Kathira

I thought about that. Is there a caretaker or groundskeeper? The owner said his wife was cleaning up the place, but possibly they have someone to set up and clean up after parties, since they apparently rent it out on the regular as an event space. You'd think they would have mentioned that by now if there was someone there to open and close the site. Or is it just the typical British disregard of the "staff?"

Southern England, but yeah, it does seem like some kind of alternate universe. I'm just waiting for the Sea Devils to attack. Add Sarah Parish and Olivia Colman to the list of cross-overs. They both had guest roles on DW over the years. I think the real problem is that the acting community in England is relatively small and DW has been going on for years, with a large and diverse guest cast from week to week, so eventually just about everyone has been in it.

I agree with those who are saying that the paroled rapist is a red herring. Super creepy and gross, but a red herring. His wife did seem very passive, but there's plenty of women who are willingly or unwillingly dominated by that kind of guy. She could even have met him while he was in prison, which is also not uncommon. I wasn't sure whether he was recently released or he just moved into the area. I have to put on the subtitles. I think Trish's boss (Lenny Henry - I think his character's name is Ed) is in unrequited love with her. That's why he was fighting with Jim - he wants Jim to leave her alone. Cath also mentioned that he's kind of awkward socially and that he spent a lot of time talking to her at the party. He may have also sent her the flowers, not realizing how creepy that came off. It'll be interesting to find out exactly where the other rape happened.

I actually like the non-tattoo flash challenges. I like the quick tattoo ones, too, but overall, I love to see the creativity and artistry that some of them can come up with even in the most difficult media. I think testing general artistic ability as well as the ability to plan a large piece and execute it is a valid part of being Ink Master.

I wondered if it was going to be a short season with only 9 shops, but I'm not sure how I feel about new shops coming in as they go along. They did that with another season, where the ones who came in were previous contestants, and I ended up feeling like it wasn't really fair to the ones who had to tattoo every week from the beginning. I like the comic book sci-fi guys and hope they do well. Otherwise, Black Anchor, Unkindness and Artistic Skin seeem like the teams to beat. The Tri-Cities team really seemed clueless - they didn't realize that they would have to work together? On a season where you're competing as a team? Really? And their snake was bad.

While I liked Sherlock telling Watson how important she is to him, the rest of the episode was kind of meh somehow. Actually, this whole season has been kind of meh. I don't know whether it's Shinwell sucking the energy out, but this has definitely been a relatively low-key season. Neither Sherlock nor Watson seem that engaged. Last season with Papa Holmes at least had some tension and energy around that mystery.

My station has gone right to the news, too, after airing Madam Secretary in Elementary's timeslot. It's no wonder the ratings have been poor this season. The show has been pushed back or pre-empted more than it's been on.

You're right, thanks. I got mixed up because of Derrick Barry, who was a Britney impersonator. Overall, I don't see anyone this season who's the equal of Kim Chi or Bob, but we'll see.

One thing I really liked about it was that they made sure that there was no overlap on the Gaga outfits. The producers must have coordinated that to avoid what happened when they did Britney Spears and ended up with most of them wearing her kimono look. I loved how serious Gaga was about all her looks and about the art of drag.

Did people watch Cosplay Melee? I thought it was a lot of fun and Xavier was the clear winner. His costume and make-up were what they call "camera-ready" on Face Off. Also nice to see an African American nerd. There's plenty out there, in my experience, but they tend to be underrepresented in the stereotype.

My recording cut off before the end, but Brian and Jon are OK. I knew Tamara wouldn't make it, but I was kind of hoping for Martin. I really liked him.

Was that a reappearance of Joan's long black coat with the buttons? It's truly gorgeous and emphasizes her slim figure. I noticed that she didn't even have to unbutton it when she sat down. Joan's clothes are almosy always highly covetable, but the coat porn on this show is out of this world.

Yes, her wedding was hugely influential stylistically. The white dress, the flowers and simple veil, the young girls as bridesmaids, and especially the gorgeous white cake. Just about everything that we think of as wedding traditions were started by Victoria. Even having it in the morning, followed by a brunch was new, rather than the traditional evening ceremony, followed by the "bedding." She was what we would consider today to be a "style icon" of the highest order.

Q: "Is there a reason you have a totem pole in your bathroom?" A: "Too big for the closet." Oops, cross-posted with iMonrey. Sorry. I also liked Sherlock's throw-away mention of a case involving a Belgian, the Dalai Lama and a wheel of very expensive cheese. LOL I really loved Sherlock and Bell in this episode. Bell was just the right combination of smart, helpful and skeptical. A fun, twisty case, with good performances all around. And I'm sure Sherlock knew, even if Watson didn't, why Everyone wanted to watch her shave Sherlock's head. It was very intimate and hella sexy.

The whole episode just felt very unresolved. Not only was there no explanation of how the body was disposed of, but I find it hard to believe that any prosecutor would charge poor old Hal Holbrook with murder. Any decent lawyer could easily get him off on self-defense and/or lack of intent (involuntary manslaughter?). He might get probation at the most. I agree, there must have been a cut scene where they said the orderly cleaned up the murder site and disposed of the body. He might be charged with obstructing justice or improper disposal of human remains, I guess, but that's about it. I know this show isn't Law and Order, but I often find the lack of follow-up on how the guilty person would be prosecuted to be frustrating, especially in cases where the "murder" seems to have been more or less an accident. Are the federal prisons really full of people who improperly dispose of the bodies of people they killed accidentally? What could have been a fun case, with classic actors like Ed Asner and Hal Holbrook ended up being kind of a throw-away. If they don't care any more, why should we?

