30 Helens

The return of sportsball (is this almost over??) means I’m out again until Monday. I read the FJ clue on j-archive, but I had no idea.

There clearly wasn’t a lot of thought going into the use of that express pass. First, they forgot to assign themselves a time. Then they reassigned the times, but got confused in the process. (The Banshees were not supposed to get the heaviest weights.) Then they impulsively decided to use the pass. Then they realized they shouldn’t have given themselves an advantage (low weight) they weren’t even going to use. It was all so mishandled. I do not blame them at all for assigning heavier weights to their strongest competitors. It’s not a Friendship Tour, it’s a Raaace. But at least be strategic about it. Decide in advance if you’re going to use the pass. If yes, give yourselves one of the 25# cards. That would have gone a long way to quell the resentment. But in the end, I cannot understand why they wasted the pass. They literally threw away one advantage (the lower 15# weight) for another. Did Jonathan think he was so weak that he couldn’t thresh 40% less than another team? Did they think it was that important to stay in first place? I was so hoping that other teams would pass them and they’d end up at the mat mid-pack. With everyone sneering at them, as they should. Not for being strategic backstabbers, but for being mindless idiots.

She wanted Jeff to pull three votes out of the urn for Sai, which would have been enough to send Sai home. The others would have assumed there was one unread vote left in the urn, and so they wouldn’t have known Bianca had no vote to cast. There would be no way to hide that in a split vote situation. So even though confiding in (and relying on) Cedric was risky, Bianca was afraid of the fallout from everyone finding out she had lied about having a vote, and so she took the risk. In other words, she overthought the situation. Not gonna lie, that whole sequence with Joe and Eva made me a little weepy. He had such a concerned-dad look throughout, and it was amazing how he knew just what to do to help her. If I weren’t older than Joe, I would want him to be my dad— he must be an incredible one. And yeah, that whole thing will probably come back to bite him in the end. He will be a target anyway because of his athleticism, but this just makes it bigger. I think people will hold off on Eva for awhile so as not to seem insensitive, but I hope they don’t. Not because I don’t like her, but because I don’t think she should get special treatment. I think she would agree. I enjoyed the frenemy sniping between Mary and Sai. I actually agreed that Mary was a bit much with her talk about how their tribe prowess has earned them so much food, they can’t even eat it all. Y’all, they literally have fruit rotting at camp while others are going hungry! Aren’t they awesome! I’m still hoping for Mary and Sai to team up after merge. Joe and Eva may be the sweetest duo, but Mary and Sai are the cold-hearted bitter twins, and I am here for it.

My experience exactly. Can someone with more knowledge of British captains than me explain why they all thought it was Lord Nelson? Was he also a sea bully?

Was this stated at any point during the episode? If so, it’s my fault for not catching it. But I would have enjoyed the ending much more if I hadn’t been playing along to an entirely different set of rules.

What the hell did I just watch? All season, it’s come down to whether or not the player made a good deal. But in this case, David just had to accept an offer and it was his? Regardless of whether or not it was a good deal? Was that the rule throughout this episode or just in that final round? Did they tell us the rules had changed at some point and I just missed it? Because when the banker made that final offer, I calculated that David had a 50/50 chance of making a good deal. There was one high case and one low case on the board, and the offer was between those values. And while it was a great offer, I thought he should have rejected it, because then he would be left with one low and one very high case— still a 50/50 chance, but one with a potentially much higher payout. But then David accepted the case and won, without having to open his case and see if he made a good deal. And while I’m happy for him, I’m also very confused and annoyed by what seemed to be an arbitrary change in the rules. Also: Chrissy Tiegan? Really? But I guess if they’re just recruiting former suitcase models, Meghan Markle may yet make an appearance at some point. People seem to hate her new Netflix show, so she may have some free time. Also also: Why David instead of Lete? What did Lete do to piss off Philip enough that he would choose to advance David over her? I was fully expecting some kind of reunion conversation in this final episode, given that it was a full hour long with only one banker game left to play, and I thought there would be time to plumb the depths of Philip pettiness. Alas.

I was such a fan of her on Orphan Black. Amazing, amazing performances. I would have to regularly remind myself that those weren’t different actresses playing those characters. Same here. Except I didn’t even get as far as orioles. Just “black and orange birds… what bird is orange and black…”. Butterflies, aargh. Never occurred to me.

Clearly the producers didn’t look to this forum for advice in casting judges, because I just revisited the comments for the episode Law Roach guest-judged (S20 E13) and the reactions to him were… not good. At least they haven’t said Elaine’s coming back (yet). I’m glad Christian’s coming back to mentor, but I wish they had asked Tim Gunn to come back as judge.

I can just hear Ken saying “We also would have accepted…” and then rattling off the answer in ten different languages.

So I guess Tucker and Rubina didn’t go the distance, since they’re competing against each other. Not a terrible cast. They could have done much worse. I was expecting a return of more old-school duos like Rachel and Brendon, Nicole and Victor, Will and Boogie (HA) but it looks like they skewed more recent. Not a bad thing, as we’ve seen plenty of most of those people. I predict I will have difficulty remembering which shrinking violet is named Tucker and which is named Turner.

It’s so much fun when a pre-guess is right, because then you get to feel smart AND psychic. No pre-guess here, but the “rebirth” part of the clue instantly brought an image of a rising phoenix to mind. So that turned out to be an easy one for me. I’m just happy to watch again, thanks to a sportsball break!

This is a good point. I don’t know much about Mormonism, but within every religion I do have knowledge of, there are a range of beliefs and lifestyles. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone here, but I bet a lot of people get their knowledge of Mormons from TV shows, which often focus on extremes for the sake of drama. It doesn’t mean those extremes don’t happen, but they don’t necessarily represent everyone. Thanks for your insight.

