blackwing

I think I like Rick. He is the only one who showed any kind of compassion when learning that Ted's father died. He thinks it was insensitive for Stuart and whatshername to cut Ted out of the merger at a time when his father was dying. Even though he doesn't seem to know what kind of relationship Ted had with his father. I thought the Brian Baumgartner storyline was incredibly stupid and pandering. It was like was said in the episode "here's a guy who has built his entire career off of one role in which he played an idiot". Felt like writers/producers thought "hey it would be so cool if we can get him on the show and help his career". So Eddie died in 2010, shortly after all of the events that we are being shown in the flashbacks. As far as Lester's case, I'm still slightly confused about it all and trying to figure out exactly what happened (HE KNEW!!!) but then decided I actually didn't care. At all. If the theme of this show is "the legal world is cutthroat, especially in L.A., where you have to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means stabbing the guy who you call your best friend"... then with me at least, they are failing. I would rather see a traditional legal show like L.A. Law with quirky cases than whatever this mess is. All the squabbling, all the fighting, all the anger... just isn't what I am here for. I watch TV for relaxation and enjoyment. Not to get irritated.

I thought this was a great episode, back to the basics of the show... Robyn helping a random normal person who needs help. No CIA or drug lord or war criminal or anything involved. And the relationship with Dante didn't feel contrived and in the way and shoved down our throats. It was just Robyn asking for help from a friend who happens to be a cop. I am a bit confused as to exactly what is Dante's role/position now. He was with the stupidly named FTF (Federal Task Force) in Los Angeles. But at the beginning of the episode in the previouslies, they repeated the line about him resigning his position. He set up shop in his old precinct where he had multiple run-ins with Hardass Captain. But he's not a New York City police detective / cop anymore. And he resigned from the FTF. So what is he? How does he have the authority to barge into places exclaiming "Federal agents!" He's no longer one and Robyn isn't either. After Robyn and Mel captured the kidnapping couple, one of them said they would call Dante. On what authority is he arresting people? Even if he is with the FTF and hasn't actually resigned yet, the kidnapping isn't a federal crime since it occurred entirely within the state of New York. At the end, we saw a scene of Robyn and Mel bringing Dylan back to his mom at a police station. I think Dante showed up too. Was that "his" police station, or a different precinct? I was half-expecting to see Hardass Captain, and was glad we did not. The Viola / Captain Curtis storyline, I am glad it got resolved. I think she was unfair to him last episode, she didn't even stop to consider what it was like for him as a cop to be doing his job. She just went off on "scared young black man" and wouldn't let it go.

I really hope Em’s mom is gone for good. It’s been a long time since I’ve grown to hate a minor character on a TV show so quickly and with such intensity. She is a truly awful person. And I hate this actress’ whiny little girl voice. I couldn’t care less about Sonny and his issues with his daughter. Does this topic have to come up in every single episode? Can the guy ever just be content? He spent most of the season sadsacking about Zion, and as soon as he finally got over it, he focuses all his energy on controlling his daughter. I do agree with him that 17 is too young to be moving out of the house and living with an older boyfriend, but the way he goes about trying to get his way is all wrong. I don’t think Laka wants to live on Kainalu’s farm. He lives with his tutu and helps take care of her (although when we met her, she was not the frail old woman he made her out to be). I think he views himself as the trainer to the younger lifeguards, so he was competing alongside them in solidarity and to test himself. Kind of like when Em did the underwater rock carry with the new recruits. As for Will and Em, I think Em talked about her mom with him before. When they had that picnic lunch, he seemed to be somewhat familiar with the issue. However, Will seems like a very closed off guy, he said he didn’t like to talk about bad memories, which is why he probably never shared about his mom before.

Same. I was hopelessly confused as to why only one was killed, and why the traffickers didn't take more care to dispose of the body.