Very nice. What strikes me is that in these pictures, Kelly doesn't look anywhere near as Amazonian as she did standing next to Gian in the finale. It's either a trick of perspective, or Gian is really short. (Or both.)

Thanks for the link to the gorgeous pjs. Too bad my budget doesn't currently have room for $500 pajamas, no matter how amazing Lucy Liu looked in them. Also, I know not everyone likes them, but I also really like Joan's Japanese schoolgirl blouses and ties. Professional, but with an edge, that's our Joan. Her slim black suit and the tan one were gorgeous, too. The costume folks must love working with Lucy - she makes everything look fantastic. And it's not just Joan - I loved Paige's dresses, too. The costume department is really on fire this year. The case was fun, but I easily guessed that it was a fake kidnapping. But who cares, when Joan and Sherlock are so much fun?

Yay, Elementary is back! I loved the opening scene with the suicidal guy. I laughed so hard when Joan tased him. The pull-back reveal of our kick-ass Joan was perfect. I've missed their snarky/sweet relationship. Yeah, the mystery was on the lame side, but the central characters on this show make me happy just to watch them. And a big welcome to Shinwell. Hopefully he can get picked up as a recurring character. It's happened to Nelsan Ellis before, after all.

So are we supposed to believe that Zack just freely came and went from the psychiatric facility to hang out in the puppet guy's basement, set up the classroom scene, live with his victims for months, etc? Right.

Looks also for him, I'd say. He kind of matches her. They could be brother and sister. Which would have been kind of weirdly cool if they had played it that way. The Egyptians were into that for their rulers, after all. Their reincarnations couldn't be siblings to appease modern sensibilities, but they could remember themselves that way. In their original lives, it wasn't taboo, but it is now and they know it. That could definitely have created some interesting character development, as opposed to what we have now. Although as far as looks go, give me Ray or Snart, Rip, or even Stein before Hawk-Guy.

Wow, that was one intense episode! I'll put more coherent thoughts together later. Random comments: I love love love Morland and Sherlock together. Considering how poorly they handled Mycroft, this turned out just about perfect. I was afraid they were going to give us a cliff-hanger season ender, even though that's not this show's tradition. At least Sherlock and Joan won't have to worry about getting money by taking private cases, once they sell that apartment! And Joan's black pants and gorgeous blouses game is totally on point. Love it.

It's a cliche that women directors are better at intimate and/or relationship scenes, but Lucy really knocked it out of the park. She is definitely developing as a director, and clearly feeling confident enough to direct herself as an actor. It helps when you have such high caliber actors as Jonny Lee Miller, Aidan Quinn and John Noble to work with. I also thought she kept the tension of the plot moving right along. I liked the high angles on Morland's house and office, which made it feel vaguely creepy and threatening, which helped to keep our suspicions on Morland. I also liked that Sherlock and Joan got over her little deception regarding Morland fairly easily. It's a sign of how much Sherlock has matured and their relationship in general that they can have a fight and move on without it being a big obstacle. He isn't happy, but he understands why she did it and is able to look at the big picture. 3 years ago, it would have been a lot harder for him to do that. Great catch! I noticed the unusual and old-fashioned design of the ring, but didn't make the connection. I knew immediately that Babbage was a fake name, but I forgot that Moriarty had used it before for her minions. I was still trying to figure out why the creator of the Difference Engine (an ancestor of modern computers) was relevant to the plot, when Sherlock revealed that it was Moriarty (dun dun dun). If I was Morland Holmes, I would be impressed by the fact that people keep coming and threatening me about the consequences if anything happens to Sherlock. First Joan and now Gregson. I might be a bit bemused by it, but also glad that my son had people who care so much about him. I love that Gregson includes Joan in his threat. In general, he's very tender and fatherly in his concern for both Joan and Sherlock. There was a flavor of that in his scene with Morland. Sherlock's surrogate father confronting his biological father. Overall, this was a really cracking episode. The plot was clever enough to be worthy of Sherlock Holmes (and Moriarty). Although in the scene where Sherlock was explaining why outlying results of the test would be useful, I got it way before Joan did. I hate it when they have her be stupid, just so Sherlock can explain things. I want my Joan to be a little swifter on the uptake. Although that it was her idea to look at taxidermists was good. On a shallow note, I liked seeing Joan in pants. Most of the professional women I know wear pants a lot, and the gorgeous skirts Joan has can make her seem a bit over-dressed for the police station and crime scenes. Those high-waisted slim black pants were very flattering and the blouses were beautiful as usual.

Yay Rob! I thought they did a reasonable job of hiding who was the obvious winner. I did think that his makeups were a cut above. Walter's was huge, but in action, it seemed awkward, and other than the weird cyclops eye, Melissa's was unmemorable. I think Rob also had an advantage in that his director was better and had a better idea - using the oil wells and having the oil coming out of the mouths. I think Rob added having it come out of the eyes as well and that worked extremely well on camera. Rob's film was the only one that seemed like it could actually be the prologue to a real movie. It's a typical horror movie setup to show the set-up of events in the past, and then cut to the modern-day arrival of a new family, or gaggle of clueless teens. Overall, it was a good season and I'm happy with the winner. By the way, do we know if what-her-name, host girl, is pregnant? She did seem to get to sit down a lot more this season.

It was some unnamed country that was tired of having an economy "dependent on goat meat." Or as my friend calls those sorts of places, Crazy-stan.

I agree, I thought she seemed a little on the crazy side, myself. Mental illness does tend to more or less run in families. I mean, there may be only one person who has a total schizophrenic break, while other family members may be generally functional, with only a side order of crazy. I've seen this more than once. I have a friend who is totally normal, but one of her siblings is institutionalized with schizophrenia and the others are varying degrees of batshit.