Souris

I had completely forgotten there was a bombing!

Thank you. There was so much cross-shouting, I couldn't follow most of what was being said.

Well, that hurt. So many emotional wallops in that episode. Damn it, Marcus. 😭 Whyyyyyy?? I loved him and Shirley so much as a team. Coe telling her “He loved you and wanted you to love yourself.” That was a gut punch of a line. And then him killing Patrice. David telling River “You promised you’d never do this to me” was so heartbreaking and real. Lamb finding Sam’s body and grabbing the whiskey to go. River getting postcards from his mother for his seventh, eighth, and ninth birthdays — and then they stopped. Ouch, that family. Lamb making sure Marcus’ family got active duty benefits. And getting River bonus pay. Hints of a heart there, like making sure Min got a plaque. River didn’t get his sorely needed hug, but he did get to drink with Lamb. A better father/son moment there than River had earlier. I didn’t expect previews for next season, so that was a nice surprise! “You just dropped a grenade in my hood, don’t fucking ‘Son’ me!” But what happened to the “shoot to kill” order on River? It just sort of … disappeared. Did I miss something? Did Flyte just shout down that kill team and they got distracted by the grenade and chasing Harkness? I guess Ghiti is OK and we can stop worrying about her now?

Just started a rewatch because a rewatch of The Musketeers triggered me onto a Santiago Cabrera bender.

This might be the first episode of Slow Horses I found rather meh. There are only six episodes, do we really need to spend like 10 minutes watching River walk around every room in a house like an idiot? He really is like if a golden retriever was a spy. That said, the scene at the beginning with his granddad was very well-done and affecting. Taverner was coolly efficient and "bloody good at it." I immediately feared for the young analyst (?) who brought her the issue. I did not think the faux River looked like him at all.

I have only ever binged the previous seasons of "Slow Horses." How the hell am I supposed to endure this one-episode-a-week nonsense?? It's barbaric! What is this, the 2000s?? I need a gif of Lamb saying he's always filled with joie de fucking vivre. Marcus waterboarding Shirley for a paperclip bet! Never change, you two. Oh, look, it's Emile Bonnaire, and he's still annoying. (My Musketeers is showing.) Taverner must just be constantly chewing glass shards over the fact she STILL didn't get First Desk and this loser did. Oh the hilarious cringe-fail when Louisa thought River was hitting on her! Poor Louisa. Roddy got off easy. He deserved to get hit with something bigger. I miss River’s floppy hair. Obviously I knew he wasn’t dead. I saw him in other scenes in the previews!

I liked all the guys, but I agree that d'Artagnan was my least favorite. For me, it was mostly how he treated Constance at times. He didn't get why she wouldn't just leave her husband and become his mistress. And then after Bonacieux was murdered and she said, "Even though I didn't love him, he was my husband and I have feelings to deal with about his sudden death, please give me a minute," he got all pissy and said he just might not wait around for her. Dude, you're being a dick! And he was a total hypocrite by telling Aramis he could have protected the Queen's reputation by not sleeping with her. Meanwhile, he had zero thoughts about protecting Constance's reputation when he wanted to set her up as his mistress. I honestly feel like d'Artagnan was the least developed. He had no real backstory beyond being a hot-headed farm boy who decided he wanted to be a Musketeer. Porthos had an interesting backstory and a truly shitty father/family. He was my second favorite and I agree he wasn't given enough to do. I enjoyed him as a one-man squad going after Vargas.

