dovegrey

I think it was because Anna tended to rip off giant financial institutions, like Fortress, and wealthy society folks, who tended to lose their reputations more than their livelihoods (look at Alan, who got a promotion but lost his preferred squash court). Rachel and Neff appeared to be the only marks who could have lost their entire livelihoods, and Rachel was ridiculed/shamed because she pivoted, made money off of it, and still went gunning after Anna (good. for. her.). If Anna had made a game out of ripping off "regular" people, I imagine it would have been easier for all these people, including the journalists, to see right through her. People seem to really like to see rich folks get taken down a peg. That's the only way I can understand the Scriberians, and many of the characters, continuing to actively root for Anna. Otherwise, Todd has his whole working-class-to-upper-class imposter syndrome complex, and he all but told his wife that he feels like a con artist who doesn't belong in her circles; Anna busted down those doors and manipulated him like the sociopath that she is. And, although I still don't understand Neff's complete inability to extrapolate how she would have felt had Anna not repaid Neff and the hotel (and accordingly empathized with Rachel), I think doing that would have required Neff to recognize and admit that she happily became Anna's smizing, drooling lapdog to pluck up all those pretty hundred-dollar bills (Episode 5 isn't terribly good for Neff). It's easier to rationalize that Anna was a friend. But I don't "get" Vivian's histrionics at the end or her prioritizing Anna over her own newborn child. And I don't understand Kacy's back-and-forth waffling.

I don't doubt this part at all, to be honest. I once worked with a narcissistic mid-career colleague who had been through no less than eight employers in about fifteen years, taking significant pay cuts with each job hop. After they were caught in an embezzlement scheme at my company, among many other improper things too specific to mention, they were very quietly terminated. The company refused to blacklist them. Refused to press charges. Refused to talk about it. Refused to give a bad reference. It was far easier to pretend it had never happened, save face, and be glad this colleague was someone else's problem, apparently. Turns out they'd done the same sort of things at the other companies, and none of those companies had ever blacklisted the colleague either. The colleague also leaned on their network of loose professional connections (especially ones who were still being charmed and refused to believe the truth), to find new jobs. It definitely happens, and so I had no problem with Nora. As a more general comment, being part of that disaster and getting drawn into that con is why this series and Anna's story is interesting to me. I've seen it. I've experienced the cold, eye-opening moment, where all the little things finally added up together into crystal clarity, and I decided to stop being a mark. I bought Rachel's explanation that Anna's long-game grift was a very traumatic experience that made it hard to trust others, and I absolutely don't blame her for capitalizing on it; those two things aren't mutually exclusive, not when someone has lovebombed you, screwed you, blamed you, gaslit you, and ridiculed you for it. Overall, people tend to find it very hard to say "no" and are generally quite susceptible to believing what they're told versus what they see/experience (see also the book The Gift of Fear, for those wondering what the little "tells" are that give away con artists). That's the part of the series that I enjoyed watching the most. With all that said, this episode made no fucking sense, and I agree with everyone who's saying it ruined the series. Kacy shaming Rachel for turning in their "friend" was just about it for me (whether it was criminal or not, no "friend" keeps charging another friend's credit cards, and then lies about reimbursement for three months). I didn't buy Kacy's about face on that; I figured she'd say that Rachel helping Anna get arrested in the middle of another grift was karma. Certainly, the theatrics with Vivian and Todd boo-hooing about Anna going to prison was definitely the moment that ruined the series. Those two deserve each other. I enjoyed the first seven episodes, except for Anna Chlumsky's bad acting, but these last two episodes were like watching the Twilight Zone.

I want to like this show, but I'm stuck on the actress who plays Vivian/the journalist reminding me of a Kate McKinnon SNL character, and not in a good way. The actress is super hammy.

