The Companion

Agreed. The lazy thing would have been to have him nail it, but I thought watching him get up over and over again had way more impact.

I think the restlessness was particularly tied to the guilt that we saw resolved in The Day of the Doctor. Eleven in particular was running from his emotions. Sitting in one place made him susceptible to having to face what he did. Twelve didn't seem to have the same level of restlessness even though he was stuck on Earth for awhile. For sure he wanted to get out and didn't love being tied to one place, but I thought the struggle was much less pronounced and we did see him choose to stay with River for a "night" that lasted years, and cope with a continuous loop in Heaven Sent.

They cannot figure out where to put commercial breaks. I agree it was nice to have a low stakes affair. A sufficiently creepy bad guy and a small group of people was all you needed. I think we all have to accept that the Doctor wears culottes now. Culottes are cool. Have managed to stop fangirling after a trip to the grocery store in a TARDIS dress. I loved that Whittaker brought in a lot of the past Doctors. She immediately felt like the Doctor. It was readily apparent that she was perfect for the role. Love her eleven-like energy and her presence in the role. I would have followed her. That is a critical aspect of this. The companions felt disparate enough to be interesting. They were believable as a cohesive unit while making an impact individually. I am excited to see more. It hurt to lose Nan. It IS Doctor Who so I suppose they can always walk it back but I suspect we are supposed to feel her loss and walk with the characters through it. I hear the complaints about the apologies but I don't feel they are inconsistent. Ten is famous for his "I'm Sorry." I was a bit disturbed they left the sister in stasis between life and death. Not sure what could be done without a TARDIS, but there was no assurance that future hunting was over or rescue of the person who was kidnapped. The show introduced a worthy baddie/villain. That sound you heard was a million cosplayers crying out in unison and beginning to sketch/plan. The cliffhanger was great. It left you wanting more. Overall, an incredibly strong episode. Also, well suited for new viewers, which is great because I think many will join the ranks just to see Whittaker.

I loved it. I am sure I will have more thoughts later, but I am ALL IN on Jodie Whittaker.

I love this show so much. The Jason/Tahani story was actually really sweet and watching Eleanor try to be polite was hilarious. I appreciate that they don't let the story get stale. I feel like Janet basically described how I feel waiting around another week for the next episode.

I think this show does a great job of acknowledging that family is more than biology. I know there are a lot of people who ship Dutch-Johnny hard, but I really love that they have this close relationship that isn't romantic. There is a semi-dysfunctional family relationship among the characters that makes me incredibly happy. Perhaps it is because I have friends who are absolutely family (including an opposite sex best friend who is absolutely my brother in every way that is not biology), so I relate to this show hard. I loved the dynamic of going home again. The inevitable reopening of old wounds and getting some closure. I also continue to love Jaq. Despite being a magical sci fi kid, he is making an impact with his character that goes beyond being related to someone we already care about. He doesn't feel like a walking, talking reason to raise the stakes. I loved the conversation at the end and dreaded that something awful was about to happen. It was huge character growth for both of them. She didn't just get pissed and refuse to talk to him, he didn't run away. Also echo the love for Zeph, who has really dug into some heavier stuff this year.

Thanks, y'all. Like Bayleigh, there is nobody I would wish this on.

So I found out my pregnancy wasn't viable last week and am currently having a miscarriage. I think it is the worst thing I have ever lived through, and I have seen some shit. I feel awful for Bayleigh that she had to go through that without her normal support system. As an aside, this was where I was going to avoid the constant barrage of pregnancy announcements and pregnancy ads on FB and somehow we have had a pregnancy announcement and miscarriage associated with BB in 1 week. What are the odds? Anyway, I cannot imagine how hard it was on her first to try to deal with the hormones in the house and then to deal with the loss in the Jury House. Now I hope she was super happy with the proposal, because she definitely deserves something good (even if it doesn't last).

Kaycee!!!! Y'ALL, IT WAS KAYCEE! I could not watch the finale yesterday and I had half convinced myself she lost. In the end she actually won it at jury. I believe that. Tyler pulled a Paul. He forgot to look at the other perspective. Kaycee advocates well for herself.

Great job, Machiabelly. I don't think any of us had a chance.

Finally got around to checking this out tonight. I really enjoyed it. Admittedly I loved Gilmore Girls and even enjoyed Bunheads, but this felt somewhat different to me. Perhaps it was the expanded world. I thought the point with Midge having sex outside and going to burlesque shows was, in part, to show that she wasn't strictly the "good girl" she tried to portray. I thought Midge was a really interesting character. Perhaps because I identify with her over planning personality.

There was something nice about a final four that wasn't a bunch of bros and someone's girlfriend. The final veto was a competition between two elite female athletes and the final choice last night came down to a friendship and a promise. We ended up with a fairly diverse final three. Whether intentional or not, the casting this year gave us a really interesting season.

This is so true. She is so upbeat and sunny when she says it. I also didn't mind her celebration (which might have been too much in someone else) because she just felt so genuinely happy. FWIW, in early pregnancy bloating can he a real issue, so this could be consistent. Or not. Who knows?

