smartymarty

Urging all who have never seen the Princess Bride to watch it immediately. People who have seen it watch it over and over again, it's that good. And many great lines from it besides "mawwiage." ("Have fun storming the castle!" and "Never start a land war in Russia" being two of them.)

Randall is the Out of Town Sibling. This is the person who hasn't seen the parent in months, so they are shocked! at the change in their condition. They then try to get the people caring for the parent to change the treatment. My brother was long that person, but now mom has moved near him, so I try hard not to be that person. Regarding correcting her, my sisters-in-law did this constantly with my mother-in-law, despite my DH and I telling them they were making things worse for mom. They said they didn't like to lie to her (mom taught them well). But it also came across as trying to fix her, like if we make a photo book naming everyone in the family, she'll remember who everyone is. Doesn't work like that. They just couldn't accept it. Same. Quite boring. Strange since the cuts to young Rebecca singing showed a very upbeat song, so if it was meant to be the same song??? Yes. Done with the teasing, show. Just tell us. Nobody cares anymore. Yes. I understand younger kids maybe not recognizing their mother (this happened to my sister) but usually kids are taught to be nice. Or they really don't care. Or -- am I the only one? -- the haircut was fine! I thought most people with a bad haircut just shrug it off, too. Figure out some way to make it work until it grows out. Rebecca wearing a hat was ridiculous. Reminded my DH and I of DH's father brushing his mother's hair when she had Alzheimer's. So sweet. For once, somebody on the writing staff understood how family members help the one with Alzheimer's. We dragged my father to family weddings just so that my mother could attend with a break from her care-giving duties. The Out of Town Sibling was tasked with that.

I grew up in the 70s, but yes! I remember when you could finally buy boneless chicken breasts. Such an advance! I'm NOT appreciating the exaggerations and misrepresentations. Why do they think the reality isn't entertaining enough?? During both episodes I've remarked several times that "I don't think this is actually how it happened." Not because I know it isn't, but because it's too comically exaggerated. I find that very annoying.

So affectionate that Toby was NOT at Kate's wedding? Because that's when he acknowledges that their story is not over. I still find it an odd statement. "We'll always have the kids, Toby, and I hope that we'll always be friends," would have been much clearer. "Our story is not over" sounds like something contrived by the writers to get viewers wondering whether they get back together or something.

I still don't understand how the divorce wasn't "the end of our story." Because they still had to cooperate in raising their kids? Because that is no big revelation. What more "story" happened between them?

When divorcing, couples add up all the marital assets and divide in half. So say the equity totalled $200,000. Kate could keep the house while Toby keeps the $100,000 in other assets. Yes, if the equity is the largest asset, it may be more difficult to do an even split. But then the couple can agree to other arrangements, such as Kate keeps all equity but Toby pays less in alimony, or Kate keeps all equity but also keeps a larger share of their debts. (Or Kevin buys out Toby's share -- we all think that, right?)

He wouldn't hand over all the equity -- he'd hand over half the equity. And yeah, if an ex remarries, alimony (but not child support) ends. Maybe once Kate remarried, Toby had the additional income to save for a nice house (unless I have my timeline wrong). In general, I believe the number of American women keeping their names after marriage has declined. I'm cheered to read that someone does not see that happening. This changing the name thing is not universal, and is quite strange to me. Also, "Mrs." connotes married, "Miss" is unmarried, while "Mr." is used regardless of marital state. That's why Gloria Steinem promoted "Ms." to replace Mrs. and Miss. I use it for all women. In some parts of the country, private schools pay better than public. But I also was confused about her "supervisor" title when the retiring person showed Kate what looked like a classroom with electric pianos in it and gave her a nameplate, as though Kate instead would be teaching keyboarding.

Clearly casting decided to ignore the significant height difference between them. I also complained during this episode that I felt no chemistry between them (even at the end when they almost... you know). I hope that improves. Maybe DHP was trying to show how depressed Paul was at being involuntarily retired. As for him being her champion, I'm wondering if the writers cooked up (see what I did there?) this plot about having to convince him. Found it odd that, despite how great a cook Julia was, she and Paul kept going out for dinner.

Of course, being taller only helps when both A & B are in the same scene. I can tell them apart then just by the dialog. It's when only one is on the screen that I am sometimes confused if what is happening in the scene does not provide any clues. Though I enjoy this show, I was disappointed that the plot is basically the same as the first season's, same as any Jane Austen book -- the two who hate each other at the beginning (possibly only by a misunderstanding!) are fated to be be together by the end. (And I write this not having seen all the episodes yet, so I'm not spoiling, I'm just confident I know where this is going, unless they pull a Sanditon on me.)

