Lady Calypso

Well, I will say that this episode is quite a bit better than the first two episodes. It helped me a little bit in determining if I'm sticking with it for the season (probably will, just for the snark, and the show isn't so horrendous where I'd hate snarking on it). Michelle/Liv Tyler is still a weak part of the show for me...but look who also joins her? It's Owen! Yep, this episode didn't make me like Owen much...at all. I am definitely Team Dustin, just because Michelle sucks so bad. I'm glad that it turns out that the guy seems to be truthful. Michelle was totally in the wrong...so it did help a bit that she apologized to him. But still, you don't introduce a main character in this way. It doesn't make me ever want to root for her. Similar to Owen, who...decides to go confront a guy he's never met, about a woman he barely knows, and he has no idea of the situation itself? I mean, he knows what Michelle told him, but how can he be sure that he can trust her? The TK/Judd stuff? More interesting than the TK/Carlos stuff. Poor Marjan. I guess that's a lot of subconscious bias with the team laughing about the video...but they seemed to be saying that they riff on all of the firefighters, and they didn't understand why the video was so humiliating for her. So at least it's realistic, in a sense. Can we get more of Judd and Grace, please? Grace has barely had anything to do, besides one scene with Owen and a couple of scenes with Judd. The cases worked better this week. It gave me vibes from the original series, which is a good thing. They're a bit odd and insane, but they're definitely more toned down here...or maybe it's the crappy lens filter they have on the cameras. Either way, I was going to be done with this show if this episode wasn't better. Well...it was better. So...I'm giving it another episode.

I agree, but both are dumb. They had a third option: have Lena not remember her past with Lex and have Kara ask J'onn to return Lena's memories so she can be aware of what a scumbag her brother is. Which is what I was hoping for, because it would have helped with the reconciliation of Lena/Kara, especially with regards to the knowledge about Kara being Supergirl. And it would have shown that Kara HAS changed and is more open to Lena knowing her secret. But nooo, they went this dumb route instead, with Lex and Lena being partners and Lex completely doing evil things still, with nobody caring enough to stop him.

Well, as it was already stated, I was Ramona. I was also part of a Mason pair with @ohjoy, so we didn't really get to do much. My approach for this game was basically to be chill and not take things seriously, hence my somewhat weird posts at times. I was basically playing the game just to have a good time. I made a comment to ohjoy in our PM that I was sure that someone was going to think that I was some sort of Jester. Unfortunately, my notifications also decided to not work for the thread so I ended up forgetting to check in...a lot.

I sincerely hate this. Why CAN'T we have Beth and Alice? Right, because then they can just kill off Alice or imprison her for good. And it makes it way too easy for Kate if she had her sister back. While, personally, I think now that it actually ups the stakes for Kate. I wasn't fond of Beth being around last week, but I'm much more on board with it now. We can still keep Alice and Beth, so I'm a bit sad if Beth ends up dying (because let's be real, we know Alice will be the surviving doppelganger). I'm assuming this. Maybe, before Beth was dropped in Earth Prime, she was on her way to submit her thesis. She did say that she had been overseas for the semester, so she was likely on her way home when Crisis happened. I, too, am perplexed as to what Mary actually knows. Because if she knows about Crisis and Beth being from another Earth from another multiverse, why not tell her about Kate being Batwoman? It makes more sense than Mary believing that Kate somehow guessed this multiverse thing correctly. They need to clarify to me what Mary actually knows. That being said...the four of them (Luke, Beth, Mary, and Kate) are the dream team for me. All four had great chemistry in the final scene together. Imagine Mary and Beth as friends, and Beth and Luke working together. They really sold me on the idea of Beth on Team Batwoman, and it actually upsets me a bit that they're likely taking that away. This episode also proved to me that I don't need Sophie on this show. I could essentially ignore her scenes with Alice and just focus on Alice's backstory, and I was perfectly fine. I don't even hate the actress, but she doesn't seem to be working. They just need to incorporate her better because right now, she's a hit or miss type of character. I think that shows like this work better when everyone's involved in the team aspect. I know, once Sophie joins Team Batwoman for good, that she'll be a much better character for it. So...do it.