I was surprised to learn this, but Missouri actually has quite a few logging and sawmill operations. About 1/3 of the state is forest. Lumberjacks cut down trees to harvest wood, while arborists focus on keeping trees healthy. According to their bios, Pops and Jeff have done both: they wield a mean chain saw, but they are also arborists with their own businesses. I assume the show is focusing on the lumberjack angle because it’s a catchier title than arborist.

My favorite is pistachio, which also tends to have crushed nuts (not Shrek’s).

Suits: Port Charles! And there goes my hope that Natalia will just slink away quietly. She does not need any more ties on this show. And here I was happy to see Lucas getting more story. But if it means Natalia also gets more story, it’s not worth it. Go away, Marco. And take mom with you.

I was mid-post last night when my screen got hijacked by the expired security certificate warning, and that was that. So to resume… I have been unable to watch for most of this week because my other screen, the one that shows my TV programs, has been hijacked by some sportsball nonsense. (Somehow, this is even scarier.) Because there have been no alternate showings, and because I get impatient with low-quality YouTube bootlegs, I’ve just been going to j-archive to play FJ. Hope to back among you soon, assuming this site doesn’t go under in the meantime.

2/5, one* Since my gets this week were Cheers and Roots, I will raise a mug of Root Beer to toast each one of you.

Aww… the nurses were my favorites. I’m a sucker for teams who are able to stay drama-free and supportive, and these two fit the bill. Unfortunately, their relaxed attitude also kept them from having the drive it takes to keep pushing forward, and it was clear from the start that they weren’t long for this race. But I wish them well. They seem like lovely women. While it’s true that many 1980s women crimped and permed their hair into Lori-style kinks, some are just born with it. For them, there’s no recourse other than straightening and/or endless flat-ironing, and as someone with similarly psychotic hair, I can say that sometimes it’s better to just go with the flow. I wish everyone would stop jumping on every word Scott says. To me, he seems like a perfectly nice man who has a loving, mutually supportive relationship with his wife. I have seen nothing that belies that. And if we need someone to judge, hey, Jonathan is right there.

So, I have assumed all season that The Banker is last season’s winner. We know the banker is a woman, and we know a woman won last season, even if I can’t remember her name. Anyone have a different theory?

I wasn’t paying attention to the clock and was surprised when the game cut off where it did. So we have to spend an entire hour watching someone play the banker next week? How will they possibly drag that out and make it even more annoying? Like @Thalia said, this one should have been 90 minutes. It sucks to lose Parvati right before the end. If the final round depends on who people want to help the most, I would have liked to see who they chose between Parv and David. (David, I’m guessing. Philip definitely would have sabotaged Parvati.) Between David and Lete, I assume they chose Lete. I’m not sure how I feel about the end challenge overall. I don’t like that it rests so heavily on the actions of others, but I do like that there’s a bit of a jury component and that social game mattered in the end. Exit interview with Parvati. She doesn’t get Philip’s attitude, either. https://ew.com/parvati-shallow-explains-deal-or-no-deal-island-relationship-david-11698162

3/5 (Lama, Shelley, Twister) I could not decide between Twister Daiquiris or Potato Twisters… so I brought both!

You got closer than me. I knew what the clue was referring to, I just couldn’t pull the name (or the religion) out of my brain nooks. At least I’m not staring blankly like I did for most of the tournament games. Black licorice makes my tongue angry.

I can see the hula hoop hip gyrations as being scandalous to some… but I can’t see it being called a game. It’s a toy, really. Or maybe an exercise device if you’re trying to build balance or coordination? Twister was an instaguess for me. There’s a reason it was a staple at 1970s adult parties… and not just ones hosted by chiropractors looking for patients. Oh! Thanks for the reminder. I forgot that was back. Now I need to check my DVR and see why it’s not recording.

It’s paid work if you’re not paying someone else to do it. In terms of your household bottom line, you’re essentially paying yourself. I am my household’s cook, laundress, maid, accountant, banker, investor, buyer, hirer and overseer of service professionals, and manager of all things miscellaneous. I may not get a paycheck for all that work, but if you think I do it for free, you’re nuts. It is true that working outside the home and hiring someone to watch your kids doesn’t make financial sense for a lot of people. Sometimes a person’s entire paycheck goes toward paying the nanny. Without knowing the girlfriend’s earning potential, it’s unfair to assume she is just looking for a free ride. As a stuntman, David’s earnings are likely sporadic. I assume he makes good money on each gig, but he may go months between jobs. Maybe the girlfriend could get a steady job and he could be the stay-at-home dad when he’s not on a set, and get a babysitter when he is. But that’s up to them to work out. I do think it’s fair for any romantic partner (male or female) to ask their partner to commit to financial stability before getting married or having kids. That’s just being a responsible grownup.

I don’t like games of chance that remove any strategical element. If Pizza Guy had had the option of playing or not, then lost the game, then it’s on him. But having zero control sucks. Next Jeff will be spinning a big wheel at tribal council to see who goes home. I don’t blame anyone for keeping an advantage to themselves. Information is power, and once someone has your information, they have power over you. I wish more people would keep their mouths shut, and not just because it creates opportunity for TC drama. I also think it’s fine if someone wants to share advantage info, but it shouldn’t be a requirement between allies. There are lots of ways to build trust. Cedrick is going to find that out once Sai turns her back on him, which she will. I’m kind of rooting for Mary and Sai to team up now, and plow through this game like the anti-Thelma and Louise. Just two frenemies bonded by mutual distrust and a shared love of idol-hunting hijinks.