Out of all the people on this show, the ones that annoy me the most are Garden Store Guy's ex-wife's new husband (Connor?) and Alice's husband. If the dead body is either of them, I wouldn't be unhappy. Alice got fired in Present Day, right? Did the husband leave her in Present Day or 6 Months Later? Because she's been unemployed and wholly dependent on the husband with the rich parents who she is now separated from? Does the creator/writer of this show have some family issues that are being expressed on screen? Of the four main characters, none of them have a strong marriage or relationship. We have divorced Birdie trying to connect with the son she gave up for adoption years ago, divorced Garden Store Guy trying to avoid being replaced by new husband, Catherine who cheated on her husband who is acting like he doesn't care, and Alice who has all sorts of issues with her husband. My favorite character is Garden Store Guy, who seems to be the only one whose name I can't remember.

I like Adrianne Palicki in this role. I'm assuming she will be gone after the second part, and she would have served her purpose in making Avery jealous. Did my eyes deceive me, or did we see a fourth medical staff member? When they first brought over the sunken boat survivors, Tristan was talking to a woman dressed in the same uniform as him and Avery and gave her some instructions. Or is she just a regular crew member who was just helping out?

I agree, this episode was boring. There's this actress who was represented by Rick, but when Rick left the firm, she has to use Erica since there is a clause in the agreement that says that Rick can't poach clients. What? I'm pretty sure that clients have a right to choose. When a firm falls apart, the firm notifies the clients of the impending breakup, and clients have a right to go to either of the two firms. I don't fully understand why Erica signed the waiver. Because she wanted to prove that she was better than Rick? We learned in this episode that Erica and Rick used to be a couple, which adds some layer to their relationship, but not that much. I find it hard to believe that Stuart is a top criminal defence attorney. His voice puts me to sleep. I know this is the actor that was the coward guy with a mullet in The Walking Dead, so it's an interesting transformation. But he sounds and looks a lot like the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it is distracting. Lastly, I spent a good amount of time being confused as hell by all the women with long dark hair. There was the actress. Then there's Ted's ex-girlfriend who runs the firm that Stuart merged with. And I think the prosecutor on Ted's client's case who was supposed to be Hanrahan but is now her. I literally thought the ex-girlfriend and the prosecutor were the same person. The biggest problems for me with this show are 1) the characters are not interesting, 2) the cases are not compelling. The cases are downright boring.

"The Death of James Pendrick"... HALF of the episode was all flashbacks of Terence Myers and James Pendrick. I got excited when I saw Helene Joy and Jonny Harris in the credits... then it was apparent that they were credited solely because they were in the stupid flashbacks. Is the show really that tight for money that they had to fill the episode with flashbacks and only have to film half the usual number of scenes? Super irritating.

Out of all the storylines, the one with Gaitok and Mook is to me by far the most sleep inducing. I really couldn't care less about either of them, which is unfortunate since this is the only storyline that involves Thai locals only. I think he's a complete idiot and not very smart. He seems to be pushing 40 and he acts like he's never had a girlfriend before. I agree with the comment that every waking moment of his is spent obsessing about Mook. I forget the exact backstory... but I think they been friends for a long time, from the same village? If so, they have known each other for years. Why is it now that he is suddenly obsessed with her? If he has been obsessed for years, why is it only now that he is finally doing something about it? She friendzoned him years ago, and it's an indication of how unobservant he is. He is unfit to be a security guard. People here keep saying that Mook wants to be with a prestigious man which is why she keeps asking if he got the promotion. Even if he got the promotion, I don't think she would suddenly want to marry him. I think she's just asking because she is a friend who wants her friend to succeed. If she was interested in marrying rich or being with someone presigious, she could easily find a rich guest. Or have her pick from among the other employees (the spa guy, Fabian, Valentin) who have better jobs. Or find someone else in her life away from work that is much better than Gaitok.

