Ohmo

However, the flip side of that is you're not penalized for a bad bake either. As long as you advance, everything sets back to zero. Complete elimination is the only penalty, and there's no reward for repeated cumulative success. This is an eight-week competition. For a multi-episode event, it should be about the totality of the competition. Bill won four challenges, and everyone liked the taste of his gingerbread. He should have been in the finale, and a point system might have gotten him there. For a two-round, one-day competition like CCC, I'm OK with comments like is done now, but I think HBC and SBC need to start thinking about a point system. TOC uses points, and the Olympics also scores on points, even on a bad day. I also think the prize money should be 60-75K (below TOC's 100K).

That's my issue with this competition. It's a FOOD competition, not an art competition. I would have put Bill in the finale over Jessica. I'm also fine with Dru winning. Both Bill and Dru had the stronger reactions to taste. I understand there's a visual component, but you're not looking at the food. You're eating it. I think Dru and Jessica were on to something when they talked about working together. I'd like to see a shortened competition---still in the weeks format where you have teams come to the competition. One who's string in flavor, and the other who's strong in visuals. Have pre-heats where the flavor people face off, the visual people face off, etc. I also think there should be a point system to make this more cumulative. Bill won four challenges throughout the competition, but that did him no good. Your performance throughout the competition should be what gets you into the finale. Top three in each heat: Preheat: 5 pts, 4 pts 3 pts. Everyone who isn't in the top 3 gets 1 point. Main heat: 10, 5, 2, Everyone else 1. Bottom cumulative scorer leaves each week. Nancy's always squawking that it's the Holiday Baking Championship. If that's true, more weight should be given to the entire eight weeks, and make winning each bake matter beyond getting an advantage. Bill did not do well with the cream cake, but on the basis of the taste of that cake and the fact that he won four challenges, I think he should have been in the finale. If he had received points for those, he might have been.

I can't get over how some men are willing to do whatever for a woman or a woman is willing to do whatever for a man. Marriage equality hasn't been around long enough yet, but I'm sure we will see this same dynamic come into play in those relationships as well. The willingness of one partner to be used by the other partner. Melissa had children with Caleb. It is ridiculous to the point of absurdity to believe this wasn't instigated and fueled by her, and Chris was so willing to take responsibility in order to get her a lesser charge.

House of Horrors There's a boatload of information in this article that didn't make it into the Dateline episode.

CRIMINAL COUPLE Where are Melissa Merritt and Chris Fattore now? Where Are Melissa Merritt and Caleb Harrison’s Kids Now?

This case was not new. I kept waiting for there to be an update, but there wasn't. There is NO WAY that I buy that Melissa didn't mastermind the whole thing. This case also reminded me of a notorious case around here (that I'm actually surprised hasn't ended up on Dateline yet. A very rural part of the state. Also a custody battle. One family kills 8 members of another family in three or four separate locations over the custody of a child. The trials are ongoing. Some family members have pleaded guilty and testified against others. There were fake custody documents, and all sorts of planning to carry out this massacre.. Understanding the Pike County massacre Massacre of 8 people began with plot to kill 19-year-old mom and other victims were "collateral damage," Ohio prosecutor says Like what Melissa orchestrated, it is frightening what people will resort to for the custody of a child.

I think the father might have not even thought of a break-in. Yeah, they had a security system, but I think a part of a lot of people don't ever expect to need it. They were in a gated community, and the show mentioned that Jill didn't have a lot of expensive jewelry. I think the father just didn't conceive the idea that what was happening could be criminal.

I chalked that up to privilege. Justin comes from a wealthy family and his only other sibling lives out of state. He was currently not in school, and he didn't seem to focus on anything that didn't involve him or his 20 something world. He didn't have a significant other. His job seemed entry-level at best, and he was in party mode. Everything probably seemed dramatic to him because it involved him. I don't think Justin did it. He wasn't at all friends with the guy, and the MO matched the other robberies. There's no way for Justin to have known that. The DNA was big for me. I don't think it was planted because why? It's not like the cops were averse to questioning Justin, so why plant DNA? Investigate Justin. As to cross-comtamination, possibly. However, that's on the defense. If the defense was going to go down that path, they needed to go down that path. Were the items tested at the same time or at different times? Had the guy committed a burglary at any time around the murder so that his DNA would have been there at the lab to contaminate the evidence from the murder? IIRC, DNA was on the door opening, a cord, and the knife. Plus, the reaction when they thought the verdict was manslaughter? That suggests involvement----that he had somewhat gotten away with murder.

