Emily Thrace

Except part of my point is that Bucky wasn't really considered white in the time and place he came from. Not the way we think of it now in any case. The MCU has never directly addressed it but its something that definitely influenced Bucky and Steve. I think that is part of what accounts for them being so progressive. Bucky being clueless feels like a bit of a retcon for Bucky (and Steve by extension) that is there mainly to give Sam a reason to talk about his feelings. I'm okay with TPTB short changing the white guy to further the black guys story ultimately since its such a nice change, I just think they may have missed a third option here. One that gives depth to the currently very thinly sketched Bucky Barnes but also to Steve Rogers.

Yeah I actually really like that they are addressing that. The MCU has tried to be apolitical but I guess since this isn't relying on box office receipts from most of the planet they can afford to be a little controversial and tell a more specifically American story. It is bugging me a little that Bucky is shown as being completely clueless about American race relations. He fought with a black man for most of WW2 and he grew up Irish in Brooklyn in the 20s and 30s he would have at least witnessed some of what Sam has dealt with. Not that I'm comparing the old "No dogs or Irish" style discrimination to what Sam has lived through they are completely different experiences but Bucky probably should understand a bit better than the show has given him credit for at this point. Bucky isn't Walker the embodiment of white privilege it would be a nice shade of gray to add to this story. Not too mention something that helps underline how far the world has come. Bucky is not some alien who got dropped on Earth it shouldn't be a mystery to him why Sam feels like less than.

Yeah I'm not sure why the boys didn't just call social services in the first place. Just mess up the house and made put a few scorch marks by he stove and social services would have pulled her out of there for them.

She had just had a baby last season I wonder if it just that shes stopped breast feeding. That might take the fullness out of her face and down a few cup sizes.

Some women do that though especially in New York City. To me it fits in with her character as a bit of a posh Brit with an emphasis on keeping up her appearance. Besides her job is more administrative she probably spends more time in meetings and in her office more than anyone except Iggy. Its also often a staging trick on tv because otherwise they would have trouble getting the much shorter actress in the frame with other taller actors. Dana Scully always wore heels because Mulder was 6'4". You would also note that Bloom played by a much taller actress does tend to stick to boots.

The flippant way they referred to Doug and trying to say they were right a long was insensitive and very obviously about shifting the blame for the rift away fron themselves. It was clear to me that they simply don't listen very well to me at best and are very self involved. Neither of which make for good parents generally. Also they lied about there being another sibling in the family for nearly 30 years. I actually like that the Buckley's are fairly normal from the outside, so many shows go to the other extreme. Another show might Bucks parents locked him in a cellar and beat him with rubber hoses or whatever form of depravity is currently trendy. When Mae mentioned her issues I thought yeah a conversation about guilt with Bobby might end up with him taking her to church. I was pleasantly surprised in how it actually went down. I do wonder though after this episode if we might get more on Bobby's family beyond his wife and kids. Generally you don't pick up on vodka and Percocet as a coping mechanism on your own. I have always wondered if Chimney was a racially based nickname and that is why Howard is so cagey about it. Chimney sounds like chin lee or ching chong choi or any of the other racist gibberish Asians get chanted at them. Given what we know about his former colleagues it wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah now that I have watched the episode I wonder if maybe there was another Buckley sibling born between Buck and Maddie that died and he doesn't know about. It seems like the secret was something she knows and Buck doesn't. Not necessarily something Buck would accidentally discover in therapy. People generally don't remember childhood trauma accidentally in any case. Usually its actually a vague remembrance that someone else puts into context that unlocks memories like that.

In her first episode its mentioned that Maddie is 15 years older than Buck. So that would make her the right age. I do hope if TPTB go this route its not a case of Maddie being raped or exploited, the character has plenty of angsty backstory without piling on more. If this is the case it does help explain why Maddie instinctively ran to Buck rather than their parents when she left her husband.

An interesting note for the episode Winnipesaukee translates roughly to Dirty or Muddy Land in most Algonquin languages. (Very rough there might be another word in there depending on the particular dialect) Although that is definitely what Winnip means in Cree and Ojibway. Which is interesting considering the episode and the fact that it was supposed to be a play ground for rich people. I wonder if the developer lied and said it means beautiful place or place of trees or something.

It won't if only because they don't want Ken to lose another kid. I do think maybe a break would be a good idea and in real life a long stint in a residential treatment facility might be recommended. A break up with Saint Snarla is definitely in order they are not only boring even their "drama" is dull. Sorry I don't watch soaps for half hearted conversations in therapy speak. I have always felt like Chris Gascoyne and Alison King seriously dislike each other and it bleeds into their scenes as a resigned lack of effort lately. I keep thinking Leanne might be able to get through to Peter actually. Its worked before and with losing Oliver shes got the ammunition. Leanne screaming "How dare you give up when my Oliver never had a chance" might land in a way other guilt trips wouldn't. Although the way they keep the stories in such separate bubbles these days Leanne will probably have one line about the whole thing. I also think it will Adam who will end up being a match. That's part of why they did the whole story line of Adam sleeping with St Snarla in the first place.

