Starchild

Most people who change their identity start over in a new place where no one knows them, so I've been wondering why a guy changes his name and not only doesn't leave town, but also puts up big billboards so that everyone who knew Jimmy also knows that he's now Saul. I can only imagine it is so he doesn't dishonour his brother's name.

I think if this were me, I'd be asking more questions.

I have lost all respect for Carmen Thibideaux.

Anyone here have first-hand knowledge of the Broadway scene? Would a performer who did what Rachel did (walking off a hit show and leaving everyone in the lurch for selfish purposes) realistically be welcomed back, or would she be generally shunned as an unreliable diva? Or somewhere in between?

Maybe it wasn't the venom that killed him, but the big honkin' hole in his chest.

I think I'm going to like badass Juliette. Since it seems she may be the most powerful hexenbiest ever made, it's my guess the Grimm blood trick isn't going to be enough to take away her powers.

Why do the writers have Rachel say things like "it all fell apart" instead of "I threw it all away"?

Massimo was Italian, not German. Maybe they spoke English because it was their only common language.

It's my understanding that Cleo's tongue was cut out so she couldn't talk. Presumably the same happened to Stanley.

If Wainwright really believes that there was no way they'd speak to each other again without this tragedy, then she was just looking for a shortcut. Plenty of people in real life eventually reconcile after incidents like this. She just didn't want to take the time to tell that story. Based on the article's comments, a lot of the audience feel the same way. Cop-out.

Plus, the dream. She couldn't have dreamed that if she wasn't aware what was going on.

What!? Seriously? Wainwright can't be that bad a writer, so is Celia really that unredeemable a character?

We can't make claims about things we are not consciously aware of. Did this come out of nowhere? Yes. Is it inconsistent with what we thought we knew about Shannon? It seems to be. Does Shannon's past behaviour fit with our new knowledge? I believe so.

Transition takes more than a few months, so that would be totally unrealistic. Oh wait...

The TV trope is cutting to the dreamer waking up right at the big dramatic moment, and that's what we viewers typically expect for a dream sequence. As soon as it happened I was thinking this had to be a dream. But then they hang on the moment following, where the character is thinking "what the hell did I just do?" and the viewer is starting to think, "wait, did that just happen for real?" That's how they fool us, with that tiny variation on the trope. Not with the big dramatic event, but with the WTF moment that follows it going on just a little longer.

I can't remember their names yet. I did mean the person she was singing with. As to viewers sometimes having to figure things out on their own, that's usually something that writers are praised for, as opposed to spoon-feeding the audience. As long as all the pieces fit together it shouldn't be too hard. That's why I think the writers are lucky in this instance. IMO the pieces do fit together, and I think in this case that's in spite of the writers, rather than because of them.

I'm thinking they'd have to change more than half the lyrics to sing that song. Right? Jane looked like she was Cupid-struck right there during the number. He was trying to tell her how to behave. Maybe he'll end up being a good influence on her. Sam did say he's let Spencer try out for quarterback when Bieste wouldn't. Karofsky seems to be overcompensating, trying to work his way through figuring out his gayness. Truthfully he's probably not ready for a relationship yet. This clearly won't last due to Blaine still loving Kurt, but I hope it's Dave who comes to his senses first and calls this off. I don't want to see Blaine blindside him. For everyone who thinks that the Bieste transgender storyline is coming out of nowhere and completely destroys previous character development, I have to disagree. Firstly, when someone comes out as transgender, it always seems to come out of nowhere. Family and friends never seem to see it coming. The pre-announcement struggle is almost always 100% private. Shannon even said to Sam, "it may seem sudden to you, but it's not to me". I'm certain that what we saw in this episode rings very true to a lot of people with trans friends and family members. As to previous character development, the point most are raising is Shannon's declaration that she is 100% woman, and now she's suddenly a man in a woman's body. In my view, that's not a contradiction. Shannon would have grown up as a biological female who is attracted to males. She looks masculine, so the automatic impression of others is that she is lesbian. She knows she isn't a lesbian (she likes boys) but at the time she was a young woman, no one thought about the possibility of being transgender, so every time she is faced with the assumption she's gay she would deny it, and that denial would become more vehement over time, until what we saw when she was introduced, where the idea that she is "100% woman" is so ingrained in her psyche that it seems a permanent trait. But at the same time, she's always felt that there was something wrong with her, something she can't identify. A wrongness that can lead to poor self-esteem, which allows for the whole Cooter situation, another storyline that seemed out of character at the time, but that now makes sense. This "feeling wrong" is dysphoria. But as of yet, she has no idea that it is gender dysphoria. Cut to the arrival of Unique at McKinley. Suddenly Shannon is face-to-face with another option, one she'd never really considered before. She ponders it, and over time and maybe with therapy, she realizes that she really is a he. A man in a woman's body. And to complicate matters, what made it so hard to figure it all out, a gay man in a woman's body. No wonder he liked boys. As Shannon said, "this isn't who I'm going to bed with, it's who I'm going to bed as." Simplified to its most binary options, gender identity (I am a man; I am a woman) is different from sexual orientation (I like boys; I like girls). Suddenly it all makes sense. Dysphoria evaporates. All that's left now is to change the body to fit the mind. I don't think the writers planned this. I think they got lucky. I think this is one of the few character arcs they are finishing with that makes sense all the way through. Edited for corrections.

They need to pay this off soon. It's been dragging on far too long as to what this actually means. I don't think she's trying to hide anything. She called Nick because she wanted him to come home so she could tell him about it, but then realized that with Monroe kidnapped there was too much going on. She's waiting for a better time. It will be interesting to see if the show forgets there is a cure for this, but maybe she won't WANT it. If she gets a taste of the advantages she could have in this brave new grim world she's living in, she may want to hold on to her power-up. If this leads to a hexen-showdown and the final glorious ouster of anorexic Adalind, I will not hate this storyline. But it was cool, Juliette holding that piece of bloody windpipe high above her head. Heh.

Never mind what Sally is doing to us. What is Gillian doing to herself? Seriously, did her mother drink during her pregnancy? Did Alan drop her on her head as a baby? This woman has no impulse control at all.

I knew there was going to be trouble when Caroline stated how happy she was. Man, no one can be happy on this show for more than 5 minutes, literally.

I didn't hear a clear cracking sound. Besides, a broken neck would be much harder to pass off to the museum as a natural death. Me too!

I wonder if Chester had Marjorie before the war? He did say he'd been doing magic since he was a kid. Maybe he's had her almost as long. Maybe he always talked to her, or maybe it just went sideways with the metal plate.

I don't know what Alan sees in Celia, I really don't. As for Gary, I don't foresee anything sinister. I think he's being brought in as a contrast to Gillian. Alan's son is a successful go-getter, and his daughter is a hapless screw-up. I can see Alan spending increasing time with Gary, just to get to know him, but getting grief from Gillian who thinks he is starting to love Gary more. She may even accuse him of being swayed by the money, since they made such a big deal in this episode of showing how impressed he was by that. This family just can't have nice things. But seriously, Alan, dump this cow.

Well, just look at the fact that he has his own picture on all his products, thinking he looks cool when all he really looks like is an egomaniacal doofus.

I hope after this Fusco learns about the machine. I would love to hear his ongoing technology snark.