blackwing

Judi Dench's Oscar is widely considered by many to have been a make up award for losing Best Actress (Mrs. Brown) to Helen Hunt the year before. Although a veteran of British stage, I don't think Judi was that well known to worldwide audiences at the time. She was only beginning to achieve worldwide recognition because she had appeared as M in "GoldenEye" recently. But her movie wasn't that popular. Helen Hunt was in a very popular movie with Jack Nicholson and was well known because of her starring role on "Mad About You". I thought DaVine was good but I don't know if I would call it Oscar winning. Personally I would have given the award to Emily Blunt. Al Pacino was supposed to present with the luminous Michelle Pfeiffer. They had touted a Scarface reunion weeks ago. But I think she had some kind of family emergency and had to bail.

Oliver assumed James was his child and that's why he loved him and treated Frederick so poorly. I should note that it wasn't 100% confirmed that James isn't his son. John Belassis basically told Frederick and James that Susan slept around a lot and that he wouldn't be surprised if James was the product of another affair. Or something like that. Then later, Frederick and James were talking, and the subject came up. James said something about how he recalls there was a footman (or groundskeeper or something, but definitely a servant) was always hanging around their mother. So James seemed to assume and accept that he isn't Oliver's son either. Without DNA testing or any servants still alive who could confirm, it can't be said conclusively, but both Trenchard sons seemed to agree that it was the most likely explanation.

For as much as I've been hating on this series, I actually enjoyed this episode. It seemed like classic Fellowes, even though Fellowes seems to have had little to do with this series. After they surprise re-introduced John Bellasis, I was having some trouble with the familial relationships, so I sketched out the trees. The elder Trenchards were parents to Oliver and Sophia. The elder Bellasis / Brockenhursts were parents to Edmund and Stephen. Edmund and Sophia got together and she got pregnant. He died in the war. She gave birth to a son and then died. The son became Charles Pope and it was revealed at the end of the original series that Edmund and Sophia had gotten married before he died, and thus Charles Pope was legitimate. Oliver and Susan were married. Susan had an affair with John Bellasis, son of Stephen and who always assumed he was going to be Earl of Brockenhurt. That affair resulted in Frederick. At some point, elder Trenchard was made some kind of lord (I don't think they ever revealed the actual title). Frederick inherited that title. Oliver and Susan had a child James. It was revealed in this episode that James isn't a Trenchard either, his biological father was one of the groundskeepers or something like that. When learning that John Bellasis is Frederick's biological father, James said "he's the one that tried to kill our cousin". That is a clear reference to Charles Pope. I really wish they had discussed him more. Presumably he is the current Earl of Brockenhurst. Why couldn't we have had a cameo from him? I think it seemed obvious that Clara didn't care about money at all, if she did then she never would have left him in the first place. Her chief concern was that after she left Frederick that he would cut off the allowance that he was giving her sister and mother. She didn't care about money for herself. My question is that house in Eaton Square must have cost a ton to maintain. If Frederick lost all his money to the Marquise, how was he affording it? He didn't seem to have any other sources of income. The only assets they had were the house in Eaton Square and a house in Glanville. It appears that he dismissed all the servants except for Enright and Fletcher. What happened to Mrs. Enright? She must have left Enright after he got fired. The maid who was learning how to read and the footman who stole wine also must have been let go. Frederick and James did seem to have contact with Charles Pope/Bellasis so I wonder if Frederick couldn't have asked him for financial assistance or a loan. Would have been nice to have gotten a line that Charles helped him out. After Frederick sold the Eaton Square house they must have had more money, but I'm wondering how he managed to live without any source of income for several months. James commented that he inherited some money from John Bellasis but gave it all to the church. We didn't have to see the creepy doctor. I assume that Frederick's servant was killed by the Marquise's servant, so no need to see or mention him again. The only plotline that didn't really get resolved was James being gay. He told Emily he is "married to God" and introduced her to a potential suitor, so I guess being the 1880s (?) his secret is probably never going to be openly revealed. The last scene seemed to me to be a series finale. If this show somehow comes back for a second season, I vow not to watch unless some major changes are made, starting with the writing staff.