I wonder if the person who killed Jack was a veteran. They attacked him and then saw his ring and felt guilty so they stuffed him in the dumpster. Also the one thing Newark has is a VA hospital and a couple other big medical centers maybe Jack went to get help and ran into someone in a similarly bad way.

So how long until the interim SG(not bothering to learn his name) resigns and begs Avasarala to take over? Dude is clearly completely out of his depth. I give it two episodes. Also what was interesting to me is that Amos and Peaches were walking through Northern Ontario forest that was burned out by forest fire in the past 5-10 years. We had a patch of it just outside town back home. Its funny seeing something so familiar presented as alien. I also liked the line about it being a replanted forest since that looked nothing like the Chesapeake bay area. I actually thought we were seeing Holden's folks in Montana when they first zoomed in. TLS does have some humanity left after all. I think what really bothered Marco is that Phillip was reminding him of Naomi. Phillip is his mothers son too and Marco hates the idea that Phillip isn't actually just an extension of himself. That's the trouble with narcissistic parents they often make warm deeply involved caregivers but the second the child exerts independence and tries to break free they shut it down brutally. See also Smurf Cody.

Most religions agree breaking technical rules by doing things like eating a bacon sandwich or removing a hijab are perfectly fine in service of saving someone's life. Din was bending a rule in service of protecting a foundling. Basically Din was following the spirit of the way rather than the rule. I'm sure the Armorer would be okay with it.

I keep wondering the longer this drags out if The Mandalorian doesn't just refer to Din but to Grogu as well. There doesn't seem to be a place for Grogu to be a Jedi in the story. If he was still around why didn't Luke or Leia find him at some point? Or Rey? I think during the Last Jedi Grogu is on Mandalore with Bo-Katan and Din. He is training to be Mandalorian and is meant to lead Mandalore some day. I know the Armorer said he was too frail but Yoda kicked plenty of ass in the prequels. What he lacks in height he can make up for in force powers.

I wonder if the twist will be that Charmaine and the baby have an Rh+/Rh- differential that means Jack can't be the father and Mel will find out but not be able to tell him.

Persepolis Rising is pretty padded though you could compress that quite a bit. You could also strip back and cut out quite a bit of the whole Duarte story to a few key elements and make the conflict less one sided. I suspect we are going to see the Duarte story in the front half of season 6 and do a wrap up and Alien story in the back half.

I can see it happening if she left town or the state immediately after. When someone comes in as an OD the hospital usually calls next of kin. If her parents or a sibling came and offered her a way out if she left right then taking it would be understandable. I can also see that family member discouraging Laurel from contacting William because they blame William for Laurel's addiction. So Laurel walks away from her son and William because she feels they are wrapped up in her old life as an addict. Its also entirely possible DCFS did contact her and she signed away her rights thinking Randall was better off. Since they weren't married the state would have no reason to inform William of it. I do think its more likely though that she walked away and DCFs couldn't locate her so her rights were simply severed in absentia. Also DCFS may have just taken William's word that she was dead pre-computers it was a lot harder to trace something like that.

Except its not physically possible for Rey Rivera's body to have wound up where it did on his own. So someone put him there, and given that he was 6'5 it was probably more than one person. Also the only possible symptom of mental illness is some paranoia when his house alarm goes off 2 nights in a row. Which isn't really consistent with mental illness I have heard of. Schizophrenia doesn't manifest overnight there are other warning signs you would see before the delusions start. Plus he was actually rather old to be manifesting for the first time. I actually think drug use makes more sense. If not his own then possibly Porter's. Maybe Porter owed money to a dealer and the dealer knew Ray was his buddy. Coke and high finance do tend to go together and it would give Porter a reason to lie. I do wonder why Alison and the other Rivera's haven't tried to go for a wrongful death suit against Porter since it was a call from his office that brought Ray downtown in the first place. Threatening their money is usually a good way to get guys like him talking not too mention an excuse to subpoena his phone and employee records. The other sticking point for me with Ray Rivera is why someone would leave the body where they did. I think it would have to be either a) someone who worked at the Belvedere and knew that he wouldn't be found (although that begs the question of why they never tried to move the body in those six days before he was found) b) someone who was too high or otherwise impaired to realize he would be found or c) someone who thought they could make the suicide story stick. Like someone with enough connections to influence a police investigation.

Jack Wheeler and the Ray Rivera case are quite similar on the surface except I think with Jack mental illness is the most likely explanation. The only real lose thread with Jack is the missing work items and it entirely likely he misplaced them. What set him off is a question but with his issues it could be anything like leaving his briefcase on the train. Doing things like taking a cab home because he couldn't find his car does sound like his mania wasn't in control. Bi-polar disorder can flare up or medication can stop being effective. As for Jack's limp I wonder if it was the Comet. (The neighbor mentioned a foot print on the floor in spilled Comet) Its an abrasive bleach it doesn't bother your skin on contact but if he stepped in it and never cleaned it off properly it could irritate the skin pretty badly especially if he was walking a lot with sweaty feet.

