HouseofBeck

A fun episode, albeit a little discordant in places. Wish we’d seen the scene where they went from “Do you really think your leader can take on the Klingons?” to the ongoing mutiny, but perhaps there was no good way to show it other than abruptly. I am digging Pike’s relaxed-ish attitude in the bridge. He knows his crew. He knows their capabilities, that they are damn good at their jobs and able to learn and grow. He can trust them. And they trust him. The give and take is beautiful. Ortegas doesn’t read “new” to me, but there’s tons of precedent. What always comes to mind to me is from “The Mote in God’s Eye” (Niven and Pournelle, 1974) - the present captain there recalls the words of his past captain: “I can use friends aboard my ship, but I’d sell them all for a competent sailing master,” and goes on to reflect that his sailing master was a smartass, but also competent, and that was a good bargain. :)

I was thinking 30s for Susie/Alex. My first guess would be Hedy Lamarr. I am glad to finally know why Susie followed this Hedy in the first place and then freaked out at her picture. I’d thought at first she thought the woman was funny and a potential comic! Oops. 😀 She had just thought she’d recognized her voice but wasn’t sure…and then the picture clinched it. I loved the garbage musical and I think it was because, beside the awesome talent, all the participants took it seriously. Like Tom Holland doing “Umbrella.” 😁 Midge..what the fuck. I don’t care how ingrained her idiocy/entitlement is, by NOW, after all the lessons learned, she should have been more professional and just done the same thing on stage as she had the night before. Especially since she didn’t quit her job and therefore be eligible to be on the show. Susie got her that job, she’s bent on keeping it (at least up through now), so then…why detonate this other role Susie has her do? I just don’t buy Susie being that naive that ALL the things those guys did and did not do for her would be wiped out by a two-day single act performance. And even if so, there’s no way Susie would have thought Midge’s deliberate fuck-up would mean that reciprocity even counted at that point. I wish she’d run up on stage, grabbed the script, and dumped Midge back in the trash can and sat on it.

I was thinking the same thing about Isaac! I thought his first gasp was a gasp of recognition, but alas, no. I kept wanting Alberta and Alicia to look far more alike but they just didn’t, to me. Which is fine, because I don’t look like my great-whatever either. Their voices blending and complementing each other at the end, though, was so beautiful.

I did enjoy this episode, but damn if the reveal that Sam and Jay not only brought up ALL the bottles but let their guests grab a bottle each and swig from them like soda just knocked me out of that enjoyment. Even with the stresses of the day, it seemed unusual for those two characters to be _that_ clueless and reckless, including allowing their own event to be completely changed (wine-tasting to free-for-all).

Alfie is an ass. There was too much pain and embarrassment leveled at the family. Yes, it’s great that Rose ultimately leveled a perfumed cannon back at the matchmaker dames, but there was too much other needless fallout. And now Rose has to endure other repercussions because of things she wasn’t responsible for saying but will be held accountable for. I wish one of them had yanked Rose off the stage. Midge should have known better at the fundraiser and read the room. She was warned beforehand about the type of humor to stick to. If she had to tell that racy story—yes, the audience asked for it, but even I knew that in fledgling 1960, people and especially this crowd weren’t expecting that kind of racy at a daytime event—and lurch forward toward the absolute truth that her hook-up was married, the drop in temperature immediately after should have told her to shut up, try to salvage, say the lady was only saying she was his wife, something, anything. Yet another avoidable mistake on the part of Midge.

I felt for Missy. Sheldon gets the attention and the enabling. Georgie gets attention, even negatively, through his life choices. Missy is often thrown back on her own devices, which is great for independence, not so great when you’re in those in-between years after having already grown up through attention being given elsewhere. George should recall more strongly what kind of teenager he was, and also recall that his present self when at home rarely seems to be without a beer can, sitting, or passing through the house on the way to more beer, more sitting, or to take a dump. If he only just now realizes that Missy is no longer a pint-sized preteen and her interests have grown with her, then that is on him. It’s not always easy for teenagers to express what they want, especially if the family has groomed them to expect a “No” in response. And “daddy-daughter dates” as a phrase sounds puerile at any age. Just go spend time together, FFS, don’t label it like it’s an entry in your planner. YMMV. I was perhaps unaccountably disappointed that Dr. Sturgis’s response to the armadillo was really only because he’s feeling so alone. I had liked the unexpected facet of his personality to care for the animal for the animal’s sake, and hopefully teach Sheldon some empathy. Oh well. And now, can Linkletter and Sturgis continue to sit on Sheldon’s proclivities when they’re back at college the way they were doing in the van, or will all the adults continue to piss and moan and jump whenever Sheldon shouts, “Frog!”? Oh, how I wish the former would be so.