My friend's parents had a catering business out of their house. Catered large weddings. They made all the food at home, then either baked or re-warmed stuff at the event location. So it can be done. mind you I'm not talking about sit-down meals. I think they mostly did buffets. A food truck would help keep food warm from the trip from kitchen to site. I think most people 25 years out come to peace with their high school years. The HS nerds are now the lawyers, doctors, accountants, making the trade of not being super-involved in HS hijinks worth it.

Toby said he went past that house when he runs and liked the look of it, so when a For Sale sign went up, he investigated. (A 5K run takes only about 1/2 an hour, so not lots of time on his part.) She should have said "You say our goodbyes, I'll wait for you outside."

The ol' Monopoly money scene? :)

A teenager just mouthing off? If she hadn't been adopted, I wouldn't have been surprised at an outburst of "I must have been adopted!!" or "I wish I were never born!" She was just angry that Randall interfered with her relationship. And I agree. Randall never should have encouraged Malik to break up. (And did he initially do it just by ghosting her? No conversation until she confronted him in Boston? That doesn't sound like him.) Randall and Beth needed to have a calm, almost treat her like an adult, conversation with Deja about her plan to move to Boston, asking about the realities, the worst case scenarios, so that she could come to her own decision. I was so confused about the love of the cookies because every time they mentioned them, I heard "Smelly Fish cookies." Sounded horrible! It wasn't until I saw the smiles on them instead of fish that I realized something was wrong, and my husband set me straight.

I think Kate went to SF just to reconnect with Toby. She was shocked at his hope that they'd move there. From her point of view then, it felt like pressure because she would first have to decide she wanted to move to SF, then consider that particular house. She couldn't do that in a mere day or two. If Toby did anything wrong, it was assuming Kate was on the same page as him about SF v. LA. But I think he was just so excited about the idea of them being together again with him having the fabulous job that he didn't think. I will give Toby credit on one thing, over Kate, which is that he apologized for not telling her about the LA job. I don't recall any apologies from Kate (you all can correct me!).

Ha! First, we in Protestant churches don't use wafers, we use bread. You know, the way Jesus did? And yes, the ministers quote, from the Bible, Christ presenting the bread as his body. Protestants do not believe in transubstantiation though; it's symbolic. Since official Methodism is against drinking (everyone should abstain to prevent someone who would be likely to become addicted from doing so), those churches use grape juice, not wine. Yet again annoyed at an episode of MMM with the ridiculousness of Rose doing Midge's routine. No way would the illusionist suggest she act like one of her family members at work. What was she going to do if she had to imitate an accountant? And I echo whoever commented that it seemed like 3/4 of the illusionist's act was taken up by this. I understand that many are yet entertained by this show. It just takes me out of it when something doesn't make sense. That matchmaker guild is over the top too. And Midge should have known not to tell her "slept with a married man" story at a high society luncheon. Will be curious to see whether we needed to see Lenny Bruce begging people to come to his Carnegie Hall show.

I graduated 1983, and felt that all the girls assumed they would have a career. My mother was older than those of my peers, so she sent me to college to meet my future husband and them be a stay at home parent. I did not know that at the time, as she had always been teaching me, my sister and brother, how to be self-sufficient. Turned out that for me and my sister, she only did that so that we could support ourselves until we married. I cringed when Jack said Kevin needed to learn to be a man, and also kind of used the "throw him into the pool" method of swimming (though it was teach him a lesson). Kate was just always coddled. I don't think Toby pressured her to buy a house in 2 days. He just said that if she liked it as much as he did, they'd have to act fast (i.e., in 2 days). If not, they'd find something else. It just felt like pressure to Kate because it never occurred to her that the family would move to SF.

I liked Danny's hair. Eddie and Katherine's conversation was the only enjoyable scene of the night. Hate the Gina-dad-food truck story. And as someone else pointed out, where's her partner? I don't begrudge Rome still feeling pained about the school water fountain incident. I wonder if the writers were trying to subtly touch on the Critical Race Theory protests, showing how it was for black students when Jim Crow was taught -- a joke to white students, extremely painful to black students, and told to get over it by the adults. Devil's advocate for Delilah -- maybe she's trying to help her kids become fluent in a second language. Not a crazy idea. Regarding the opening Lexus scene, yeah, whenever I take an Uber/Lyft, I ask them to drop me off in the parking garage, not at the front door of the building. For those who didn't notice it was a Lexus, Lexus is a big sponsor so it's all over the show -- Rome and Regina drive a Lexus, and Jon wanted Sophie to drive his Lexus when she got her license.