I found Saoirse Ronan's Jo to be the weaker part of this one actually. Its not really the actresses fault she was miscast I feel. She is a bit too pretty and delicate for the role. It was a little ridiculous for her to be calling herself ugly and awkward when she is actually an ideal beauty by any standard. There was none of Jo's hard headedness and lack of social grace in this adaption. Even in the epic battle with Amy the movie acts like Jo was right which was never the case in the book. It felt like they tried a bit too hard to make her a strong heroine and wound up smoothing away Jo's relatable flaws.

I think there is a dearth of M/M friends who are portrayed as more than bros who like the same beer and sports teams. The type of relationships that Buck and Eddie have is rare on television. Men's relationships are often depicted as shallow or distant its part of the whole men can't deal with their emotions stereotype. So Buck and Eddie going through big emotional traumas and talking them through is huge. Compare the amount of time spent on the men's relationships on Friends or Grey's Anatomy compared to the female friendships. Stereotypes come in many forms and the idea that any deeper male relationship must be a romantic one is a damaging one in its own right. Representation isn't a zero sum game, having Buck and Eddie as straight doesn't actually take anything away from the LGBT community. The writers have acknowledged the fans but aren't required to rewrite their story to appease them. I have always found it very entitled when slash fans call writers "homophobic" for not giving them the story they want. That's not how television works its not a conspiracy its often that the writer's have plan we are not privy to. Personally I think TPTB want Buck to be free and single so he can do the romance of the week when its needed to spice things up. Bisexuality is under represented but I don't really see any indication either character is bi. If there was the episode with the older gay couple would have been the perfect moment to show one or the other was hiding something or some feelings. But Buck is very much an open book and seems a bit to comfortable in his own skin to be over compensating. Eddie is harder to read but I think his flirtation with the school teacher shows where they are going with his character.

There are gender expectations in play a bit here I think. Women are supposed to be gentle, peacemaking caregivers and historically have been punished for acting against those expectations. (Which is another reason her ending up at a 60's Stepford farm is so perfect.) I suspect some of that is in play here even if not deliberately. Five is a man so killing and fighting is expected. There is also a big difference in how they kill. Five acts deliberately and coldly and in a way we have conditioned to accept by media. We accept Five's I did what I had to do explanation because we have heard it so many times before. With Vanya her actions are much more passive and often accidental. Which makes her much more terrifying since who knows what will set her off. Her powers are tied to her emotions and trauma and unpacking that is complicated. Plus women's emotions are so often portrayed as a terrible mystery particularly in scifi and horror. So while Five and Vanya are both monsters Five is a much more familiar one (and often a type that is portrayed as a hero) so people are much more accepting of Five's monstrous acts. I also think people just have different definitions of justice and redemption. Personally I think Vanya was well past the point of not being mentally capable of being responsible for her actions. She was essentially having a psychotic break, which doesn't make her a psychopath just human with a lot of trauma. (One of the weird effects of Sociopaths being trendy is people are quick to label anyone not completely normal as a sociopath before that they were bi-polar) A lot of Americans often seem to have this need for punishment that is probably the Puritan's fault somehow. I remember when a schizophrenic beheaded someone on a Greyhound bus a few hundred kliks from here were a lot of stories from the US that were absolutely appalled that the man wasn't jailed for life. To me (and most Canadian's) locking up someone with a treatable illness seems like a waste of time and money. I feel like Vanya is a similar case any punishment would have just been piling on to an already plot heavy and traumatized character.

One thought I has about the supposed Covid story next year is that a lot of these characters would essentially be furloughed when the hospital stops non-emergent surgery. Link and Jackson would only have the rare emergency surgery and would probably just be working when they were called in since most of what they do could be pushed back. Almost everyone would realistically have their workload reduced by the lockdown. It probably won't happen that way because DRAMA but it might make for some interesting choices. Like say Link staying home with the new baby so Amelia can go to work.

Season 5 was in production when Covid shut down everything.

The issue I have with Rob Endres killing his wife is that he seems smarter than that. Abducting her from work and dragging her to the woods is odd for a killer for hire. There are many much more straightforward and less likely to attract attention ways of killing someone. Running her off the road for example. If Rob did hire someone he hired the dumbest hired killers ever. They grabbed her in broad daylight and two people saw it. It looks more like a chance opportunist than anything planned out. Someone was watching her and noticed she was alone and grabbed her. For that reason I like the local serial killers better as suspects. The Georgia plates to fit better with this. I wonder if even it was some whackjob who was just driving through stumbled across her. One theory that is the result of watching too much tv is that Pam had someone else who was in love with her and they did it. Either she was having an affair or she had a stalker. Hairdressers like nurses tend to have men mistake them doing their jobs for affection since its a somewhat intimate caregiving service. Especially friendly chatty ones like Pam. I wonder if a client mistook her asking about his day and how their family is for real feelings and killed her when she rejected him.