HazelEyes4325

Oh, I do agree with you. I have no tolerance for expecting other people to take abuse. I actually think the difference in how Layla is treated reflects worse on the Uncle...I mean, he's not some mean old guy to everyone--he's just abusive to Farid. And, yeah, Farid should know better...but sometimes mental health professionals (like many medical professionals) can be great at helping others and terrible at taking care of themselves. I will say, though, that I continue to find Farid's story far more interesting than anything that is going on in the main family.

I'm not a big Shonda-defender, but I do think there is truth to this. I was under the impression that she had actually stepped away a few seasons ago and now, with her Netflix deal, I can't see her even having the time to be more involved than a bit of publicity here and there.

I don't disagree with this and I firmly believe that she is wrong to force her husband to spend time with someone who is abusive towards him. However, I do think the uncle probably treats Layla far differently than he treats Farid. Didn't he make a comment that Layla was a "good woman," unlike Farid's mother? Again, not that this excuses Layla's part in this situation...

This is true, but I've gotten the impression that there has never been any nepotism in play. I had never heard of Capshaw before Grey's, and have not seen her in anything else. Plus, I read that she auditioned several times for several different characters in Grey's before finally being cast as Arizona. I would think that if Capshaw and Spielberg had the sort of relationship where he would go to bat for her professionally, her work history would have been much different.

Right, it isn't incest...as I said above. What I don't understand is why the show spent so much time on that point which isn't even accurate. Incest is not romantic, fun, or cool...yet they kept bringing it up, which makes no sense.

Yeah, one more reason why I think the insult was fabricated by the mother.

It's not incest, or consanguinity....However, the show is not doing itself any favors by continually bringing up their "sibling" relationship. Seriously, why even go there? Vernoff really, really wants this to happen....so she's making it less palatable by suggesting it might be incest? Really? But even without that element, I'm with @kinnej5. It almost makes me nauseated to watch it.

Well, I think there are a couple of issues at play with the name-calling at school. For one thing, name-calling is not nice and that should be addressed. Beyond that, yeah--I guess it could be said that young kids are just making observations on appearance EXCEPT "carrots" are pretty benign. Unless you really, really hate vegetables or are Anne Shirley, I can't see a negative connotation with "carrots." "Poop," however, DOES have negative connotations that even young children would understand. Still, I question if Carrot-Head was pure fiction as it sounded to me as something the mom made up as sort of a retaliation against Ashley. I do agree that Ashley is a bit too hard on her mom, at least in the scene in this episode. I do get that she's hyper-sensitive given some of her recent experiences (including the cringe worthy conversation with Greg last week) and what sounds like her entire upbringing, but in this particular incident I do think she was a wee bit (just a wee bit!) too harsh on her mom. Although, I found myself sympathizing a bit more with Audrey in general in this episode, thanks to Greg's betrayal.

Definitely. I never had any sympathy for him, but I'm so far into negative sympathy at this point that I don't think he'll ever even lean towards redemption for me. I honestly can't tell if we are supposed to have some sort of sympathy or if we are supposed to just hate him. I mean, if it is the latter, good job show! Yeah, that was a pretty painful scene to watch. I'm not the biggest Ashley fan, but I do think that she handled that situation in the best way possible and then Chloe's mom shit all over her. Then, to make it worse, Malcolm gets on her case about it. I did want to know if Ashley ever spoke to her daughter about calling Chloe Carrot head or whatever. I mean, we aren't sure that it actually happened--and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, just by the way Chloe introduced it into the conversation. But, I also want to know if Ashley teaches her child about race beyond the idea that she might face racism because she's black.\ \ I had a friend whose daughter suffered a very similar accident. All the doctors said she was lucky because she was only left with serious injuries. So, yeah, I can't see the TA coming back from that. I got the feeling that Kristen's awkwardness was due to seeing Ramon, not necessarily to do with her parents. I get that Ramon was emotionally overwrought when Kristen told him what she saw, but the way he treated her was far from fair. (I also think she was right to tell him...)

It began at the very end of last year and I'm not convinced that there wasn't a "transition time" where Vernoff started to have some say so that she could lay the groundwork for the story lines that she wanted in seasons 14+. Ergo, I'm still holding to the theory that Jaggie is a Vernoff creation (especially since it seemed to come out of nowhere...)

Maybe the love letters/emails were part of her service to him? Perhaps he's one of those guys who is aroused by such things and he paid for the email communication, in addition to the personal visits. But, yeah, what moron would leave a trail? On one hand, I think it was too convenient of a plot convention. But, on the other, I can also see it as Greg--on some level--was desperate for Audrey to discover this about him. Sort of like how a serial killer will always leave clues....

Yeah, that's not really blackmail. I mean, yeah, it's a dick move and pretty unethical (and pointless, as I'm sure the Principal could "finesse" things), but it's not really blackmail.