Best bits of the night: John Cena. I see on social media a whole bunch of people saying all they see is a floating envelope, because of his "You can't see me" catchphrase. Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling. They were so natural and funny playing off each other. Ryan Gosling singing. I don't even like him and I was entertained. Ahhnold and Danny DeVito. Loved the reunion, loved them noticing Michael Keaton, loved Keaton's look. The last shot of the dog peeing on Matt Damon's star on the Walk of Fame. Not sure if that was CGI or not, but it was funny. There's not much I like about Jimmy Kimmel, but his long-running fake rivalry with Matt Damon never gets old. Worst bits: In Memoriam. Awful, nobody wants to see dancers or singers. It's truly terrible how a whole bunch of people got relegated to tiny names on the screen. I'm assuming this was in response to the usual "I can't believe you omitted XYZ" but somehow this makes it seem worse. Not only did you get omitted from the portion with pictures, but you were an afterthought that nobody could read. Al Pacino. Was he drunk? Was it just old age? Reminded me so much of Elizabeth Taylor and "GLADIATOR!!!!!" The new way of introducing the acting nominations. I don't need to hear actors tongue bathing other actors. I get that this is a way to get more of Hollywood elite/history on stage. But I would rather see clips of the actual performances. Billie Eilish and Finneas performing "What Was I Made For". I truly don't understand this song's popularity. I get that it's a "message" song and the message is good. But as a song in and of itself, it's so boring and practically tuneless. I can't believe how much of the audience was giving a standing ovation and some seemed genuinely emotional.

I don't watch Bridgerton so I don't know who you are talking about. But the Sanditon guy, Theo James? Has a much bigger career than Stuart Martin ever will have. His really big break was in the Divergent movies. He's also starred in the cancelled "Time Traveler's Wife" and was Emmy nominated for his role in "The White Lotus" Season 2. I get why these British actors always seem to jump around, but I feel like the seasons are so short, why can't they juggle multiple commitments? Or wait until one is done? How long does it take to film a season that only has 6 episodes?

I can't stand Lauren. I can't stand her voice, I can't stand her "aw shucks ahm just a home cook and ahm gonna do what ahm gonna do". I feel so cheated because I feel like she had about 1/3 of the confessionals so I was sure she was going to go home. And then her disgusting sounding savory churro was saved by stupid Zack. I was surprised none of the mentors commented that her protein (sausage) was supposed to be the star and she treated it like a garnish for her disgusting churro. I really hope she goes home next. I thought the moving platform was a good twist, but it benefitted the people in the basement the most because it had to pause at the bottom before going back up. The basement people didn't get two swipes in a run, they just got one double length swipe, which seemed easier to deal with. Alexandra was the right choice to go to elimination and she was the right choice to go home. They said they wanted next level wings and she did about as basic and ordinary a wing as you can get. Still not liking Jordan and I dislike how his "let's go baaaabeee" seems to have permeated to others, including Nyesha. Ugh. I wish the editors would do a better job and not telegraph the elimination so easily. It was obvious that Jordan got lots of confessionals during the cookoff, and it was obvious he was making these comments after the fact and walking the viewer through his thought process. He seemed far too composed and calm. Meanwhile, I think Alexandra only got one confessional which was clearly taped before the cookoff because all she said was she understands why she is in the elimination. Then after she gets cut we get a confessional from her taped after the cut and she's clearly on the verge of tears, so that's why we didn't get any talking about her cooking process shown as she was doing it.