I like that description of an apology. I'm going to remember that. I thought the other detective in the room made the comment about changing professions, but neither one of them were great. I couldn't figure out what drove the guy to kill Jill? From all accounts, he's burglarized before. The cops knew he had a pattern. Why not simply leave once confronted? Did he never encounter a person in a house during a previous break-in? He was committing a crime, but there are levels of crime. Given his planning for his escape, he didn't strike me as lacking the ability to use higher-order thinking skills. I'm surprised that he didn't weigh the option of simply leaving. A break-in where you don't harm anyone still has to be less weight than if you murder that person.

I think the evidence was there, but it wasn't obvious. They covered one piece in the episode. That the back door was unlocked, the kids were out of the house, and the cameras were off. That's a whole lot of luck for an intruder. Another was that he was naked. I took that to mean the two of them got into a fight. Maybe he was going to or coming from the shower, but one's spouse has seen the other person naked. If they were fighting, I could see them yelling at each other without him thinking of covering up. She then shoots him. If it's an intruder, it feels rather random for the intruder to arrive at the precise point where Ken is naked.

Agreed about Nancy. Kristin's dessert looked like a sunset, but it also looked like Thanksgiving colors to me. And the orchestra thing bugs me, too. I don't mind Sumera or Kristin. One thing I do mind, though, is gingerbread. I will drink the occasional gingerbread latte, but a gingerbread cookie? Hard pass. Glad this show is over with. I was sorry to see Antoine continue to have issues with his gingerbread recipe.

Andrea really doesn't bother me most of the time, but I really wished this were Josh's case so he could have called out Cindy's sister on her BS and general obnoxiousness, ETA: Typed "his" instead of "her", but that's one of the things I love about Josh. He meets obnoxious head on with his own brand of attitude.

Marathon County widow continues to deny killing pharmacist husband as she's sentenced to life in prison Once again, nothing is Cindy's fault. This hurts my soul. Watch whom you marry, folks.

Annoyed is not the word. Her sister was obnoxious, mouthy, and loud. She also showed no objectivity about Cindy. I have siblings, and I love them, too, but they aren't perfect. That's the actual word Pam used to describe Cindy. Nothing was Cindy's fault. It was either Ken's fault, Ken's kids' fault, Betty's fault, Ken's sister's fault, etc. Cindy is a piece of work, and so is her sister. Ken's mother Margaret at 102? You go, Ms. Margaret! I agree that all of the men were somewhat of a distraction, but the handwriting angle was completely interesting to me. If they were fighting, he probably wanted to push her buttons, and I'm sure he knew his kids called her that. Maybe that fight was him realizing that she was indeed a bitch. Then, she reacted by killing him. Given Cindy's sister, that's not a big stretch.

I'm glad that they didn't eliminate someone after the pre-heat. That happened one year in either HBC or SBC, and I didn't think that was fair. About Rachelle, I wish they'd consider no one going home in the first show. We barely get to know that person. Starting with Show #2, everyone's fair game because they've had one full competition round. Judges could give critiques and advice in Show #1. To keep Show #1 interesting, the Main Heat prize would be immunity from elimination that the bearer could choose to use during the first half (number of weeks) of the competition. That person has a bad bake? They can then tell the judges they are using their immunity this week. In the second half of the competition (number of weeks), the immunity goes away. They no longer have that protection. If the person hasn't used it yet, the immunity could become something like an extra 10 minutes during a Main Heat.

I got the impression that his parents probably had no idea. Chandler had a lot going on, but he hid it well. I don't know if serial killer would describe him, but I could see him being abusive to or killing his romantic partners. His girlfriend is quite lucky. I think it's almost certain that his parents missed some warning signs, and I'm not talking recent ones. Probably further back in his childhood. Marianne Shockley: Marcus is no prize, but I couldn't have convicted him on that evidence. There was Clark's presence, along with the fact that she took the drugs and drank. By all accounts she liked to drink. Marcus COULD have killed her, but I don't think the prosecution PROVED that he did.

I was so happy that he was on Tram Pie and got immunity. I know his pie didn't have the twist, but I like his story of being a single dad with his sons. I wasn't ready for him to have to go home yet. Hopefully, he will be more successful going forward.

The one thing that I didn't understand were the investigators who were worried about him going to Florida. There would have been no way to ask U.S. authorities for help? We're not talking to him fleeing to a nation that has no relationship with Canada.