This...was an awesome episode. They utilized Winn more in this episode than in all of season 3. He interacted with Kara the most since late season 1. And Winn got to interact with several characters, including Nia! And dual Winn! Jeremy Jordan got to play good AND evil! I always said that JJ would kill it as an evil villain, and he did not disappoint. Winn has a family! That is so sweet! And I love that he's besties with Nia's relative and he has powers to resemble Dreamer's. I miss Winn so much, but now, with his family, he can't very well come back permanently, which saddens me. At least they had J'onn update Winn on everything, which is good. And he caught on to Brainy (at least Alex also noticed that there was something up as well). Another great acting moment from Jesse Rath, at least. I did love the moment with Winn wearing glasses and it fooling William. I bet Jeremy loved getting that parallel with Kara/Supergirl. Also...I don't know if I'm mistaken or not, but the Eye of the Tiger cover was sung by Jeremy, right? I can't imagine I was mistaking his voice there. I hate Lex so much. He's overtaking the show, at this point, way worse than Mon-El ever did. Speaking of Mon-El, I'm surprised to be a bit disappointed that there was no information on what he's been up to. Also, no, show. I will NEVER ship Kara/William. The guy is boring, but also...the actor looks like a plastic doll.

This is all very fair! Upon reflection after giving it a couple of days since finishing DvG, I do think that DvG had better gameplay moments than MvGx, more than I thought. I think DvG provided a couple of players that ended up being my absolute favourites (Gabby and Alec) compared to MvGx. Not that I didn't have favourite players from both ends, but DvG provided players that I would go to bat for any day. I think DvG had a much more memorable pre-merge (Natalie, Jeremy, Natalia, Lyrsa). And I think DvG had just as much of a likeable cast, in the sense that I don't think anyone hated anyone. But there wasn't that character growth in DvG like there was in MvGx. Besides with maybe Gabby, everyone else seemed very static. They didn't have a genuine arc. They played the game, and that's cool...but they didn't have a Hannah or a David or even a Jay. And, in terms of Nick vs Adam on who I liked better, Nick was the better player, but I liked Adam more personally. DvG had the better gameplay and strategy, but MvGX had the better stories and social moments. So I guess it depends what people root for. Which is interesting to me, because I always seemed to favour strategy but it turns out that the social dynamics mean just as much.

No, I haven't yet. I had to put it aside for other seasons before season 40, but it'll be one of the next ones to watch, once I get through Philippines, Guatemala, possibly Africa, and then the finales for South Pacific, HvHvH and Ghost Island. I know that, along with Game Changers on my secondary list, there's also Blood vs Water, Vanuatu, Borneo, All Stars, Cambodia, Palau, and Samoa to watch, not in that particular order. And, eventually, I'll need to watch the other Boston Rob seasons.

If you count Caity Lotz as a lead, technically she has an episode coming up for Legends that she's directed.

It's insane to think about how bad the environment was that season for everyone. From several players getting heat stroke to the several infections people sustained, it's no wonder they moved locations. But yeah, you'd think that they would have seen the several players panting for breath while digging in the sand and thought "hey, maybe we should give them water." Because 45 minutes digging for the three bags before anyone got anywhere close? That's a sign that there's an issue with the challenge, or an issue with...I dunno, the heat they were all feeling while digging through hot sand and exerting all of their energy. I agree that they really pulled out some weird players for the original tribes, but I get they were trying to defy expectations on what a Brawn or a Beauty looks like. Tai on the Beauty tribe made sense, because he didn't fit into the Brawn or Brain tribe. Alecia on the Brawn tribe was more questionable when I was watching. I don't think just being an adrenaline junkie is reason enough to be on the Brawn tribe but again, I get they were trying something different. I mean, she did hold her own against her two bullies and the others in her tribe who were mean to her in general, so I guess that takes a lot of strength.