I was yelling at Susie to PAY ATTENTION to what she was agreeing to, arrgh! But here she is, gambling again, only this time with her own existence if those friendly mobsters stop being so friendly. At least she's happy right now, or at least committed and focused to all the bits and parts with the new place + expanding her business, and that's interesting to see. I also managed to completely forget, between Susie grabbing Alfie in the bar and hustling him to her place, and then seeing him laid out on the couch with that long hair, that it was indeed not only a guy but the same guy. Sophie turning up was equal parts terrible and awesome; Jane Lynch is so good. What a great role to play. So many colors in this episode. My eyes stopped this short of bleeding (but I rather liked the colorspolsion anyway). ETA: Abe and his insanity over Rose's ages-ago dating + his CHALK, what the FUCK, just had me seeing red. Because too many people still think that way even in this round of the '20s.

I am turning to fanfiction to soothe my not-so-latent desire to have Midge and Lenny get together because damn, their chemistry sizzles even when he's organizing straw-throwing. I loved Susie and the tea room, I don't know why, but it just was hilarious to me. Maybe more so because of all the emotional gut-punches in other scenes. Abe is insufferable, but always seems to land on his feet somehow...

A thousand+ thanks, @shapeshifter!!

I am so loving that this show is back. So many gems of moments. Right now I am here with a call to the universe: That gorgeous blue outfit Midge was wearing when her dad woke her up with the typewriter—I need it, whatever it is called (nightie and robe? Something more dashing-sounding for the era?), and in whatever shade of blue that is. Deep turquoise? Cerulean??

For what it’s worth, my first time shaving my legs, with shaving cream, still resulted in me being quite perforated. I didn’t notice any overt hairiness during the dressing room scene and even if I had, I’d have found it refreshing. Wish it could have been a “you do you” teaching moment instead, somehow. Missy feeling she has to embark on a lifelong campaign of hair removal when she doesn’t want to is just too sad (and familiar).

I was wondering all this! There's going to be distinct odors and stainage unless these are responsible college kids. Also, first thing I thought when he was given that room was that surely it would have been snapped up within seconds by whoever was next on the waitlist for a single. Though this was a luxury single...

How could Yaz have looked away from the Angel without it coming closer? Thing looked like it hadn’t moved when Yaz looked away as the Doctor disappeared. If it wasn’t truly there, then all the cautions were less meaningful.

I was sad for George’s sadness, but then had to remember that—hasn’t he been mostly an absentee dad of sorts, content to let Mary do all the heavy lifting, including emotionally? Trying to be a full dad all of a sudden and having it blow up in his face, well, if he’s just going to give up, that continues to say more about him and why his kids aren’t instantly ready to let him in.

I loved watching Nandor at the table when the others were ordering Guillermo around and then were probing into his personal life when he got back. Nandor looked tense and concerned on Guillermo's behalf. It was cool to see that. Though he did abruptly decamp when the casino chips arrived. :) Colin and Nandor having an in depth conversation, complete with sketches, about the universe was just perfect. And I loved Guillermo showing executive powers and confidence on his soil-gathering trip plus diving right into concocting a plan to get the money--and I don't think he slept that entire time! This episode felt different from the others so far this season, but was still enjoyable. Kind of like an even more surreal experience than the already-surreal norm.

Just started watching Season 2. It’s been a long gap for me, but I still find the chemistry between Matthew and Diana lacking a bit. Maybe it’ll grow. I am really loving Goody Allsop (and her fabulous bone structure). Matthew seems to have two expressions—feral concern and feral rage. If anything, it has driven me to re-read the books!

I have yet to have a prep that tastes anything less than foul. Give me pills instead! It is, however, the worst part of the experience, along with the fasting. By the time you get to the actual procedure, it’s a relief, and you don’t feel a thing. I don’t think having another person go through it at the exact same time I am would make a difference to me, but I hope Meemaw finds it more bearable. Still sick of Sheldon once again getting away with going against a parent’s wishes just for the sake of his ego—and ultimately being allowed to. It makes me never want to rewatch Big Bang.