This. Since Mitchell was so desperate to work with *the* SG-1 and groveled for them to abandon their next big projects, he should have deferred command to Sam and enjoyed learning the job. And I never understood why they didn’t build on the season 5 arc of Sam mentoring new recruits with her mentoring a new SG-1 recruit in season 8. The writers didn’t even try to make it work. I’m at the point in season 9 where I remember why I stopped watching. The fanboy self-insertion writing of Mitchell is becoming insufferable (…single-handedly storming a mothership to save Teal’c while Sam nags… no one knowing if Sam or Mitchell are in charge to the point that the confusion of having two lt colonels with the newbie in charge over the seasoned SME getting the Prometheus destroyed with no professional fall out…) Still love the show but the internal inconsistencies and writing choices dragged it down for me.

Right, but that's not how it works. It made zero sense for two lieutenant colonels to serve together on the same team, and it made zero sense for Sam’s career trajectory to step down from a command post at R&D so she could serve under Mitchell's command of SG-1. (Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Sheppard is commanding the entire military contingent of a FOB in a multi-front war with two doomsday enemies a few hundred million lightyears away.) The writers deliberately chose to not have Sam keep command of SG-1, and that’s what I always wondered about. All in all, even going back to her promotion to major in season 3 and not getting her own team (despite many other majors leading their own teams), Sam should have originated as an NCO, not a command-track officer, particularly seeing as how she never appeared to have a command (of anyone except civilians) until she made full bird colonel. 😅 And I like Sam. But, despite the constant glorification of her in writing, she was never well-served in practice.

My SO and I have been rewatching the entire series on Netflix since October. We’re finally in the middle of season 9. I watched SG-1 on syndication and then watched the first-run episodes on SciFi for seasons 7-9. I was a huge fan until around that time, then fandom kinda got to me, and then college life got to me. I don’t think I watched 10, and I never watched the movies. (...but then I caught SGA's season 4 finale after work and got hooked into Atlantis for season 5...weird how that worked) Overall, I gotta say that I’m enjoying season 9 way more than now than I originally did. Just some random thoughts as I've watched... Despite appreciating the military hierarchy on SG-1, it’s refreshing to see the team interact as equals after all their experiences and essentially achieving legendary status. I’m really enjoying Daniel’s continued post-ascension development and confidence, and I like him a lot more without his weird dynamic with Jack. Beyond that, I remember questioning why Carter didn’t keep command of SG-1 but ultimately think Mitchell was the right choice. He pushed the show forward without busting up SG-1’s dynamics and does a good job of being “in command” without really having Jack-like command. Season 8 wasn’t great for Carter, in that respect, and it seemed like she was pulled apart by being the go-to save-the-day tech expert while also trying to command the team. The team needs a Jack - and Mitchell actually brings enthusiasm and voiced respect for the entire team. With that said, and this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I wish Jack/RDA had left the show earlier. He was an ass in season 5, started to get dumbed down in season 6, and was completely checked out for seasons 7-8. In retrospect, I wish he would have died in “Heroes” (and possibly been accidentally brought back through the events of “Moebius”), as I think his stint as general was embarrassing. I loved him in the earlier seasons, but RDA was so very clearly done after a certain point. The show didn't need Jack. With all that said, a part of me still thinks that SG-1 should have ended after season 8 and rebooted as Stargate Command for what became seasons 9+, with Landry, Mitchell, Vala, and Lam, and maybe Daniel as a co-lead with Teal’c and Sam as guest stars or recurring characters. And I wonder what would have happened to the franchise, had that happened plus keeping Atlantis on the air for season 6. I can’t think of another franchise that was going so strongly, only to suddenly fizzle out and drop dead. (With the talk of reboots, I have serious doubts that the original magic could be recaptured, especially if Mullie/Malozzi/Kindler are anywhere near it...)