Well, it looks like I will get started on Philippines after dinner! Thanks for the answers!

Ok, so very nearly done David vs Goliath (I'm just getting to the winner being announced). This was a very fun season. There were a lot of great players and I don't think anyone was slacking off. I am impressed with Nick as a winner. I do think that, had Mike won, I wouldn't have been upset because he played a really great game as well. And sure, Nick's win SEEMS lesser than Mike's...but really, Nick's game was great, and I think he did a great job at explaining it in FTC. I think his FTC really helped to elevate his win. Plus, that blindside against John was excellent to watch. And I appreciate that, even as a winner, he wasn't always at the top. He was blindsided a couple of times, which I don't mind for a winner. Here's the issue I'm running into: I know people consider this a top three or top five season...but I'm debating whether I liked this more than Millennials vs Gen X. And, right now? I'm not so sure. It's a very, very tight race between both those seasons for the top spot of the 30s for me. But I think Millennials vs Gen X takes the spot over David vs Goliath for me, at least for the moment. I liked a lot of players from both seasons. I think DvG have the edge on memorable players compared to MvGX. As for the winners of both, I...did actually like Adam and his win. I could see his strategy from the get-go. I think there are people who underestimate his win, because I don't think he won just because of his sob story. Unfortunately for him, production leaned TOO heavily into his sob story, so that does take away from his win. But, as I was watching, ignoring the sob story aspect, I could see how he earned his win. It was sometimes hard because it was masked behind the confessionals every episode about how his mom was sick, but Adam played a great game. And so did Nick, and he only had his sob story right from episode 1 (I'm guessing that David sharing their hardship moment from episode 1 was a not-so-sly jab at Adam's story). It was very interesting to watch his game throughout the season, with the knowledge that he was the winner. He had some of his own struggles throughout the game, especially toward the end. And I enjoyed seeing him make certain moves to benefit himself. I wasn't thrilled with him naming his one-on-one alliances (I get enough of that from Big Brother, thank you) but it's a memorable part of himself, and it also shows how he built up personal relationships in order to win. And that's why Nick's win edges out Adam's win. But in terms of blindsides and gameplay and enjoyable moments for both seasons? I feel like Millennials vs Gen X slightly edges out DvG for me. Not that DvG wasn't enjoyable for me. I actually really, really enjoyed it. But there's something about MvGX that I personally enjoyed more. I think it was seeing several players grow throughout the course of the game that impressed me. I love player growth stories. But, like I said, it's very tight between both seasons. All I know is that Kaoh Rong and Island of the Idols are both in a very distant third and fourth. But DvG and MvGX could be intertwined. Like, it's really close. I could end up changing the placement when I watch another season and learn to appreciate DvG more, for example. I appreciate, in my binge watch, that I have a lot of fluid places for seasons. Not very many are set in stone on where they place on my list (besides Micronesia in number 1, and One World in the last right now). I like that I feel comfortable enough to shift specific seasons up or down, depending on certain aspects. Either way, just some really great seasons that I got into. Now...question: should I watch Africa, Philippines, or Guatemala next? I probably will have time to watch two more full seasons before season 40 starts...maybe three, if I'm lucky?

My goodness, a lot of activity went down in the time span that I wasn't here! But it certainly is fascinating to read everyone's replies. To everyone: But anyways, since I couldn't find any clues, I'll go with the gameplay portion. 7 to DL BizBuzz (SilverStormm, aquarian1, Deadpool, Drogo, JTMacc99, Deaja, Lady Calypso) 0 to buzz off 2 to DL The Crazed Spruce (ohjoy, BizBuzz) 5 to move to the Biz DL and do something 2 to DL Aquarian1 (MarkHB, meet trouble) 5 to who cares, just join the Biz DL