I think I came into this with too high expectations. This was sort of the belle of the ball last pilot season and I just expected more. I co-sign all who said that the characters are too trope-y and, strangely, that kept me from getting too emotionally invested in them. But, in the end, I like musicals so I'll keep watching for now. Oh, and here's my general rant for many shows, although this one can be included...Can they please just turn the lights on??? It was all so freaking DARK and, well, sepia..... What do these people have against light and color?

I...enjoyed this more than I expected. I don't know who anyone (other than Anna Devere Smith and Hope Davis) is, so I didn't come in not liking anyone based on casting. And, to be fair, I've seen these characters before. But, still, it kept me interested. It also helped that the terrorist case is very similar, if not based on, a similar case in my area a few years ago. This has not been the best TV year for me, so maybe my bar is low--but this one made my list (at least for the time being).

I have a feeling that, if April isn't killed off, she'll take Harriet with her wherever she goes. No, it doesn't make ANY sense that Jackson would let that happen, but doing things that don't make sense is sort of Jackson's MO at the moment and, let's face it, Harriet is an obstacle to the whole "Jaggie" situation that Vernoff so, so, so desperately wants to be a thing.

Actually, I doubt that was the case. There have been petitions with tens of thousands of signatures to get Drew and Capshaw back on the show--both actresses are incredibly popular. If I were casting a pilot and wanted someone who would draw in viewers, Drew and Capshaw would be near the top of that list. I would sign one of them, and sign them quickly before I ended up in a bidding war with another show. Plus, my guess is that Drew (and probably Capshaw) was sending in screen auditions within hours of getting the word that their jobs were ending. And that would be smart--they are at their most marketable right now and they would be fools not to take advantage of it.

Sarah Drew will be the new Cagney of "Cagney and Lacey"

This strikes me as a particularly stupid idea if the show takes this direction. I really can't stand the Jackson and Maggie relationship, and I can't say that I'm a fan of the Jackson and April relationship, so don't think this is me pushing for a ship. But if they are going to push ahead with Jaggie, I think it would be almost cruel to keep dangling Japril like a carrot out there. It will piss of those rooting for Jackson and Maggie, the continuation of Maggie and Jackson while doing this will piss off the Japril fandom, and pretty much everyone will be pissed off. What they have done so far is create three subsets of fans - the Japril fans, the Jaggie fans, and those who really don't like either (I'm guessing that there are people out there who are completely neutral on this, but I have yet to see any post anywhere). If they take this route, they will alienate essentially their entire audience--instead of just alienating 1/3-2/3 of it.

I think this actually might have been the case, although technically the actor playing Ben didn't get cut....they just moved him over the firefighter show.

I remember seeing an interview with the actor who plays DeLuca and he said that there was always this nervousness going into table reads, especially for episodes near the end of the season, because you couldn't be sure if your character wouldn't be killed off or somehow else be exiting the show. I really hope that Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw didn't find out about their characters' fates this way...

I think this one difference between the book and show could be problematic to the show. Jacobs took a very scientific approach to this. I believe he said he was going to follow the rules of the OT for 9 months and the NT for 3 (I might be wrong on the amounts of time, but I do remember that he broke them up). Here, he's just doing "the Bible" and, as we know, the Bible is contradictory. It will be interesting to see how they deal with that. Also, if you enjoyed the book, I highly recommend "The Unlikely Disciple." It is written by Kevin Roose, who was Jacobs' "Biblical Slave." After his period of slavery had ended, Roose decided to conduct his own experiment, based on an experience he had with Jacobs. If I remember correctly, Jacobs wrote the forward to his book.

Okay, I stand corrected. However, it still doesn't change my current feelings about Duc. There really was nothing in that scene that Duc did that was appropriate. In some ways (okay, one way...), Duc reminds me of my older brother. In our family, he is considered the "smart one" and pretty much nothing he's done is EVER questioned and his less than appropriate behavior has always been overlooked because, you know, he's the smart one. Now, the facts that he has behaved horribly to any number of people AND he has made some pretty boneheaded decisions are things that are just not talked about by most of the family (I may be the exception there...). Duc's behavior, both at the biking event at the dinner were definitely on the unacceptable side of the line and I think if it had been Ramon or Kristen, Ashley or Malcolm would have called them on it...but not Duc.

I took it as a double life--something he does when he's out of town and no one is the wiser. I wasn't as put off with Duc's behavior at dinner as I was at the bike event and the way he went after Ashley's husband (whose name I can't remember). Mr. Ashley was perfectly happy with his performance and it was a win in his book, by Duc basically screamed at him and told him his best wasn't good enough. If one of my friends had pulled that crap with me, they'd be walking home.

While this was better than I thought it would be, I think it might be too run-of-the-mill to last long. It seems that the sitcoms that are successful are a bit more unique or modern, shall we say. This is neither. Plus, they've set up a limit on the time--9 months (or so), since he says he's only doing this while his wife is pregnant. I did like the priest's "BIBLE" explanation--not that I can remember what exactly it was, but oh well!

I love the actresses, but this might be a bit too much for me. Also, I'm not sure how long they can keep this story going. This is the type of story where consequences need to happen to keep the story going, but the consequences will end up being story-ending. I'll tune back in, but the jury is still out for me.