Well, yeah, that’s everyone on Truck 81, besides Pelham. They’ve been down to four people since season 7. It was disappointing that Engine, Squad, and Ambo didn’t join Truck for the “show of force” and represent all of Firehouse 51, like they’ve done in years past. They were too busy planning a party. 🥳

With all respect to you, and all snark aside, I rarely buy into the myth of Boden that the show tries to present. Aside from his One Special Episode per season, he strikes me as a one-dimensional caricature of a strong leader, just like all the characters have become caricatures of their loudest trait. Since at least season 5, I’ve rolled my eyes at Boden’s “gravitas” just as much as whatever any of the characters are written to do or say. I still have a serious issue with Kidd white-knighting The Saving of Pelham at 51, without her or Boden looping in Pelham (IIRC). Does he even want to stay with the CFD? He lost the entire support of the CFD except for four people; he has no viable upward career path; and, the next time he's legitimately on the hook for a screwup*, he is likely right back to a review board and termination. It was all about Kidd, what Kidd wanted, what Kidd felt about the situation, and what Kidd thought was right, which gets into the Gabbification thing. (*He needs to put a literal leash on Gallo.) Honestly, I’m kind of resentful that Kidd’s arc has been written so badly that I don’t want to support her.

I would have liked the episode better, if it wasn’t the umpteenth time the intrepid, honest, selfless heroes at 51 laid it all in the line with a grand sweeping display of Morals to take down yet another powerful corrupt person doing corrupt things. The good guys don’t always win, but these ones do. It’s like a kid show, especially compared to the first few seasons, which had heart but also leaned on some dark realities. Meh.

I looked up the screencap at https://www.homeofthenutty.com/tv/displayimage.php?album=207&pid=209620#top_display_media Casey was a firefighter on a non-51 Engine for 7 years before promoting up to lieutenant on Truck 81 in 2011. He’d only been lieutenant for maybe a year when season 1 started in September 2012. So, we saw Casey at the beginning of his officer career in season 1, and he always seemed to know how to handle every random machinery-gone-wrong call. Severide apparently graduated with Casey and Darden from the Academy (and I totally forget which seasons that was mentioned in), so he likely hadn't been an officer for very long when the show started, either. FWIW, I looked up the transcript for the dumb season 5 episode where 51 was disbanded by Another Angry Chief; Kidd said she’d spent “two years under Tipton” at Firehouse 27, so she at the least had two years of firefighting experience before season 4, plus seven years now at 51. She has around 9-10 years of firefighting experience and was a CFD paramedic before that. So, she's more experienced than Casey and Severide were when they became officers.

I thought Kidd had spent 5-6 years at another house with a nasty lieutenant before she transferred to 51 in season 4. So she’s been a firefighter for around 12 years. Casey had less experience than that when he became an officer (I think - it was in 6x1 and I forget dates now) and always seemed to know what to do on every call. I can’t begrudge Kidd that. I just really wish they had shown her BECOMING a good leader and being Casey’s right hand, like Herrmann had been. It reads like a grandiose fantasy that she walks in, is a perfect lieutenant, an inspiring leader, and a savior of Pelham through her mettle and charm. FFR? I definitely agree that it was not good to have Boden and Severide watching her approvingly the whole time, like she was a child. How insulting. And I thought Stellaride was going to make out or kiss at the escalator…. Ugh.

Now that this episode crowned Kidd as a highly competent and selfless lieutenant, I figure Herrmann or Pelham are not long for 51. Herrmann needs to stop screaming at his kids every time he has an emotional day at work. And it was a jerk move to take his kids to meet a dude who just wants to quietly sit and reflect on his dead brother. Didn’t like this as a savior vehicle for Wonder Kidd and didn’t like that Pelham had no agency. For a second, I was worried he had hurt himself or committed suicide at the very end, but this hasn’t been that show for a long time. I’m glad he’s staying but what a debt and strange dynamic to have moving forward.

