Spencer Hastings

Ron said that the original intent was to get Shelley Hennig to play Stephanie in the first episode. The explosion would happen, her face would be covered in bandages, they’d remove the bandages and NuStephanie would be in her place. Since Shelley was unavailable the gimmick didn’t work and I guess they didn’t have much else planned for NuStephanie.

I’m glad the show had the foresight to preshoot the scenes with the OG Big Three kids. They were such a big sort of the show and it wouldn’t have felt right to end without seeing them. This show has packed such a big emotional punch for so many years, ending it in such a simple note feels weird but I see what they were going for.

Miguel deserved better. Better children. Better stepchildren. A better life. Better treatment over the series. Miguel deserved better everything. I knew it was coming, but I hate that it took this long to get his story only to kill him at the end. Jon Huertas did a beautiful job.

Surprise, surprise. It was Sophie all along. This really didn’t need to be drawn out in one episode. I wonder if we would’ve had all of this back and forth with Kevin if the actress who plays Sophie hadn’t booked Virgin River. Anyway, I’m glad it wasn’t the wedding singer and I’m glad Cassidy won’t be subjected to Pearson speeches for the rest of her life. Onward.

I’ve been in similar situations and I can tell you that when it happens, it may not bother you as much until you’ve had time to work through it or you go into survival mode to push it down. You respond how others want you to respond (so many people were commenting on how well he handled himself), you know you can’t respond with the same energy as the aggressor because then you’ll be the bad guy, you’re in the workplace and don’t want to mess up your livelihood. Sometimes when you bring things like this up, people challenge you on it and essentially tell you to get over it. It just so happens we are living in times where people are more receptive to our feelings, so maybe now it felt safe for him. Whatever his reason is for bringing it up now, it’s his issue to deal with and bring up as he sees fit. We all process trauma differently (and it’s traumatic every time it happens).

I’d love to be wrong about this, but there’s no way Joshua Jackson returns for more than an episode or two. He has a lot going on already, he’s been working steadily since D3 wrapped. Disney would have to work out a heck of a deal with lots of money to make it worth his while. I don’t think he’s as attached to this film as we are. That being said, I’d love to see any of the original Ducks take over. Elden Henson (Fulton) has always said that he’s absolutely indebted to this franchise and would do anything they ask of him. Matt Doherty (Averman) also seems to love being involved with the franchise as much as he can. He shows up to every reunion, autograph appearance, etc. They have plenty of options but the execution would need to be stellar.

They did a good job with this episode, showing how this impacts black people as individuals and also as a whole. I didn’t want to watch it because I’m more of a Doug (I’ll drive myself crazy if I keep thinking of it type of person), but I’m glad I did.

I knew that Madison and Kevin wouldn’t go through with it. Ugh, I hated this British guy in A Million Little Things and I hate him here. Toby got on my last nerves at first but come on. Definitely didn’t see Kate remarrying though, so there’s that.

No bail. He messed up BIG time. Also, his booking info is out there (not sure if it’s okay to post) so this is absolutely true.

It’s nice to see one of the Duggar kids have an age appropriate birthday. I’m not at all surprised that Jill would be the one to know her kids, their likes, and really want to make their day special. She was so involved with her buddy team and they seemed to adore her. Motherhood seemed touch and go for a minute there while she worked through her own issues, so I’m glad that her kids get to experience this version of her.

It makes me so sad how they treat Aneesa in this game. Every season it ends like this for her and it’s so maddening. Growing up and watching as a little black kid, it was never lost on me that they sent the black people in first when their backs were against the wall. I believe with everything I have that this is a big part of the reason why Leroy and Aneesa are still fighting so hard for their first challenge win. I really liked that Aneesa pointed out that all of the women left are WOC. That’s so important and it’s such a big change. WOC hardly got any respect until recently, and even then they had to prove themselves over and over again. So while I have a bad taste in my mouth about how they treat Aneesa every season, I’m so happy to see the WOC left up there.

Dawn has been recast. https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a35874057/kyndra-sanchez-cast-dawn-schaefer-the-babysitters-club-season-2/

I would bet everything I own that you’re not wrong. I’m so sure that I couldn’t decide if this needed a spoiler tag. I mean I could be wrong too, but I’d be embarrassed if I saw them in concert 63 times and still got it wrong.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLcLhKfLuSN/?igshid=1g83jvcgqghw0 Instagram post. The link won’t embed for whatever reason.

