Starchild

I randomly remembered today one of the saddest things I heard Crowley say. When they're sitting in the coffee shop after "Jim" shows up. Crowley says to Aziraphale that Az only calls him when Az is bored, wants to brag about something, or is in trouble. That's sad. Poor Crowley.

I think I liked it a little better than that. I can't remember most names yet, but the tall think one seemed interesting. Kind of reminded me of Moon a little.

As much as I love horror (we all do, that's why we're here), I just never got any entertainment value out of mass gaslighting. It's a huge turnoff for me. The false nurse was legitimately creepy. Come to think of it, so was the bathroom lady, until she got knocked out. I enjoyed those vignettes. But vignettes do not a TV show make, we need some interstitial plot, FFS. Only David Lynch can pull that shit off.

But you can tell he's isolated in a box. I wanted to like this, but it wasn't very funny.

Well I'm glad to hear I probably didn't miss anything. Still, I wish they'd vary the ads a bit, or not put so much of it together. Maybe I'll see if I can record it then FF past commercials. I just upgraded to IPTV so I'm not sure what's allowed when it comes to that.

Yeah, FX Canada. Thing is, it wasn't just more commercials, it was the same 3 or 4, over and over and over. Frustrating.

I just watched this on broadcast cable. Did anyone else get the sense that there were too many commercials? There seemed to be as many ad minutes as show minutes. It was so excessive, with the same few ads repeating over and over for what must have been at least 10 minutes, that I thought they were having technical problems. And that happened a couple more times, though not for as long. If that's the way this is going to be, not sure I can watch, especially since I generally avoid shows that are all about an isolated person being gaslighted by everyone they trust. I truly hate that trope, have never rewatched Rosemary's Baby because of it. I thought maybe Murphy is bringing something new, worth suffering through it, but if the hour is going to be half ads, I don't think I can stand it. That being said, this first episode was nothing new or special. I was thinking it might be nice to see Emma Roberts play something other than bitchy, but she's too far in the other direction with this character, too insecure and subservient. And for me the husband is already unlikeable even before he inevitably shows his literal evilness. I'll check it out next week I guess.

Meh, I was hoping Tyler and Kayleen would win. But it was definitely a nailbiter regardless.

I spent much of the last two episodes thinking "Chuck doesn't spend much time in his office, does he?" For a legal genius, Chuck sure spends a lot of time running around chasing after other people for advice. Which usually turns out to be vague claptrap. Stupid cameos are stupid. What else could this season have been about, really?

There have been allegations of sexual assault, unproven so far, but persistent.

I've been meaning to watch that.

Looks like you're getting your wish! Season 4 will have all new hosts. I'll miss Eureka, Shangela and Bob, but I love these ladies too. Jaida Essence Hall Priyanka Sasha Velour Latrice Royale Excited for it! I do wonder if this is a way of removing Shangela without making it look like lack of support, but I don't mind a cast of hosts that rotates every few years.

I recently watched a fan theory video and right at the end they threw in this little point that I had completely missed. While trying to explain to Aziraphale what's happening to Job, Gabriel literally says, "We're not the good guys." And yet, Aziraphale still wants to believe it. But I think he gets confused between Heaven and God. I think he still believes that God is good, but since she hasn't spoken to any of them in 6000 years, he is subconsciously substituting Heaven instead. Even though they are demonstrably not good. But what else does he have? Crowley? But Crowley's a demon, how could he fill the hole that God's absence has left? Maybe if you think of God as Love, Aziraphale. Maybe then.

I am unhappy that I have to buy Disney to watch anymore. Not sure I will, although I would really like to see the specials at least.

I was rooting for Deven and Amanda to win, so I'm a bit disappointed. I think, of the teams that are left, I'm now rooting for Tyler and Kayleen. Boy that Toronto leg was a killer, though.

No doubt about it. I still wonder what exactly is behind that nasty look he gave Crowley as he and Aziraphale left to have their chinwag. Curious they didn't have a reaction shot from Crowley.

Mayer commented on how Wendy seemed to flush/have palpitations when she thought about him, so...

Bradford Luke, dat you? He was definitely looking extra shifty to me. If I were Ira I'd be preparing myself. By the way, does anyone see any chemistry at all between Wendy and Luke? Honestly, chemistry between any two characters is hard to come by on this show. The closest it came to being successful, IMO, was Taylor and Mafee, but then they ruined Mafee's character and now he's a mini Dollar Bill.

By the way, are there any one-percenters here? Maybe the super rich really do talk like this.

It's a little different. These were people who made significant errors (once or ongoing), but were respectful and pledged to do better. Marriner is super-competent but highly disrespectful to her superior officers. There's only so long an organization would typically tolerate behaviour like that. Perhaps that inflection point has coincided with her family relationships (not just Captain Mother but also Admiral Dad) becoming common knowledge, and now she's getting additional leway rather than getting drummed out. But also now, Ransom has made it his personal mission to help her fit better without compromising her creativity, so good on him, and good luck to him.

The stunt casting on this show has become progressively more embarrassing over the years. These self-indulgent cameos interrupt the flow of the episode as much as any commercial would. It's been tried and failed before. Yeah I can't figure out why this is an issue. And if it is, if she thinks a past relationship with a guy who went to jail for abusing his law license (or whatever, I don't really remember why) is a threat, what about any effort to get that guy his license back? How is that different from the risk she's trying to avoid?

I'm one of those fans who hated her character because most of what she did boiled down to one thing: disrespect. And that's a pet peeve of mine because it's behind so much of what's wrong with the world. However, I will not stick with my initial discontent if she starts to treat people with more respect, like the rest of her friend group. I was waiting for that too lol. VOY is in my top 3 of Trek series (along with TOS and DS9), so this was a great episode in my opinion. Janeway is also my favourite captain, although Pike has rapidly reached second place. Interestingly, the thing these two have in common that puts them at the top of my list is their tendency to create a warm, family-like atmosphere for their crew. Even Janeway's hologram did that on Prodigy.

We know how Heaven feels about the messy parts of human behaviour. So I wonder if that's part of the reason he felt anger after that kiss. The Metatron said he could bring his "friend" back to heaven, but in 12 seconds Crowley fundamentally changed their relationship from "friend" to something else, something he couldn't bring back to heaven now.

Thing is, he's already learned (or been in the position to learn) this lesson several times. I shudder to think what would have to happen for him to finally open his eyes permanently. But as blind as Aziraphale is to how he hurts Crowley, I can't help but love him. Sheen is so so good.

I read a commentary somewhere (can't find it now) where the writer thought, in response to people who think Crowley's demonic status makes Aziraphale regard him as "less than" somehow, that Aziraphale knows perfectly well who Crowley is, that he doesn't want to change him, that he loves Crowley exactly as he is. Perhaps thinking that wouldn't be fundamentally altered were he to be restored to angelic status. I've rewatched that final scene and it reminded me that, when Crowley objects to Aziraphale going back and uses his own refusal to rejoin Hell as an example, Aziraphale says "well of course you refused Hell, you're the bad guys." You're the bad guys. You, Crowley, are a bad guy by association. I can fix that. Sadly, I think that dialogue choice really does mean that Aziraphale thinks Crowley needs to be restored to be good enough.