra wasn’t joining them for dinner), but did you notice how she fled the scene when Megan began to breastfeed Aspen? When Megan began to feed her, Lydia suddenly jumped up and decided that she was going on a nature hike. And re: Megan, sure her statements about mommyhood are the exact opposite of profound (incredibly obvious and banal), still I’ve heard variations of that theme from many new mothers, and many of them announce their feelings with that same suggestion in their voice that perhaps no other woman has discovered the fact that babies change everything. I’ve been appreciating Megan’s basic, no nonsense way of looking at things. She told Lydia the text thing was no big deal, just an oversight. And I loved how when she had to pee on the glacier she did so with no fuss or muss. I also give her kudos for how polite she was during the food tasting and I laughed when she said she was full when the guy offered her more fermented shark.

It's from season 2 when Peggy tells Pete that Freddy is going to present her Belle Jolie copy to the clients. Pete says it then. So it's come full circle. Her first time getting work in front of clients and then him telling her she'll achieve her ambitions.

I’m mostly finding this just okay, but finally realized what one issue for me is. That it’s called Law and Order and is supposed to be part of that group of shows and it’s just not. Not only has there been little from the police and prosecutors, they’re barely developed as characters at all. Even though the L&O franchise was told from the point of view of the cops and prosecutors, every character was well-written and interesting. With this it’s all Leslie all the time, with a little of the brothers thrown in now and then, but everyone else is being written paper thin. The prosecutors office is determined to get them, but that is all we know about those characters. In any given L&O episode, you would find a defense attorney who was interesting in and of themselves, so much so that you could easily see them in a show of their own. And certainly we were meant to root for the DA, but often the defense was just as rootable. There is no balance like that here. This feels closer to a Lifetime movie of the crime.

What Randall did was a major mistake, one that made all the sense in the world. He’s so eager to connect with Deja that he rushes in with any little thing without stopping to think about how it will affect Deja. He’s so caught up in what he needs from the relationship that he didn’t stop to think about the fact that Deja’s conversation was with Beth alone. I like that he’s making a few mistakes here. Last year, love him as I do, I still thought he was a bit too perfect. Same was true of Jack last year. I’m liking that tonight it was Beth and Rebecca shining as parents. I was surprised by Kate’s pregnancy, but pleasantly so. I’m happy to have something different for her story-wise. And I didn’t take the obsessive exercising as being just about losing weight before the baby. When she was at the doctor at the end she asked if she’d bought the right vitamins because she wants to make sure she was doing this as healthily as possible.

In terms of educating the residents, Andrews is doing a far better job then Melendez. It was Shaun and Claire's ideas that prompted him to decide to do the surgery on the mom and yet he shunted them off to the ER once again, basically leaving them to educate themselves about whatever they discovered. But during the surgery on the young porn star, Andrews actually showed Shaun and Claire things and allowed Shaun to test out the nerve connection since it had been his idea. He is also treating Shaun like a human being, something that Melendez hasn't yet managed to do. I do cry foul on how Shaun seems to be so poorly socialized in his personal life. He goes to the building manager's apartment past midnight (which I'd think he'd already know was probably not socially correct), so okay, the manager lets him have it about how late it is and how he is not to do that again. The next morning his mentor (can't remember his name) reiterates that Shaun should not have done that. But that night when he gets home and discover the faucet is no longer leaking, he goes and does the same again. I get that he's very upset that he won't hear the dripping, but he is not an idiot. This and the idea that he is still so thrown by everything that is different (the bus stop, etc) doesn't ring true to me. His mentor makes mention of how he's not in Laramie anymore where everyone knew him and I think we're supposed to take that as the reason he's so challenged by new things. But between growing up in Laramie and now he will have attended 4 years of undergraduate college (perhaps in Laramie, don't know if they have a University there or not) and also 4 years of medical school (not in Laramie I'm sure), so this fresh from the small city vibe is dumb.

I think you’re right but I think Lydia is even worse. She puts on the super-sweet facade but is getting at Shannon every chance she can, and with every interaction she makes sure to get a comment in about Shannon being crazy. When she inserted herself into the conversation between Peggy and Shannon and insisted that Shannon had to let Peggy talk, Shannon started to respond to her and Lydia said “don’t go mad dog at me”. Made me want to punch her. Shannon is way too emotional and easy to goad, but Lydia’s using ‘mad dog’ to her is a classic way to negate anything else she says going forward. This is akin to a man shutting a woman down by declaring her hysterical. If this were the first time Lydia has commented about Shannon’s “craziness’ I’d think it was of the moment, but Lydia has gone out of her way all season to push the crazy meme with regards to Shannon. There have been some nasty housewives (heck most of them from time to time) but Lydia just strikes me as vicious.

I don't think so. I think Shaun wanted to know the name of the donor and Claire was stumped because it hadn't occurred to her that they should care. She was more excited that they were transporting the liver and going to see the transplant surgery. So in order to basically shut Shaun up about it, she came up with Oliver, think rainbowrockgal has it right, "a liver" became Oliver.

I don't think her actions were criminal but they struck me as incredibly unrealistic. He thought he owed it to his daughter to have a glass of champagne to celebrate because she was the first in their family to graduate from higher education? And her handing it to him? The daughter of an alcoholic, one whose liver is so damaged he's waiting for a transplant, is not going to hand her dad a glass of champagne. I don't care if she was just elected President of the World, there's just no way she wouldn't have all kinds of baggage about his drinking, and that aside, the guy is going to die if he doesn't get a liver, so you give him a drink? I thought that was very clunky - and agree that it's been done before on ER. I just saw the very episode a couple weeks ago - and I have to say seeing those repeats of ER really do make this show pale even more in comparison. Sure the ER had some over the top scenarios, but man the character development and drama is just so well done. In seeing those early years of the show I'm marveling again at how well-written and acted it was.

I've not liked Peggy and Diko from the start, but I'm beginning to think they may be Theresa/Joe level grifters. Item 1: The whole does she have cancer or not - which I think they've deliberately made more confusing for purposes of drama and attention on the show. I don't have any issue with her having a double mastectomy even if she never saw one teeny, tiny blip of a possibility of cancer. But she has been obfuscating about it all season which has garnered her a storyline and the role as victim of the slings and arrows of her fellow cast members who are justifiably confused. Item 2: Then there's the whole are they actually married or not question. I don't care if they are or aren't, but they're certainly putting on a big show that they are. And oh-so-happily so. Item 3: And the final nail is the very over-the-top, ostentatious mention of how much they're spending on everything. Wasn't their first party all about the car(s?) Diko was giving Peggy? That yellow monstrosity?