So disappointing... I actually thought that Bradley was going to be forced to send Thomas to prison for some time. Not surprised at all that this is his way of trying to put the issue to rest so viewers will stop talking about it. That and the "brain tumor". So Sugar presumably still has Sheila's face in prison. Whatever happened with Sheila getting plastic surgery to look like Phyllis? I forget the show explanation but the real explanation was to try and get an Emmy for Michelle Stafford, who I loathe. I think when we next saw Sheila she was back to looking like Sheila and IIRC there was absolutely no reference or explanation as to what happened to her having Phyllis' face. Just pretended like it never happened. Bradley seems to think that RJ is the new Don Diamont when he was in his prime. Always making RJ shirtless. Does he think that RJ looks good? I think he looks bloated and overinflated. Absolutely. This isn't the first time that Liam waltzes into someone's office and lectures them when he has absolutely no business being there in the first place. The way he called Finn "John", the superior attitude, the "I'm going to be with your wife since you won't". STFU Liam. I would have invited him to leave before he even opened his mouth, and then called security. They were at the hospital, right? What kind of hospital allows non-employees to just walk around all over and enter private areas without authorization? Hear hear! I hate that she never faced any consequences from this. I hate that they killed Aly just to prop up Steffy. I hate that they killed both Phoebe and Aly and got rid of Ivy. Why get rid of so much of the younger Forrester generation? So we can be subjected to all Steffy, all the time? Steffy killed Aly. Taylor killed Darla. Neither faced any real legal consequences. Like mother like daughter.

I like Rita Ora. Most in the U.S. won't know her for her singing. I know her best as Jamie Dornan's sister in the "50 Shades" movies. I like that she has legit and competent musical knowledge. I did miss Nicole, though. I wish that Nick had at least acknowledged that Nicole had other commitments (on the West End or Broadway, I forget which) but we hope to see her again in the future. When Nicole is available again, I would love if they dumped Ken or possibly Jenny and kept Rita. Goldfish is amazing. I think she's far better than the rest of them. I don't think Starfish or Lovebird were that great. They were ok by karaoke standards but pail in comparison to actual singers. I thought Kevin Hart was hilarious. He was instantly recognisable and he was hilariously bad. I'm assuming he knew he couldn't sing and the show knew he couldn't sing and this was just a freebie boot for the others like Kermit the Frog was. If Lovebird is a football player associated with The Bachelor that finally found love, I could see it being Jesse Palmer. Or maybe the one that was secretly gay.

It seems odd in today's age to quit a job without something else lined up. Stuart Martin is a good actor, but it's not like he's a name actor. I only know him from "Jamestown" and the season of "Medici" that starred Richard Madden. I know he was also on the last season of "Crossing Lines". Apart from that, he seems mostly unknown. I wonder if he's got a bigger show lined up. I like him and I liked the Duke character well enough, although I was getting annoyed with the Moonlighting-esque "I love you, I hate you, will we, won't we" banter and antics. I think this show will survive just fine without him. I like the Patrick Nash character. He's a much better professional partner for Eliza than William. No doubt they are going to have some "will they or won't they" between Eliza and Patrick too, but depending on how it plays out, maybe it won't be so irritating. I just hope that we don't see Eliza constantly pining for William. I'm glad that Nash was mentioned in the announcement. I hope he gets out of his legal troubles quickly. And then he joins Eliza's agency.

Agree that this episode looked great. The Inception-like chase where she chases her younger self into different rooms and winds up sideways. But it just took a ridiculously long time to get there. I wonder the same thing. Celia and/or her husband was working at Collier Mills. I think her husband must have died from that toxic blue chemical. Did she threaten to sue them and they gave her all this money. Did she then use that money as a starting point to amass her fortune? Clearly the Collier parents would be aware of this. I'm wondering if Anna knows. She was a kid when it happened but that's not to say that she couldn't have learned about it along the way. Eleanor probably knows and maybe that's why she targeted Anna romantically in the first place.

I'm tired of this show too. I would not at all be surprised if the storylines don't get wrapped up next week. I can easily see this hack writer assuming that the show will get a second season and setting up more plots. The Stupid Sister was eavesdropping so she knows that Frederick is not the son of Oliver Trenchard and that James is the rightful Lord Trenchard. I'm sure she will take it upon herself to restore the title to James. She's already dreaming of being Lady Trenchard and stuffing that into Clara's face. James would feel pressure to marry and produce an heir. It would be a sham marriage, Stupid Sister would probably go and get herself impregnated (probably by Creepy Doctor) but then Clara or Davidson would find out. Even if this show somehow gets renewed for a second season, I most certainly hope that I would not return. It's hard to enjoy a show when so many of the characters are so unlikeable.

