Nonja

So much same. I was wishing he would have been singing Precious! His dream was cool but seemed a little sparse. It would have been great if they'd been able to drag Mel Silver into it as well somehow. Or the black beret-worn-backwards he wore in every single "David with a drug problem" episode. Also the banana moment when Ian pushes it away from Shannen as they are talking about politically correct "nothing with the mouth" terms.

YES. They NEED to change this editing style! At stage 1 there needs to be no more back stories and for God's sake no more starting line stunts/shows/gimmicks. Seriously, we need to start a petition or something. I am shocked that Joe Moravsky was given such minor treatment. I was waiting all year for his comeback, and his whole family was there for the first time. He has arguably one of the best records ever and they do this to him so they can show baby shopping and models and dogs. Just wrong. OMG Chad Flexington. Go home. Ben Udy can come back, you cannot. I think Drew was being a dick at the end. When Flip re-did his Stage 1 run, he seemed relieved to have had the safety pass; Drew seemed like having had to use it was beneath him. He needs to remember that "Everybody falls" and that he is still part of "Everybody". Ethan Swanson is actually a favorite, but yes that hair needs to go. Im beyond bummed for Nick Hanson! And I thought that Matt and Akbar were kinda rude about the Eskimo Ice Cream. Yeah, its kinda gross (Ive had it) but it was a gift from Nick's culture and they didnt have to bash it. These guys have eaten TARANTULAS for crying out loud. I predict Dave Cavanaugh as a top finisher this year.

Also Grandma's hair...*sweating with the effort of holding my tongue** And Sean Bryan~ this week's star in the crossover show NBC seems to be promoting-- "ANW/ER".

Me too! I read somewhere that she confirmed she will not be on the show, but maybe its a surprise so its not too predictable (Pffft). It only makes sense to me, especially since she was a big love interest for Brian on the show and Zach stated that his mom has done a lot of "bad things". It would also make sense that she would be mad they brought Shannen back and not her. I dont think it would be Vanessa Marcil, since she DOES have a son with Brian and supposedly its been a contentious custody relationship. I know they are supposed to be playing "heightened" versions of themselves, but that would just be too real. I really dont like the writer lady, she is way too combative and uptight with no redeeming qualities as a character so far. Ian was sincerely apologizing and she wouldnt have it, then he bails her out anyway. That would be hilarious!

Casey Suchocki

Wholeheartedly agree. Christine: "I picked the wrong week to stop vaping." Hahahahaha! I find Tori Spelling TRYING to be funny supremely annoying. Her "Im rushing lines in a high-pitched voice to show how awkward and silly I am," routine is beyond irritating. They should either write her some real comedy lines or give it up. Or they could have poked some fun at Riverdale here and there, which could have been great.

I know, like there haven't been enough injuries already this year. Are they TRYING to hurt these people...

Travis Rosen retiring truly bums me out. Terribly. He was always so, so great. So sad for Jesse, she was so close! It must be weird for Chris to outshine her for once, but I think they can handle it. Im so glad Flip made it the second time. And Adam Rayl...damn. He is back bigtime. I dont give a crap about beards or wrestlers, and I usually dont care for the "inspired by a sick kid" stories at this point in the game, but that Kevin Bull girl was beyond charming. Looking forward to next week with Nick Hanson and Joe Moravsky.

I agree, but I dont think they should have even had that one. It was just too hard if none of our top people could get past it. Also (to my knowledge) they have never had to defend an obstacle before by showing a tester completing it just to prove it CAN be done. I read somewhere that the testers are only focused on the one assigned obstacle as opposed to doing the entire course in succession, so in my opinion it was just unfair. I've always believed that all qualifying courses should be identical, and all city finals should have very little variation in difficulty level per obstacle if they are determined to change it up.

SUCH a better episode! Super happy for Michelle and her obviously 1-day old headwound. And I thought it was cool that Kacy sent out her support for Michelle as soon as she broke the streak. Happy for all the finishers! And all of the non-finishing small victories...Ninja Phil, Jeri, and Grant for being more serious and quite lucky. I wish they would have showed more of Ethan Swanson on the slingshot, he makes it look like his own personal party trick. I cant wait for Nationals now.

Me too on all counts! I am irritated that Fred got his little revenge win. He somehow seems even a hundred times grosser now as a prisoner than he did as a commander. I have no idea what they are going to do to make sense of the remaining escapee handmaids and injured June in S4. How can they possibly explain themselves? Do they plan to set up shop and live in the woods? Wearing red? And they didnt even take the guns. Ugh.

I thought this too. Now we know we can fully expect more and even worse Janine-abuse in S4. Damn it. Janine gets all the abuse June deserves.

Ugh. Yes! Someone needs to Kevin Bull this obstacle. Definitely too hard. The show needs to realize that we NEED at least one finisher to keep this enjoyable to watch. Triumph is an integral component to the formula of what makes this show. Without that, its like...blue balls. Sorry, its the only analogy I can think of. I sooooo agree with you. Why did they even show us that? Im bummed for Jamie Rahn, you could tell that he didnt expect to hear that he hadnt made it to Vegas. While it absolutely is his own fault for farting around, I still feel bad for him. Also I fully expected Joe to defeat the Angry Birds, so that sucked. Pretty much the only high point was the King of the Walk On's, he is the standout ninja for me this year, though I could have done without the whole van story. I miss the Beast.

LOL. They could do a whole slew of darkly dramatic and cynical "firsts"~ First functional alcoholic up the wall, first felon, first illegal immigrant... To be clear, Im making fun of the "firsts" and not any of those actual things.

Indeed it should. I wholeheartedly agree here. It seems wrong that someone would go farther and not come out on top. Im bummed for Jake Murray, but he'll be back. And as painful as it was to watch Nick Hanson fall, at least he made it to Vegas again! I cant wait for his stage one comeback. I like Sandy Zimmerman and all, but the "I had a hard childhood but overcame it and followed my dreams, and you can too" narrative has been done sooooo many times. Im blaming this on the show, not her personally. If they are going to force feed us gratuitous backstories they really need to get more creative. Now I know what Im about to say will probably bring on the torches and pitchforks, but...every year, when no woman hits a city finals buzzer, a small piece of my heart is still pleased that it remains Kacy Catanzaro's legacy. Despite the media storm that came after her (and chewed her up, and spit her out), watching her beat that city finals course was such an inspiring, powerful thing and I kind of like that is still hers and hers alone. There. Now I shall slither away quietly...