It’s yet another example of the writers having an idea for a story but not showing it. But, something I find interesting and even irritating about Pelham is that he won’t fight for himself. He was passively waiting to be removed from his command and/or fired. It was the same way when he wanted Truck 81 permanently, said he’d fight for it, but was really just waiting to get moved along. In this episode, I wanted to reach through the screen and smack him, when he publicly waffled about whether or not he gave the injured firefighter the order. Like, bud, I'm 100% sure you would remember if you told a firefighter to use a metal-tipped pole to control a live electrical wire. I would LOVE to see him develop as a character and regain trust in the CFD and in himself as a worthy officer, and I really didn’t think I had that much interest left in the show. I liked Kidd until season 9 or so (…I think). There were glimmers of issues in season 7 (when she flipped out on Casey for refusing to let her attempt suicide to save Severide again and then spent the rest of the season angsting about breaking up with him) and in season 8 (when she absolutely needed Severide’s support to even think about going to a leadership event), but the constant hand-wringing about the exam and Severide's support in season 9 did her in, IMO. Now, Kidd saying that she ghosted Boden on the Truck lieutenant spot because she was worried she wouldn’t be “perfect” for Severide is the epitome of the reason why I’m over her. Her entire lieutenant storyline has generally been more what Severide thinks/wants/feels/supports/will do than about Kidd wanting it and doing it for herself. The writers have destroyed her, like they destroyed Gabby. The best thing that could happen is she becomes an officer at a different house or on a different shift, far away from Severide.

I watched this episode tonight. I don’t like Stellaride but am hoping this is the last time they have another will-they-won’t-they detour. It’s been six years of that now. No more. The show needs anchored. I honestly didn’t think the show could easily rebound with a new lead after either Casey or Severide left, let alone have someone come in who fans generally seem to love, not resent, and not constantly compare to Casey. They landed a great actor with Brett Dalton (he nailed the end scene with Boden) and a good character with Pelham, who could grow to stick with the show if it goes beyond season 11 and carry it if/when Kinney (and Walker and even Mayo) finally leaves. The showrunners would be flat out shortsighted and stupid to write him off. Alas, this is Fire, so I fear Pelham will probably be cleared but decide to leave Chicago for a clean record elsewhere (just my speculation). Really, I’d let Kidd ride out the consequence of her decisions, keep Pelham on Truck, and then write off useless Herrmann (and Kidd takes Engine next season). I’m getting anvil vibes that Brett wants a Casey baby and doesn’t want to wait 2.5 more years for him to come back. I’m not getting the vibe that she wants to break up - not with the kid saying his name and Scott telling her to not waste time with Casey. I could see a write off coming. (And yeah there were some interesting angles, editing, and possibly wardrobe choices for the few full body shots of Kara/Brett. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was expecting but hate to speculate.) While I watched, I wondered if Haas (the showrunner) regrets how he handled Gabby leaving, given how seamless it’s been to keep Casey alive as a character despite the actor being gone. A lot of effort is being put into keeping Brettsey alive and I’m curious where that’s going.

They’re from season 8, when Brett connected with her pregnant birth mother, who died right after giving birth to Brett’s sister (Amelia). Scott is Brett’s biological mother’s husband. I don’t think they’ve been back on the show since then. I forgot to watch this episode live and don’t really care enough about the show to make time to watch on Hulu. Were they not actually in the episode?

Honestly, I wouldn't have batted an eye at "Kidd was on furlough last week and caught COVID; she's fine but out for a bit" and a few "yeah, Kidd's doing better; she's good" lines here and there until she came back. But she could have gotten the flu, salmonella poisoning, etc, whatever. I have a bigger issue with how they've written her absence, because it doesn't make any sense to have her come back from an absence she chose and controlled, only to start immediately gunning for the job she didn't want. (FWIW, in my part of the Midwest, most people aren't wearing masks and there are no temperature screening stations, not even at hospitals. The show looks like my reality. Dunno what Chicago looks like these days.)