Again, all things she would see on the tour except for the age of the roof or HVAC, but those are things that are checked by the inspection, with the final sale price negotiated accordingly if repairs need to be made. Also, Toby has seen the house many times -- he may well already know how many years are left on the roof. I think you're wanting to see too much. (I did cringe about the trampoline too, though.)

Not disputing that. I was just annoyed that she complained about her life but then shot down any attempt to brainstorm solutions, like pursuing things you like to do without it necessarily being "I want this career." Like a What Color is Your Parachute approach.

Regarding room size and stairs, Kate would see that on their tour of the house -- Toby didn't have to mention it. And Kate didn't mention any of the other issues you raise, so my assumption is that her only objection was that it was in SF.

Well, some group took credit on TV. Not sure they identified themselves with Nazir, but I think the show wanted us to believe it was Nazir's group. Also, did not necessarily have to be Musleim -- the blond woman (who committed suicide with the wine glass) likely was not Muslim. Just anyone upset with the U.S.'s killing of people in the Middle East.

They had picked out their LA house together, so I assume he knew what Kate wanted in a house.

In demanding jobs like this, with clients in different time zones, and especially considering Toby has only been in the job for three months, one does not take the weekend off. Particularly not just for a handful of phone calls that I'll assume took less than 1/2 an hour since they would have showed us had they taken a lot of the time during that day. Damn, I advise my nieces and nephews not to take any time off for the first 6 months of a job. You're still earning your stripes. It does seem odd to me that Toby would never have told her "Geez, my new boss is pretty young, AND he sold his prior company to Google for a bundle." Put that in the "Toby and Kate not communicating well" category. Devil's advocate version: Toby found a house he likes for them and did all the legwork in case Kate loved it too. He's not responsible for the "must decide in two days" deadline. Had Kate not come the following weekend instead, it might not have been an option at all. Toby: Hey, boss. I'm so happy here I just turned down an offer at a company I'd applied to in LA that finally got back to me. Remember, he's been at the SF job for 3 months, so the LA job took more than 3 months to make him an offer. I did not like that Toby left Kate at the party to talk about his NBA fantasy league. There was no reason he couldn't have brought Kate over with him for that conversation. I don't mind him bringing Kate to the party in the first place, since, again, he's only been in the job 3 months so it's important not to skip things like Boss Throwing a Party. My biggest disgust was with teenage Kate shutting down Randall and Kevin when they tried to help her think about what to do in life. "I hate Pittsburgh. I hate my life. I don't know what to do." "Well Kate, what about. . ." "No, just stop." If you don't know what you want to do, then you think about things you like to do. Like singing? Why don't you see about joining a choir, volunteering at a school music program, teaching piano? But to shut it down immediately?? I completely lost sympathy for her then. Took you 20 more years to figure it out and get an entry level job you like? Your problem, not Toby's. As for SF versus LA, SF is where the higher earner is. Rebecca implored her kids to not let her illness hold them back from life. The SF house had room for Rebecca and Miguel to stay with K & T when visiting. Jack is only 3 years old -- he can learn a new house. I'm sure LA has programs for the blind and/or music programs also. (It doesn't really seem to me that Kate's fulfillment with her job is because the kids are blind, but because she's bringing music into their lives.)

I found this episode disjointed and exhausting. Ten minutes of Lenny that it never came back to; 10 of Imogene and the father that it never came back to; 10 of Midge and L. Roy, who I doubt we'll ever see again; a set piece of Rose with the other matchmakers that didn't really resolve (will Rose stop matchmaking, or did she negotiate a territory?); several of those long, quick back-and-forths between two characters that were supposed to be witty but weren't. Susie ignoring that selling Sophie's gifts could bring her some good money; Midge self-sabotaging with Sophie. I'm not an "every episode must advance the plot" person, but this one just sat there. The only new thing was Mei's pregnancy, which my husband called just as she walked into the room. Judging from the comments above on that, nobody is invested in whether she keeps the baby, aborts, or miscarries.

I saw a kid put sugar on his Captain Crunch once. Frightening.