I don't remember another season where I actually wanted to see the jury rather than thinking it was filler. Tyler going would have been better for my fantasy team, but I can't say I am unhappy with Tyler or Kaycee winning. Anyone but JC.

I am really happy about this! I love Kaycee and I am pulling for her. Now if she could boot Tyler, my fantasy team would be set (I am not holding my breath).

Exactly. She seems like a pleasant person to be around and her strategy has been really enjoyable to watch. I also appreciate that she is competitive without letting it takeover. She wants to win but she is a good sport either way.

FWIW, Kaycee is one of my favorite HGs ever. She is a badass and seems like a really cool person.

I remember this POV but apparently have blocked nearly 100% of these contestants. It is impressive how few of them I can name.

An insightful and spot on analysis, as usual. It was interesting to see the actual moment JC realized he wasn't controlling anything. Without a doubt he is egotistical enough to rewrite it in his head later as either he somehow inspired them to make a big move or it is his puppet's fault, but at that moment you could see him realize that he had no idea what was actually happening. I think he voted that way because it was inevitable. You don't make a big move like that against Brett unless the plan is to backdoor him. What would be the point of voting out Sam? Brett won't be here to target you. That being said, I hope we don't actually get to see whether or not Brett sees it as a betrayal in any meaningful way, because I would like to see JC heading out the door. Soon. I am finding her much more human and likeable in general, but agreed that she really enjoys having the upper hand. That may be true, but I am not sure how he gets rid of Kaycee and doesn't lose Angela (who has shown herself as being able to win and is eligible to play HOH again this week). Angela and Kaycee seem tight, and they both wanted Brett out. If he keeps Brett, Brett is going after Angela but Angela may be made enough to go against Tyler and JC and Sam are really just deadweight. I think there is a fairly good chance we end up with Kaycee, Angela and Tyler and then it will come down to who can win in a competition. That was overall a surprisingly satisfying DE, especially after a bit of a dud of a week.

Maybe it is because they don't seem to be pairing off out of either boredom or some desire to put on a show for the viewers? I don't know, they seem to have developed a lot more naturally as a couple than the traditional showmance, where it feels like someone looks around and says "I find this person to be the most attractive of the options in this house, and I don't want to go several months without hooking up." That being said, while I don't favor showmances I don't generally bet one way or the other on them breaking up. After all, I met my spouse when I was in college and our first dance was "Pour some Sugar on Me" at a frat party. Pretty sure nobody looked at us an thought: now there's a love for the ages. Been together 17 years, though.

I agree to some extent. I don't think she is as cold as she seems, though I suspect a lot of that is training to keep it together in front of others. She becomes infinitely more likeable when she lets her facade down (like when she talks about Tyler). I still think she is a jerk, but I agree that some of that could change in the future.

I didn't realize she is adopted! I thought they looked a lot alike too, but then again people see what they expect. My son is adopted and admittedly he does look like us but the level to which people would sit there and pick apart his baby features and find them on us was crazy. There was this woman in church and I didn't want to embarrass her by correcting her that he hadn't inherited anything from us. She went on and on about how the baby had his Daddy's eyes and his Mama's nose and his Daddy's chin, etc. Yeah, I couldn't help but feel bad for him. It was hard to watch. I may not like him, but not having a family that roots for you against the world hurts. I am worried about this. I really like Kaycee. I actually like her more than any BB contestant in recent history. She is so low drama and such a badass. Then again, she had no way of knowing how Hayleigh did on the course, so she probably had to give it her all and let the chips fall in this particular case. I cracked up a bit when the Twinston broke. This show really is run by unpaid interns on a budget of $20, y'all. It did strike me how few background pieces they have done this year. I didn't feel like I had seen the family members as much as one generally would have at this point. Am I just blocking those segments? Are they just less annoying?

She is more than 6 weeks, no? If we assume they had sex at some point around when he was evicted (let's go with July 12th) she would be about 10 weeks pregnant right now, and that would put her about 12 weeks (which is three months) at the finale. Some women show, and some don't (or barely do) at that point.

I have a sensitive nose, particularly compared to my husband. It is actually even more sensitive at certain times of the month because of hormones. I am also a pickier eater and more risk averse when it comes to the sell by date and I wonder if they are not tied. For example, I struggle to drink milk because it often smells just a little off to me. The other day I couldn't drink water out of a particular glass because I thought it smelled like gasoline or something. There are definitely positives and negatives, particularly depending on with whom you share an elevator. Agree on Paul. He tried to act like he was a good sport and good-natured, but when things went against him he became a rage-filled jerk. With regard to proposals, I have always felt that if the proposal (rather than the method of proposal) is a surprise, it is probably a bad idea. You should be talking about marriage. It shouldn't be out of the blue. I don't mind a public proposal, if the proposee likes that sort of thing, but you should be certain you know what the proposee's answer will be. Who knows? We haven't really seen them in a relationship at all. It does look like they have moved in together or at least moved to the same city, so I am assuming they have made a go at it for some amount of time.

Hard to tell. Some people balloon up immediately and some people don't show forever. I recently saw my cousin at 5 months pregnant with her third and she didn't even look like she ate a burrito for lunch.