I get that... but has there been any progress made since Xander made his allegations? Last I saw, it seemed Finn was thinking it was possible. Hope believes Thomas. Is that it? Has it been dropped again?

March 24 is preempted because of March Madness, I would think. First round games.

I enjoyed this episode, except for the part about the police captain saying Dante can't work with Robyn. Why not? Why do we have to have a police captain at all? Who was the police captain in the first two seasons, did we even have one? I just recall this lady showing up last season and causing issues. In the early seasons, Chris Noth's character pulled CIA strings to faciliate things. Why can't we at least get some strings pulled anymore? It's kind of implausible that captain tells Dante not to work with Robyn, Robyn goes to warehouse and shoots and presumably kills people, then she had called police and they show up and arrest everyone. How is Dante going to explain that to Captain? "Oh we got an anonymous tip." I suspect that Dante just doesn't mention Robyn (and Mel) in any of the reports and attributes the bad guy deaths to his own force? There were like 20 cops in that squad. Even if told not to say anything about Robyn, cops talk. They'll be talking to each other at the gym and in the locker room and in the break room. Sooner or later things will get back to Captain. Why can't the District Attorney just tell the Captain to back off and leave Robyn alone? I just don't think we need another extraneous hard-ass character causing issues for her. I was confused about all of this too. They're making him out to be like Daredevil with heightened senses, but he seemed awfully confident and ambulatory. He knew exactly where he was going at all times. How? He lives in the tunnels, he survives by stealing money and buying food. Meanwhile he sends his disability checks to his ungrateful daughter who takes the money but still hates him. It's sad that he refused offers of help from Robyn and Mel. I recognised the guy who played the Irish mob boss as Scott William Winters, brother of Dean, from "Oz". Still has the straggly blond hair and he seemed like he was trying to be a Donal Logue-light in this role.

I think one of the issues is that the show producers typecast the Asian female contestant. Very rarely is the Asian female on this show thought of as a physical threat or a challenge beast. They're almost always small and thin and physically weak, but smart. Every season I'm always thinking "is there an Asian female this season? I bet she gets put into the "puzzle solver" role. And sure enough, she does. This season we have Jess, who said herself that she is the smallest person there. And of course she did both puzzles. When you cast year after year of physically weak Asian women, then it's no surprise that the Asian female is always at risk to be the early boot. It's safe. "Oh we lost the challenge. Gotta keep the tribe strong. Let's boot out the weak Asian woman. She's a liability." I think back to that season where we somehow got three Asian women on the same season! But they were three of the first four boots! The third one was actually proud of being the "last Asian standing", and then she went home as the fourth boot. The only example of a physically strong Asian female contestant in recent seasons that I can think of is the woman Bi from the David vs. Goliath Nick Wilson season. She was physically strong, unfortunately, she had to quit because she got injured.

I enjoyed this episode. It was great seeing Lucy and Kate working together. Lucy wasn't that annoying to me, although I wish they could have said what she was recently doing. I like the continuity on the show, at the end, Jesse was recounting his story with Gracie and the pirates/terrorists, so I don't see why Lucy couldn't have just asked about the case she missed last week when she was off visiting her grandma on the mainland. It was nice to see Commander Chase, as kooky as ever. I really liked that Sam got involved in the field and led the Bravo squad. Yep, I don't care what he is up to either. I like LL Cool J and I'm glad he landed onto this show. I hope he stays permanently and not just as "special guest star". Click on the NCIS:Hawaii near the top of this page. (In the line that says: "Home > Drama > NCIS > NCIS: Hawaii > S03.E04: Dead on Arrival" That takes you to the NCIS: Hawaii page, you will see a listing of all the topics. At the top right will be a box that says "Following" with a checkmark. Click on the checkmark to pull up the menu options to follow the show. At the bottom left there will be an "Unfollow" link.