I thought this was a particularly boring episode, not a lot happened. Little snippets of life at the resort which weren't all that exciting. Tim's storyline is dragging on for too long... yes he's in big trouble and his response is to steal his wife's pills. Just get on with it already. Either have him exposed or have him get away with it. Watching him all doped up is just not interesting. His wife previously offered to give him a Lorazepam, he said he didn't take pills. But now some are missing from their room. Husband is acting drunk/doped up, which she attributes to "jet lag". Why wouldn't any of them have suggested that Dad took the pills? I truly couldn't care less about Gaitok and Mook. Gaitok is terrible at his job. His mooning over Mook has made him distracted, he let the robbers in and now he left the guard house and Tim stole his gun. How does Gaitok not see that Mook only views him as a friend? He asked her to marry him and she laughed and said "we haven't even been on a date". So his response is that "oh we should go on a date". So incredibly dense. Why doesn't Mook just tell him that she isn't interested? The three friends were interesting for Jaclyn's horrified realisation that Valentin thinks they are old and would fit in with the "old" crowd. This plus the fact that her 10 years younger husband might be cheating on her must be tough, she's becoming an "aging TV star". We saw Patrick Schwarzenegger in the first episode when he went to the bathroom in the room he shares with Lochlan. I think Sam Nivola is thinking he is next. I don't understand this either. He lives in Thailand, he literally could go anywhere to eat but he continues to choose to go to the White Lotus. His girlfriend made friends with Chelsea but he could tell her to go to the pool alone. If they want to meet for dinner, they could pick a different restaurant. He could easily call the WL and inquire about Belinda and ask how long she will be working there and find out that she's only on an exchange program for a month, or whatever. And avoid the place until she leaves. I guess anything could be possible on this show, but Rick doesn't look remotely half-Asian. Unless Sritala isn't even Asian and its all makeup.

As expected, Green tribe was completely hapless. It seemed obvious that Cedrek lost the challenge. Good that he owned up to it. I echo the comment above that it's interesting that he can be a surgeon but be so awful with his hands and balance. I wasn't that invested in Kevin so losing him, oh well. But I am invested in getting rid of Sai, who was even more insufferable than she was in the first episode. This tribe is doomed. They will continue to lose every challenge, one or two of them will make it to the swap if there is one or the merge. Star isn't a great player, but I do think she was astute enough to recognise that Eva wants her out. Eva clearly thinks that Star is the weak link, and Star herself said she wasn't physical so not helpful in the physical challenges or brainy so not helpful with puzzles. I would have sat Star as well, but I think Eva was particularly aggressive in immediately suggesting that Star sit out. She could have waited to see if anyone volunteered. I dislike the "New Era" where people think that they HAVE to make a move. Justin is talking about how Kevin is dangerous and won't be good to keep around in the long term. But he really thought about trying to survive the next challenge. The vote should clearly have been between Mary and Sai. The other weird thing is that Cedrek told Sai to play her idol, back when everyone was blindsiding Sai. But then he never went back to her to update her once Justin decided to take out Kevin. If he did tell her, then why did she play her idol? I'm unclear as to why Sai voted for Kevin and not Mary. I can see the RuPaul resemblance but I really think he looks like Randy Jackson right after Randy had bariatric surgery. He looked overly gaunt and almost sickly thin. Star's was definitely the most difficult but still not that hard. Match up the partial animal and a cutout will reveal a letter. Orange tribe's would have been slightly more difficult had they already not unwound all the ropes to reveal the letters not knowing what they were. I think the clue said something about unwinding tails (rope) or something like that. Star and the Guyana guy were both dumb for involving so many people. Star literally told every other person except for Eva, who promptly got filled in by someone else. Why were people freaking out so much about David's four nipples? He said he had two removed. I wonder if they were actual full blown nips like his regular two. Because I thought it is not uncommon for people to have vestigial nipples. I have a third and fourth myself, they don't look like full nips, mine don't have the pointy parts, they look almost like a mole or a smudge or a scar. Like a smudgy vaguely oval shape with maybe a dot which would have been the nip.

