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Well, I "watched" the whole thing, if fast-forwarding through every JJL scene counts. Elsa's affair subplot was tiresome. If she wants a purpose outside of being a mother there are other ways to accomplish that. I also cringed at whatever JJL has done to her face (except I'd have to give up watching all Hollywood entertainment if I let that deter me). Rapaport had the same persona, manner of speech, diffidence, etc. that he has in every role I've personally seen him in, which wasn't a good thing for me. I just wasn't that interested in any of the family angst, even as a framing device for Sam's story. My caring about Julia and Miles was down in the negative numbers. Overall I liked the series when it focused on Sam, Casey, and their friends. They sure left things open for season 2!

From Netflix: “The L.A. Times story inaccurately calculates our debt, counting our streaming obligations (i.e. our content contracts with studios) of $15.7b as debt, which it isn’t. The correct number: we have total gross debt of $4.8B vs. our equity market value of about $75B. They have since corrected the story."

I'm glad Android's new clothing choice was addressed, because I for one couldn't take my eyes off her breasts. I love that she chose to portray her developing sense of identity through cleavage. Heh. The "ink aliens in human form as the Raza crew" may be one too many character incarnations for me, so I hope that's the last of them. I'm also wary of how many times the alt-Raza peeps are going to mess shit up in this timeline. Ryo is using them now but I trust they'll go away when that storyline plays out.

Goodness! Did the police not follow up on that? This is a spoiler thread, so all details are welcome. :-)

August 15 at 6pm Eastern. I can't figure out how to link directly to the video, but it's on the A&E twitter page.

Goodness, please post spoilers once you get to the end! I added a book vs TV topic to let others who feel the same off the hook.

Discussion of the book by Petra Hammesfahr vs the TV series. The linked book was written as a TV tie-in, so presumably follows the same plot.

I'm pretty sure the Duggers have these in every car they own.

Mirrian and Saina, two women raised together in Scientology's now defunct Cadet Org, share heartrending stories of abandonment and sexual abuse. With Leah's moral support, they both take a courageous step towards achieving justice. Someone had fun posting this description to IMDB: Mike and Leah visit another ex-Scientologist and hear another horror story. Meanwhile off-camera David Miscavige is furious that he couldn't block the second season and adds another Leah Remini attack web site to the internet.

Dang, that flash challenge was rough. I almost thought the judges weren't going to give the win to anyone but O'Baugh's experience in sculpture saved the day. Their bird was well done but boring. Tommy almost gave me a heart attack-ack-ack. Didn't represent himself well but was the best of the bottom three IMO. Not too sad to see Pinz and Needlez go; nice people and they carried themselves well but they were always fodder. What would have happened if the two remaining judges couldn't agree on the worst tattoo, I wonder? Dave's explanation of voting for the tattoo he likes best is not in line with what he's said in the past, which is that he votes for whichever piece best met the challenge. Whatev. Not throwing any stones in glass houses re ass sagging, but that canvas was hard to tattoo. Even if the guy had stayed curled up in a fetal position to get inked like Nunez wanted, wouldn't the tattoo lose some definition once he stood up? I guess it's tradition to give these ladies dainty little feet, but they stuck out to me even more on a proportion challenge. They're too small for the bodies!

Scientologists always end up confessing their transgressions in auditing because they believe the e-meter knows all and there's no use trying to hide anything. If they accidentally came into contact with criticism from non-scientologists, they'd most likely be required to speak to their ethics officer and undergo security checking, which ends up costing them time and $$$$. Easier to just shut their eyes and cover their ears. They also don't want to do anything that would jeopardize their progress up the bridge and ultimately, their eternity. That's the reason they're putting up with all the shit, to become gods.

At this point I think I'm only watching for glimpses of Arthur.

The various names tickle me because they identify specific timelines for each character such that viewers immediately know the differences between Emily/Das/Five or Rebecca/Portia/Two. In that respect it's easy shorthand to refer to pre and post wipe Sukie vs Android, now that we know more of her background. We might even get alt-Rebecca at some point, along with alt-Portia. (Although I often lose the thread of alternative timeline/time travel plots and count on you all to set me straight.) The downside of multiple timeline names is that it's more difficult for new viewers to start watching now.

The witness came off as very weird, didn't he? His bizarre explanation must have been on purpose. If I'd been there I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have immediately leapt to intervene in a violent altercation with someone who has a knife, but neither would I have assumed that the victim of a stabbing didn't need/want help. My guess is that the friend turns out to be important to the story in some way.

Aftermath won the Television Critics Association award on Saturday for best reality series. Building momentum for Emmy noms! Part of Leah's speech: "I spent most of my life being told the world outside Scientology would fail me, that I would fail, and that without it I wasn’t worth a whole lot. I thank you for proving those theories wrong." Who knows if this person was really at the ceremony, but it's a funny tweet regardless:

Something was also fishy when Chase stammered that he looked like the guy who was blown up on EOS because they're the same model. Yeah, no. ETA: Just watched After Show and Zoie explained that she and JM collaborated on Android's name and ended up with Sookie

How is Victor able to unlock Android's memories, again? He was creepy when we first met him and has only gotten worse. Don't fall for the bad guy, Android! (btw, if factions are being formed, I'm on Never Suki*.) Is Three becoming almost a little too empathetic and nice? Sarah has softened him but I don't see their love having a happy ending and am dreading that for him. * Closed captioning would have it be Suki but the syfy recaps say Sookie. Either way, it's too cutesy for Android.

Nice sendoff with all the comics there. The best part was no Sklars or D'Elia. I didn't even mind Chris jumping on the panel. My vote for best game would have been the emoji stories. Bye, show!

Sigh. I thought it was well done and held my interest throughout, but we know Cora's secret is going to involve a horribly abusive childhood, violence, and I bet you a million dollars, rape. It's not something I'm eager to spend time watching. Again. I was checking a couple of reviews afterwards and one critic mentioned Harry's dark sexual perversions -- I didn't even remember at first that he's a masochist, that's how big an impression those scenes left on me. I really don't care, although I'm sure his own troubled sexual history will somehow tie in with Cora's, which is why he becomes fixated on her case. All in all, it looks to be kind of thankless role for Pullman.

For some reason I don't hold half hour shows to the same standard as longer ones. I thought both episodes were mildly amusing and that's sufficient. I was mostly impressed with all the recognizable faces. Somebody calling in favors from actor friends? I'm nervous for the motel owner next week -- don't get a lap dance, dude!! Oh, and nobody use the hot tub. You know they didn't disinfect that thing.

Oh, balls.

Apparently a different production company filmed a docuseries called Disconnection but A&E passed on it in favor of Aftermath. Some posters at Tony Ortega's site are whining for it to be aired, but honestly? As interested as I am in Scientology, I wouldn't watch another show about people in pain over losing their family members. It's enough, I get it.

Men only drop a glass (frequently cognac) when they're keeling over from a heart attack. In, of course, dramatic slo mo. Bonus points if there are other people around crying or screaming and their audio goes silent.

He can be off puttingly dogmatic (and I say that as someone firmly on his political side). I think the buffoonish perception is partly because of his disheveled, slackerly appearance, which undercuts his message. My advice: cut and comb the hair, shave, buy a good suit, and stop with the ball caps already.

New Netflix series American Vandal parodies the true crime genre. Premieres September 15. I watch a lot of this stuff and it cracked me up. The ball hairs!