You acknowledged that "those types of comments", i.e. racist and hateful comments, were posted by trolls who read these comments on other sites and brought them over here. Now you're saying the ones making those comments were pro-Meghan? Someone who is pro-Meghan would not be posting racist comments. The administration was very clear in their directive that the forums were being shut down because they had devolved into a toxic culture of hate. I stand by my statement that the people who made the hateful and racist comments know exactly who they are. They may not believe that their comments were hateful and racist, but it seems clear that the adminsitration did. That's why the Royals forums are gone.

Ugh. The woman who writes this show should be banned from ever writing any TV show ever again. This episode was just terrible. It's like she thought "only two episodes left, let's bring some of these plots to a screeching halt". When did Ross become a central character on this show? I couldn't care less about him. So he found out that Frederick was scammed by French lady, as he predicted. So his response was to take as much money as he could and run? Why? Looks like he is going to be killed by French servant so whatever. I despise the creepy doctor but what a weird ending to his story. I would have liked to have seen Clara dump him outright, but instead we need the excuse that he was Nell's old boyfriend. I really hope she doesn't go running back to him in the final episode. Don't really understand who was passing notes to who. The wife caught the thieving footman so he gave her info about the stupid butler. The stupid butler was writing to the French lady and facilitated her scam of Frederick and was using the maid who can't read to do so? The wife intercepted the note but didn't say anything? Whatever, and who cares. I still hate the sister, still making everything about herself. The way she just gazes into James' eyes. I really want a scene where he tells her his secret and then she expires from a broken heart. So now what? Clara and Davidson are in some strange city (Hull?) and bound for parts unknown. I hope Ross gave them some money before he was killed. I wish I could have told myself a few weeks ago to skip this series entirely. The only character I now find truly likeable is Davidson.

Thank you for acknowledging that there were trolls in the Royals thread. Thanks for acknowledging that trolls posted racist and hateful comments in an effort to push buttons and bait others into responding. This kind of behaviour happened all the time, on a daily basis, and is what created the toxic environment of hate that was referenced by site administration in the announcement of the Royals forum closure. This kind of behaviour is exactly why the Royals forum was closed. The people who made these kinds of comments know who they are, and it's nice to see that there is acknowledgement that this behaviour existed.

The previous few seasons had the choices between the muscle task and the brain task for the two losing tribes to earn their flint. The only difference this time was that both challenges would be used because only one tribe could do each. I don't recall any tribes ever failing the muscle task. There's definitely been times when both tribes picked the brain task. The brain task has never been this hard but I guess I do a lot of word searches and GAMES Magazine has taught me that there is frequently a hidden phrase formed by the leftover letters. I'm curious as to how much time they had to solve that puzzle because I didn't think it was that hard. The two guys were stupid for just randomly trying numbers that appeared in the puzzle, with no rhyme or reason as to order. One guy is a Harvard lawyer, you'd think he'd try and figure out if there was some other component to it, because no way would "try random numbers" be the solution.

I have no idea what to think because all the media articles have Kimberlin Brown saying goodbye to Sheila and talking about how she'd played the role for 35 years. I have a hard time believing the show would kill off its iconic villain, especially when it sounds like the actress would have been happy to have played her forever. The main purpose of this seems to be to break up Steffy and Finn so Steffy can once again run back to Liam and marry him for fifth or eighth time. I don't think I've been following that closely... what happened with Xander accusing Thomas of murdering Emma? Did that just get dropped? Why wouldn't the police investigate further?