I don't think Henry is jealous of Ruth's acting, in fact I think he is quite proud to be married to her. He just didn't like that some actor was going to be kissing her and being married to her. He thought that if anyone needed to be kissing her and married to her in the movie, why not him? This episode was refreshing because of a lack of Effie. Effie has gone from bit player to being overexposed. I know the show benefits from having a lead actress, but it's particularly jarring to have it be Effie because her main connection to the station house was through George. And as I said above, it's irritating that they don't even have her mention him, and he is her husband. She acts like he doesn't exist anymore. I'd rather have Margaret or Violet featured more. Whatever happened to Violet's engagement and her fiance? After her husband from America came to claim her back, I thought the fiance stood by her. But nothing has been said and we haven't seen him since. The show made it seem like the acting troupe was moving to Stratford to start the theater company there and perform Shakespeare. But the famous Stratford Shakespeare Festival wasn't started until the 1950s.

I thought both Bat and Space Ranger were terrible and the song choices were terrible. The Espresso song was boring and repetitive, seemingly just the same verse repeated over and over. Bad Blood is a terrible song too, and his rendition was even worse, he was basically just speaking/singing. I'm confused as to why the panel loved Space Ranger so much. I too had no idea who Bat is, but I don't watch shows like that.

I enjoyed the Shakespeare episode, apart from the bit about the magical beard. Murdoch Mysteries is supposed to be a show rooted in scientific fact and invention. So the existence of this paranormal item seems out of place. I don't think we know exactly where he is currently. Last season his absence was explained by saying he was tracking down his father in Saskatchewan or Alberta or Manitoba, I forget which. This season, after the Mystery of Edwin Drood episode, he said he wanted to go on a retreat so he could concentrate on his writing. Which, really? Effie just tolerates him being gone indefinitely? I think each season of Murdoch Mysteries is supposed to represent one year of time, so I would surmise he's been gone for months. And they never even mention him. Effie has become the show's lead actress and is on frequently and never even mentions talking to him. Annoying for sure. As for Choi and Roberts, I tend to agree. Random citizens on the show have commented about how unusual it is to have Choi being in charge, so they are at least acknowledging it. I believe not only is he of Asian heritage, but he is American. How is it that an American can rise to be Inspector in Canada's largest city?

Way too much Em's mom. I get that she is in town for the triathlon and wants to see Em, but why do we the viewers have to see it? She is super clingy. It's natural that a mom wants to see her child, but these two have had issues, so maybe let Em do the inviting instead of forcing herself on her? Em took the whole day off to be with her, but that wasn't enough for mom. She wanted dinner, then breakfast, then invited her boyfriend and his teen son to dinner without even asking first. Ugh. I hope the triathlon is next week so this woman can leave town. The actress and the character are super irritating. The rescues were well done this week. The cave rescue was exciting and once again I loved the underwater photography. The recovery of the body of the spear fisherman was sad, but realistic, and showed a lot of strength of character from Laka. Good to understand a little about why Will is the way he is. The stars of the episode once again to me were Hina and Kainalu. I like these two, now we are going to see Hina get jealous of her good friend Rosie even though she practically shoved Kainalu into Rosie's arms. Zero of the episode once again is Sonny. Of course it wasn't going to end well when he showed up to Ocean's school to demand that she go to college. Why couldn't this conversation have been done at home? And how many times do we need to see Sonny as the stern strict parent? It's beyond old. Yes, those two friends are the ones we have seen before. The woman is his ex-girlfriend. She invited Kainalu to some kind of engagement party (I think) and he brought along Hina, who said she refused to dress up. The ex's fiance also went to school with them, and Kainalu seems to have thought he was a loser back then and now. Hina told them off and stole a bottle of booze when she walked out. I really don't like the fiance, he seems like every rich guy who thinks he is cool and popular because he is rich, but in actuality is a complete tool. I'm glad Kainalu and Rosie won the game and now this guy at least is following through on his word and will invest in Kainalu's idea. Kainalu has super rich friends and his family is super rich themselves. That school that Hina always mentions, Punahou, I believe is an elite private school in Hawaii. I think it was mentioned on Hawaii Five-0 as well. Kainalu probably does have a trust fund or access to his family's money, but asking for money from his dad comes with a price since his dad essentially cut him off until he stops being a lifeguard. I thought his dad came around a little in the episode when Kainalu almost died and when he realised how his son was saving lives, but apparently not yet. Kainalu is too proud to beg for money and won't give up his job. This episode we met Laka's tutu, who is very much alive. I'm wondering when we are going to see Kainalu's mom or Hina's dad, if ever.