Most sources, though informal, have said that she was filming a web film or a YouTube project. I sort of buy that and figure the showrunner knew ahead of time and just didn’t plan ahead, which he has done before (Gabby). But it would have been a great storyline for Kidd to have gotten COVID and been out for that reason. Very believable, easy to explain, easy to say no one was allowed to visit her hence no scenes, and would somewhat justify her current behavior toward Pelham. The only nice thing I’ll say about the writers is they had to balance Casey leaving with Kidd being absent at a pivotal time without him looking bad.

See, I would buy it if she came back and really didn’t want the lieutenant spot, if she realized that she was riding opportunity inertia when Boden pushed her toward the exam. She wanted it because Boden wanted it for her and everyone said it was a good idea. It happens! That would have explained her wanting to quit when Severide stopped supporting her and it would explain her disinterest in the position once she was out of the firehouse/sphere of influence. But she now clearly wants the job and the whole debacle makes her look indecisive and plain bad. I don’t think it was originally her storyline because of the description for Episode 4, so this is just how bad the writers are at…well, writing.

It’s sad that Boden got promoted to DDC only to effectively devolve into Casey’s vacated captain role, while a DDC white shirt we haven’t seen in years was effectively doing Boden’s old job as BC. (Funny, I didn’t actually see any BCs in the tunnel scene, just two DDCs…) I’m glad Walker got screentime, but the writers don’t know what to do without Casey, still. Kidd’s storyline is a complete and total mess. She eagerly wants to be a lieutenant so much she whines about it for 1.5 years, then she gets first dibs on a plum spot and ghosts everyone involved, then she wants to step back from being a lieutenant, then she wants to just slow down her progression, then she clearly wants to be a lieutenant, and now she’s passively eavesdropping and low-key gossiping about the guy who got the job she didn’t want but oops actually did want. They could have written her a non-life-threatening injury that sidelined her, had Severide keep sweet with a Brettsey-esque offscreen relationship, and all of this would have been easily explained. I was approaching this episode as I didn’t mind Kidd coming back so much as I minded the inevitable return of Stellaride (like kissing at the Squad table). I used to like Kidd. But her whiny bullshitting, entitlement, and attitude in this episode was beyond. I tried to think of it in terms of what would I think if it was Male Firefighter Casey instead of Female Firefighter Kidd, and I think I’d be as annoyed. She bailed out, said she didn’t want the job, and is now passively pissed that she doesn’t have the job, while all but telling her new boss that she let him have the job. Grow up, Stella Kidd. I couldn't tell if the chief was threatening Boden or warning Boden. A part of me wonders if the showrunners didn’t know if or when Kidd's actress was going to return - which would be pretty silly for a network TV contract, but, then, I don't think Kidd is a critical character nor do I think Stellaride is a worthy anchor for a show - and tried to make Pelham viable enough to last but questionable enough to write off. Maybe they didn't realize he would be so well-received? It's such a weird situation. I said I'd stop watching but nothing else is on. Bad habits, I guess.

From what I remember, Theo didn't tell Teddy what really happened; Teddy assumed based on context clues that Theo killed Zoey, and then the police arrived. Teddy immediately went nuclear and threatened Tim into silence. Instead of intervening right then with the truth, Theo let his dad continue threatening Tim and signed "Mabel," which I read as Theo either getting payback against the kids for never including him all those years, pre-emptively protecting himself against whatever he feared Tim would say, and/or possibly even believing that he was responsible for Zoe's death. With Teddy threatening Tim, maybe Tim even thought that Theo actually had pushed Zoe, despite what he might have seen (eyewitness testimony can be questionable because of things like this). I don't see room for a moment when they could have discussed it and decided on honesty. Heck, in the pressure cooker of Teddy going nuclear, the police swarming the scene, Tim (and Mabel) being threatened, and Theo being in shock, maybe neither Theo nor Tim really even knew what happened; it can take a while to process that kind of experience, then add the stress, and then add that they were only about 16-18 years old (IIRC, Mabel said she was 27 during season 1 and Zoe had died 10 years earlier). I buy it. However, IMO, the show didn't do a good job with the teenager scenes. They looked and usually acted like young 20-somethings, unless they were making up pretend mysteries to solve, and then they were 13-year-olds acting like 8-year-olds. :)