Airing on Monday, March 4, 2024

I tend to dislike the self-appointed "call me by my last name" contestants instantly. I have to wonder if people address him as Jelinsky in real life or if he uses his actual first name David. Q wrote "DJ" on the vote so maybe he actually calls himself DJ? I do wonder if there were restrictions against trying to plug the holes. I would have used my shirt. If there was a restriction, then I wish the camera people could have prompted them to say something to the effect. "This challenge is difficult. We're not allowed to plug the holes with our shirts or rocks , so there's no way to stop the water from leaking." Without them saying anything like this, it makes them look like they didn't try hard enough to think outside the box. I don't agree, because I would think that the game designers wouldn't purposely design a challenge that is impossible. There could have been other ways to get it done. Was there a restriction against placing one bucket inside the other? How about finding seaweed or long leaves to line the bucket (if they couldn't use their shirts)? Those urns were enormous and even without the holes, they would have taken a long time to fill. They had 2 hours and 45 minutes left. They could have contemplated better ways to do it. That's a lot of time to give up. I hated that he destroyed the hourglass. Why? That hourglass could have been reused in future seasons. Now someone has to buy or make a new one. Last season there was one contestant that accidentally broke one element of the challenge and he was instantly disqualified from the challenge. Too bad Jeff didn't apply a penalty to Jelinsky. I think a good penalty would have been that he would have to stay on that beach picking up all the pieces and be isolated and not able to talk to anyone until the immunity challenge. I'm thrilled that we don't have to hear Jeffy saying "Jelinsky" all the time. I agree with you that Jeffy loves to fantasize about this type of guy on the show and he particularly loves the "last name" guys like Culpepper. As far as Soda and Q, I rhink perhaps maybe Soda's parents could be originally from another country, her name is something longer and she has abbreviated it to something easier to say? I assume that Q has an actual first name like Quentin or Quincy and he prefers to be called Q. I probably would too. I don't understand why Q talked first at Tribal and said that "we" quit the challenge. It was Jelinsky's idea, during the challenge, Q expressed skepticism and said he didn't want to quit, then we see Jelinsky breaking the hourglass. Somehow when they get to tribal, Q seemed to willingly share responsibility? Hell no, I would have described Jelinsky impulsively breaking the hourglass. I think there must have been more said at tribal and Jelinsky wrote his own ticket home. Before tribal, the red haired girl and Tiffany were adamant in keeping Jelinsky and their four person alliance. Even during tribal, Red hair said they needed his strength for the future. Then somehow it became a unanimous vote. He must have had more diarrhea of the mouth and that convinced the two women to change their minds. He volunteered for the journey and he volunteered for both puzzles. Why? He wasn't that great at the first puzzle and then he did it again? I couldn't believe the tribe was blaming Jess for her puzzle performance in the immunity challenge or that he was lumping her in with him as failing. They didn't lose the immunity because of the puzzle. They lost because they couldn't get the gecko over quickly enough. From what I saw, Jess did all the work on the puzzle, I was surprised she didn't advocate for herself more. Even Jeff commented that Jelinsky was just looking at Jess and handing her a piece. I was annoyed at Jess and was convinced she was going home. Why can't Survivor cast actual competent Asian females? Sometimes we get good ones like Erica who won a few seasons ago. But too often, we get these cannon fodder early boots. Why? Why would the casting department cast someone who can't stop talking about her ADHD and openly admits at tribal that she is so tired she can't speak and think? It seems for sure she is going to be the next boot from that tribe.

I don't think it's productive to re-open debate, but there were racist comments posted quite often, including comments such as "she's not black enough to be considered black" or that "her hair isn't black enough".or "her kids look white so if she's really black like she says she is then those kids must not be hers". The community manager who was in charge ot the Royals forums was fired. The entire Royals forums was removed from this site. The entire site has been overhauled with new initiatives and measures to promote a healthy culture of discussion. This was not done just because a few people had a different opinion. If you didn't find the threads to be toxic and you think the site was overreacting, I suggest that you could reach out to Jed, the site publisher, to get a more detailed explanation.

The announcement regarding the closure of the Royals forums very clearly indicates that they were being closed because those threads had become a toxic environment of hate. Much of the hate was racist in nature Certain posters would repeatedly ramp up their rhetoric and post hateful and often racist content on a daily basis. I'm not surprised that the site ownership decided that was something that they didn't want to support.