Jessa Expecting Baby 4 "After the heartbreaking loss of a baby last year, we’re overjoyed to share that another little Seewald is on the way!" the couple said in a statement to ET. "The pregnancy is going smoothly, and both baby and Jessa are doing well. We are so grateful to God for the precious gift of a new life! The kids are delighted, and we can hardly wait to welcome this little one into our arms this summer."

I really thought birth mom was going to change her mind about letting Kate and Toby adopt her baby. Side note: As someone who has seen Hanson 63 times in concert, the Mmmbop reference was a nice treat!

Since we now know that he begged Tori not to put him in, I bet he knew that Fessy couldn’t give it to him but was putting on a show for the cameras.

I think that Kim has had to detach herself as much as she can from the situation and that includes masking facial expressions/voice/demeanor. Disengagement is definitely a form of coping (or not coping) and this is probably the only way she can function. It’s scary but understandable. Or there’s just something seriously wrong with her. There’s always that.

Olivia and Ethan’s couples tattoo made me really uneasy. I’m admittedly not a big fan of the idea in the first place because that’s almost a sure fire way to regret a tattoo in the future, but the idea of getting to one as an attempt to solidify an already broken relationship is insane to me. Ethan seemed really uncomfortable about it to the point of near tears, but Olivia was so pushy and condescending when he expressed how he was feeling. From that point it was almost like he had to go through with it, even with all of her “Are you suuurreee you want it?” We talk a lot about the patriarchy and how controlling the men are in these families, and that’s absolutely true, but I can’t imagine how much more outrageous this would seem if Ethan were as pushy as Olivia in this relationship. I generally like Olivia but this was a lot.

I was thinking of Hayti when they kept saying Cairo. My family is from Hayti and people always look at me like I’m crazy and ask 1. Why I’m pronouncing it like that, and 2. How I plan on driving to Haiti. It’s hard not to compare this family to the Duggars, especially when they feel like a gateway drug/alternate universe version of each other. These parents creep me out so much more, but the sibling relationships are more genuine. Especially amongst those siblings who have left and the older two who were left behind. I think that even if Ethan, Moriah, and Micah stray further, Lydia and Isaac will still want to have a relationship with them. Watching these oldest kids try to awkwardly navigate emotions and communication within their relationships is rough. It’s clear that they were never taught how to communicate what they were feeling or how to deal with other people who have feelings. Such a disservice.

I just signed up for the free trial to watch the rest, and then cancelled it. It was worth the free trial and cancellation.

Jo is a weirdly humble way to end an elegant name like Evangeline but I get the shortness. They wanted to honor the “Joseph” in Jeremy’s name. Any variation of “Joanna” or “Johanna” would have been too close to her 3 sisters with the same name. “Evangeline Josephine” (too much of a rhyme scheme) or “Evangeline Josephina” would have been a mouthful.

I knew a couple of Evangelines in college. They just went by Evangeline. One of them was the daughter of the head of the Religion department. Her father spoke weekly at chapel and always referenced Bonhoeffer. The pretentiousness of the name checks out, although it is beautiful.

I’ve purchased cameos as gifts before and they go over well. My mom still shows people her video from “John Black” (Days of Our Lives) that I gifted her last Christmas and here we are almost at Christmas again. While I told him a little about her, he read it and made it so much more personal than he needed to. She’s not a sentimental person, but she cried buckets and said it was worth more than any material item I could’ve gotten her. I’d totally do it again. Do I think Jill and Derick will take that much care? Absolutely not. But Jill’s parents gave her exactly one profitable skill in life and I can’t knock her for using it. Yes, they pulled their family from TV but this is something that can be done on their terms, not her father’s or TLC’s. If someone is a big enough fan to want a video from them, it’s a win-win.

For the first time in awhile, I was on board with one of Randall’s tangents. When everything went down, suddenly every white friend I’ve had in the past 34 years (spoiler alert: all of my friends are white) wanted to apologize for what was happening. They wanted to let me know that they see me and that they’re here to listen and is there anything they can do? But like Randall said, it became exhausting because this isn’t anything new. This has been happening for centuries. But you want to talk now? Now you see me when it’s suddenly trendy and the world is on fire? Randall shouldn’t have had to reassure Kate and help her process this now that she finally sees the issue. It’s not his job to let her know how she can help him or how she can feel less guilt. The show nailed it with this one. I was also glad to see Kate take the time to reflect and really think about Randall’s words.