I enjoyed this episode, which generated more open questions. Are we supposed to believe that Alice's husband killed her dog? In the flashforward scenes, the cop who is investigating the murder hooks up with Birdie and he promises not to let anyone discover the evidence. He and his wife adopted Birdie's son. But is he the biological father as well? She seems to have had a pre-existing relationship with him.

I know that Oscar obviously isn't awarded on sentiment, but it seems clear that sentiment sometimes comes into play. Based on performance with some sentiment thrown in, I wish the Oscars had gone to Ralph Fiennes, Demi Moore, Edward Norton, and Isabella Rossellini. I must be getting old, because I would have loved to have seen these longtime veterans get recognised. Especially Fiennes and Norton, they are so overdue for an Oscar.

What happened to Meg Ryan? If they hadn’t identified her, I wouldn’t have known who she was? Is she still acting? I feel like I haven’t seen her in anything in years. I’ve seen the recent commercial and she still didn’t look the same tonight as the person in that commercial. It seems these days she is better known as Jack Quaid’s mom. Also, I missed the introduction of Daryl Hannah. Haven’t seen her in years either. When I walked in the room, I thought it was Patricia Arquette.

I’m so sad for Demi.

I was rooting for Ralph Fiennes, I can’t stand Adrian Brody. “I will be brief, I’ve been here before, I won’t be egregious”. And then proceeds to stammer and pause and be egregious. Exactly. He’s not that old, and for male actors, being 50+ doesn’t have the same issues as a woman.

I wish they had spent more time on two time Oscar winner and legend, Dame Maggie Smith. I know they can’t include everyone, but they left out some notable actors in favor of people that most have never heard of. Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet) and Martin Mull (Clue) deserved to be included.

Green tribe is doomed. They don’t have a single person that is physically strong. Red tribe has David the stuntman. Purple tribe has the firefighter and Shahin. Green has nobody. They have Kevin who admitted he is small and weak, the surgeon who almost looks ill, like Randy Jackson post-bariatric surgery, and a guy that doesn’t look strong. Then they also have a small Asian woman and Sai who doesn’t look strong. The producers should have swapped Shahin and Kevin. Sai is super irritating. I wish they had blindsided her and gotten her and her idol out.

Wrong thread

Out of the three groups of contestants, it is ironic that the professional chefs seemed to have the most misses. In the middle floor, four of them had dishes that were seriously bad. Beatrice presented pasta, since she dropped her pan on the floor. She only got saved because two others were even worse. Beatrice and her red eyeshadow and her "I've been cooking since I was 13" is seriously annoying. But I agree with the above comment that Iman is even more annoying. I was calling Iman "Very very poor man's Salma Hayek" the entire night. Wish she had been eliminated. Ryan and Austin look like they could be brothers, or maybe it's just the same wavy hairstyle. Good thing Austin has a beard otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Of this group, I like Austin and Brandon the best. It's interesting that in the first episode, when all 24 contestants stood in the room, I think the only professional chef who got a talking head or got named (I can't remember which) was Beatrice. I hope this doesn't mean she goes far in the competition. I find her more irritating than Teeny, and I loathed Teeny.

There was never a full explanation, I think. I think Watts started with bringing one plant or a few plants and might have said something about liking plants. In the episode there were strange scenes of Choi stealing the plants for his own office. There was no explanation of why he was doing so and there was no scene of Watts asking what was happening to his plants. Since then, the number of plants have increased, but we haven't seen Choi stealing any more of them. And nobody talks about them.