As I said above, I just did a rewatch. I loved the show when it first aired, but for some reason it basically TOOK OVER MY BRAIN this time to the point I’ve been writing Annamis fanfic, for God’s sake, and I haven’t even thought about writing fanfic since S3 of Once Upon a Time. The dynamic between the four guys was just SO good. The show ticked so many of my boxes. Hot men sword-fighting. Strong women. Angst AND humor. Costume porn. Location porn. Romance. Strong friendships. So I am Filled With Thoughts and Emotions, and one of the major drawbacks of falling down an obsessive rabbit hole for a 10-year-old show is that nobody else is currently Filled With Thoughts and Emotions they want to share. So I’m just going to spew out some stuff and maybe somebody out there still has some residual Thoughts and Emotions to engage with LOL I very much appreciated Santiago Cabrera the first go-round (I mean, I watched all of “Salvation” purely for him), but holy hell, for my money his Aramis is the hottest combination of actor and character ever. Pure molten fire alchemy. Perfect casting was perfect. I remember being quite disappointed in S3 when I was watching it live, and it’s still definitely by far the weakest season. Too lacking in cheek and humor, too little “all for one and one for all” group dynamics and Musketeer mischief, too much time spent on the villains plotting, too many necessary scenes missed. Aramis was angsty and depressed the whole season, and people kept being mean to him. And how many freaking times did they blow up D’Artagnan?? That said, I actually enjoyed S3 more this time. I think it helped being part of a binge rather than waiting a week for each ep and being underwhelmed. For instance, I was able to appreciate how they developed Aramis and Anne’s relationship into a proto-First Minister/Regent partnership, probably because this time I knew how it ended up. They ultimately still couldn’t stay away from each other, even though everyone (including themselves) kept trying to keep them from even breathing near each other. And I had a good laugh at Athos ultimately giving up and shipping them, providing them an avenue to the happiest ending they could manage under the circumstances, after “I cannot BELIEVE you slept with the QUEEN!” and all the years of hilarious death glares. Truly one of the best side effects of Annamis was how grumpily DONE Athos was with it every time he had to think about it. But impending fatherhood with Sylvie gave him a new understanding. I liked that they bothered to show that Aramis was a bit rusty at first after four years at the monastery. They didn’t make a big deal out of it and nobody commented on it, but there were multiple scenes where he was sparring with the guys to practice. Just a small, thoughtful touch. I may go to hell for this, but could they not have found a Dauphin who actually looked like the product of certified hotties Anne and Aramis? I was thrown originally by the lack of Milady in S3 and took time to warm to Sylvie. Even though I was never a Milathos shipper, I appreciated Milady’s character and the drama of it all. This time I liked Sylvie more, though they sure handwaved away her revolutionary, monarchy-hating ways to set up the happy ending with Athos. It was a bittersweet ending, with all the brothers finding love but going their separate ways. At least Aramis, Anne, Constance and D’Artagnan are in the same city and can still see each other sometimes. Poor Porthos got the short end of the stick having to go back to war. (BTW, I quite liked Elodie and wish they had been able to flesh that relationship out more.) I still want to disembowel Rochefort with a rusty spoon. I wonder how S2 would have played out with Richelieu instead. (Forever bitter at Dr. Who.) Obviously they would have ended up in the same place with the treason accusations, but I’m curious how they would have escaped the consequences without the “OMG the accuser is a Spanish spy!” angle. Dr. Lemay! ::sobs:: How weird was it they kept making Anne’s hair blonder each season? Frankly, I think everyone in-show who was irate about Aramis and the Queen sleeping together should have been sending them fruit baskets and mini muffins instead. I mean, if they hadn’t, freaking Gaston would have ended up as king, and then where would France and the Musketeers be, hmm? Hating life, that’s where.

More via Christine Brennan.

OMG it's gotten even more ridiculous.

What a cluster**** this is!

Summer for me, because as much as I love figure skating, the summer sports seem more familiar and accessible to me. Plus my beloved SWIMMING! Also, it's harder to see the Hotties when they are bundled up in parkas. 🤣

There were so many amazing moments, but one that has stuck with me is the women’s cycling road race. The course was so epic — up Montmartre, past Sacre Coeur, along cobblestone lanes — and then to have USA’s Kristen Faulkner, who wasn’t even supposed to be competing until her teammate dropped out a couple days before, hit the turbo boost and leave the others in the dust at the end was the exciting cherry on top. I was impressed by all the last second turbo boosts: Femke Bol in the mixed relay, Cole Hocker in the 1500, Grant Fisher (twice). I know I’m forgetting some. Katie Ledecky being Katie Ledecky. Simone Biles and Suni Lee getting gold after all they’ve been through. Stephen Nedorosik. Bobby Finke shockingly winning a race by leading from the start. Steph Curry going nuclear. U.S. women going 1-2 in fencing. The U.S. women dominating that 4x400. The venues! Equestrian at freaking Versailles! The meme of the chill Turkish shooting medalist!

Oh my God, this song. Just send me to the floor in sobs, why don't you. Well, another Olympics is over, and that always makes me so sad. 😭 Though to be honest, I really needed them to end so I can actually accomplish things. It wouldn't be the same Olympics without these threads. It has been a joy sharing it here. THANK YOU!

I wonder what all the people at the Stad de France and doing right now? Watching some big screens? Just chilling? Oh, there they are again. And Leon Marchand made it!