Sorry, but I’ve always thought that watching Taylor Kinney act is like watching a person watch paint dry. I’m not surprised he can’t carry a show that has the emotional depth of a kiddie pool. JMO. Fire has either fired or lost all of its strong "lead" actors, with the exception of Walker (...who's barely on the show, really). (In some fairness here, I think Jesse Spencer more or less checked out when Casey got fridged in season 7. I don't know how much he carried the show when all that happened.) I think season 10 should have been/should be the last season. They could have pretended it was going out on a strong note. As it is, they’ve lost their #1 lead and a showrunner (there’s now a co-showrunner) in the same season, which is rarely good. And I have doubts about whatever is going on with Kidd’s actor, but that remains to be seen.

Haha, that’s one of my favorite scenes of the entire show. Tim’s actor did this subtle, wistful quiver near the end that gets me every time. All their regrets, lost time, and mistakes were in that one split second of a reaction, and then there’s Mabel sitting on the floor where he died, alone. Carrying on “pretend” conversations with deceased loved ones can be quite cathartic and restorative; I didn’t find it glib at all. It humanized both Tim and Mabel, for me.

Spoiler tagging because it talks about the finale:

Yep. Everything I read indicated that Jesse Spencer didn't renew his contract, which likely means the showrunner knew by May 2021, if not earlier. They start to plan out stories in June and start filming at the end of July. To make it worse, everything I read essentially said that Spencer and the showrunner mutually agreed that Casey should have five more episodes to wrap up and get a good send-off in the 200th episode...which, to me, looks like 3 of those 5 episodes were the showrunner kinda sorta being in la-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you-so-you're-not-leaving land. I mean, fine, promote Boden, but then cast a new BC and write Boden a storyline around mentoring/training up a new BC while balancing his old loyalties to 51. Or don't promote Boden. Or even just have a scene where DDC Boden laments that he left 51 because he trusted Casey to take care of them (just like he said when he tried to promote to DDC in season 6) and felt a responsibility to go back after Casey left; it'd be flimsy, but it would have been something more powerful than Kylie looking at a map and seeing that the District 4 white shirt offices have been at 51 since season 1... I kind of wish Spencer had refused to come back and left Haas to explain Casey suddenly disappearing from Navy Pier in the middle of the Squad incident. I'm petty that way. 😝

With Boden - I didn’t mind him micromanaging one house as a BC until Casey got promoted. That was painfully redundant by season 8 and stunted both characters in terms of growth and challenges. Now with Boden as a DDC and still micromanaging 51 and without a batt chief, it’s entirely inconsistent with the last 9 seasons, where every time Boden left 51 another batt chief stepped in to make trouble…and we rarely saw a DDC hanging around. It’s lazy writing, and that irks me as much as no water on fires irks you. :) (Don’t get me started on the show devolving into a feel good Saturday morning teen show, when it’s sandwiched between Med and PD and didn’t start out that way. Now my BP is going up LOL) I also got the sense from interviews that Casey was supposed to end up as the new chief or actually act like a captain and run the house, but then he left and Haas decided Boden had to stay at 51 to provide leadership. That wasn’t handled well, IMO. With the fires - that’s what I’m saying. They have their own burn stage and usually spend two or so days filming fire scenes like the one in this episode. For all that trouble and for all the footage that must be filmed, what ends up in the episodes is maybe two minutes. What’s the point? Of all the fire rescue shows, Fire used to do it best but now it’s just…superficial and underwhelming. I don’t expect all the fires to be like 7x2 with the skyscraper on fire but it’d be great to see a longer rescue that doesn’t magically tie into an existing storyline.