I came away from this most recent episode thinking that Alex killed Maggie and Paul as a means of distraction. All of this seems mainly financial, with so many schemes and plots, I'm wondering how much money Alex actually had left (if any) that was legitimately his money. He had no problems manipulating and using people. I don't think Maggie and Paul's deaths had anything to so with Maggie or Paul. They were just the latest people that Alec used to stall the avalanche of investigation into his finances. Buster would be wise to watch out, as would Alec's sister. I wonder if Alec will try to pin the murders on Paul at trial. He's already tried Curtis. I wonder what Buster actually thinks of all of this? Does he see his dad for who he is?

I liked your post based on your statement that the facts of the case convinced you. However, I was pretty convinced of his guilt. Another thing that was a red flag was him telling them not to come to the hospital. She was their child. Him telling her parents not to come to her...highly suspicious, in my opinion.

This isn't the first Dateline episode we've seen where antifreeze has been involved, so it has been used before---mixed in drinks or food IIRC. I also recall people (LEOs or lawyers interviewed, etc) who have said antifteeze has a sweet taste. If it were mixed in a margarita, I could see him passing it off. Plus, there are actual drinks (like a Manhattan) that taste like gasoline to me, yet people drink them. In terms of smells, there are alcohols (like grappa) with very strong smells. People drink that, too. We don't know what either of them regularly drank except for a margarita. Within the world of alcohol, there's room for someone to be able to explain away antifreeze if they were motivated to do so. People have done so before because people have died from antifreeze poisoning.

It's interesting to me that the grandparents are criticized for objecting to the characterization of events as a suicide. If that holds, then Brent should also be criticized for his immediate response: "She can say whatever she wants." If the grandparents are seen as focused on their own needs, the same is certainly true of Brent. I believe that statement was Brent trying to keep the girls under his influence. While I recognize the situation the girls are in, I don't feel sorry for them. My mother also lives with mental illness, has been hospitalized more than once, and has made suicidal statements (but never acted on them). That does not make my father a saint, and the girls are old enough to recognize basic facts. However, they only recognize those facts about their mother. Their unwillingness to even entertain the notion of going against their father in any way is problematic, and they're young adults at this point. There's this human tendency to make things into opposites. "If Mom has mental illness then Dad must be fantastic." Not so in their case, just not, and the girls are old enough to start doing some of that work. I love my father, but he has flaws just like everyone else. They're going to have to come to that realization, and that's only work that they can do. They can refuse to speak to their grandparents forever, but that still won't change what Brent is. It's in their interest, both likely financially (because he can't be trusted with money) and as humans to attempt to step back and take a global look at their father. Having a parent with mental illness is difficult. It is. but one difficult thing in life does not mean you can avoid all other difficult things. If they can see their mother's situation in one way, they can also do the same with their father's life. As young children, they didn't have agency, but they do now, and that agency involves critical thinking about both parents.

The bedroom on the main floor is ugly and spooky. It looked like a place for Dracula to sleep, not a bedroom for a just-married or about-to-be-married couple.

"It wasn't going to happen." "I'm pretty sure we're going to use that." I LOVE JOSH!!!!!!!!! Brent was also going through that $2 million like it was going out of style if he was visiting his dealer every day. Susan came from money...not just money, I mean MONEY. Like others here, I also have family experience when money becomes involved. It's not pretty, and we're talking nowhere close to the MONEY that Susan came from. Brent would lose big time in a divorce. I also hope this encourages people to evaluate suicidal language. Don't assume that just because someone says it or even attempts it, that describes their behavior forever. That makes people living with mental illness even more vulnerable to people like Brent. He was also a psychologist, which means he had the skill set to manipulate Susan, the cops, and his children (which I think is still happening).

I didn't find the daughter compelling at all. To me, she clearly was blinded by misplaced loyalty to her father, Her "knowledge" was completely one-sided, She rattled off all of this information about her mother, which to me also indicates that she's aware that her father is snorting all sorts of cocaine up his nose, and her mother comes from serious money. I completely believe that Brent murdered Susan. One suicide attempt should not be blanket confirmation for everything that comes after. Susan did not complete the act in the garage because the conditions were uncomfortable. That, to me, says that Susan did not want prolonged suffering. If she had done those Internet searches and learned that antifreeze poisoning took DAYS, I would not believe that she would choose that if she found the garage untenable. Brent overplayed his hand, and I think his daughters simply can't deal that their mother was mentally ill, their father was a drug addict, and their father murdered their mother for money. Their mother lived with serious mental illness, but that doesn't make their father not a drug addict, thief, and murderer.