I’m also glad they tried to celebrate while they could. They could do zip about the pandemic, at that time there was even less information and more horror, and they were stuck there. Tiny coworker party? Live it up while you can, it doesn’t take away from anyone else. Dang it, Captain Lee. You and Eddie had better keep staying in touch. Totally more disrespectful than Rachel herself flinging F-bombs and the like at Captain Lee and storming off the boat. /s

Perhaps you’re saying all this just to be inflammatory. Regardless, trying to keep the playground mentality of “don’t be a tattletale!” while in an adult job is something that people who are doing the things they shouldn’t love to keep alive. Fortunately, it doesn’t work that way in the real world, no matter how many ad hominem rhymes there are. The people doing shitty things are the ones responsible for the fallout when it comes to them. From what I’ve seen of Izzy, she deserved the promotion. And if Rob and others really think it’s made up or nothing more than Eddie offloading work, then Rob and others shouldn’t be bugged by it. And yet they are, over and over.

I love that Missy got her way about watching Fresh Prince. And I was so far from being anywhere close to that savvy about middle school...

I’m not saying Elizabeth shouldn’t have learned something, anything by now, but I read her approach as a response to James not being up front with her and his words not matching his body language. To me, he’s leaving a line open in case there’s a chance for another hide the salami. Or he’s just one of those guys who never want to be the bad guy so will do anything including driving the girl nuts rather than speak the words he needs to and back them up with the right actions and behavior. He’s sure great at dissing her to Eddie, though! I like Izzy more and more, though there isn’t much to pick from with this crew. Those sons sound like they’re too privileged to muster the energy to talk above a dissipated drawl. I wish we’d seen Ashling take the parents aside, or Francesca later relate to them, how their whiny son had become a danger to himself. (If in fact he was. Some of it did seem that Ash just wanted to go to bed.) Though it did not seem that the parents were about to rush to his defense or demand heads. Perhaps they’d heard it all before... Newsflash to James, rich folks like that aren’t going to tip as well as you’d expect.

Nonpareils, maybe? There are also the ones that seem bigger; I remember them as silver colored.

I have to credit an Agatha Christie novel a long ways back for introducing me to the “100s and 1000s” instead of the “sprinkles” or “jimmies” I grew up with. Love it. Francesca simply doesn’t have the time, nor should she, to have to keep track of Elizabeth the way Elizabeth seems to warrant. I hear her reminding her of things she shouldn’t have to bring up at this stage. I don’t think either of them would be the easiest to work with, however. Ashling surprised me with the level of her work-hatred against Elizabeth, though. I was getting as confused as Rachel about the mahi vs mahi mahi issue, and only finally noticed there were two people on one line when they showed it the last time and pointed it out. I’m split on whom to blame more, ha. There’s a Bob Hope or Bing Crosby line about how “he’ll climb back up.” 🙂 I wasn’t paying enough attention to what the substances were, but people do seem to put alcohol in its own category, even a justifiable one. It’s weird. I’m of mixed feelings about the guests. I kept swinging from “Ew” and “Did he just say THAT?” to appreciating their care for and focus on Captain Lee. It didn’t seem they were making it about them in those moments. I was surprised when, after Lee had made a point pre-dinner that he didn’t want to talk about it at dinner, that a cut-scene zoomed in on him allegedly bringing it up himself after all. I hope it wasn’t producer-compelled and that all parties concerned found some genuine healing moments. And James is appalling.

Hmm, I don’t see them necessarily as stupid. In a fair number of just the above citations, the men involved did a great job of saying a whole lot of the “right things”, or twisting things to make them seem like the honest, innocent, injured party, while their true behavior and feelings eventually oozed their way out from under their veneer of civilization. Adam in particular stands out as such. In other cases (including within the above citations), there was a lack of good communication which happens anywhere. I can only imagine the concentrated cesspool of emotions tossed with exhaustion, labor, sun, etc. I am in no wise disclaiming the part the women had to play or saying that stupid hasn’t happened. Lots of wince-worthy scenes among just about everybody. James of the “I want to go to that wedding” statement, which constitutes making plans for after-boat, that James? Yeah, he wants to get laid. He also has been trotting out all the things he thinks he needs to say to get it. Then, oops, he’s believed! Better dial it back, deliberately do things you know are a bit low, act all innocent and tell Elizabeth that what she’s hearing, seeing, and sensing are wrong, and since you’ve already hooked her, she’s happy to come running back. (Which I do think was a dumb move on her part but is by no means unique to her.) And I don’t even like Elizabeth; I can’t always tell if she’s genuinely puzzled or deliberately obtuse. It seems she learned how to use her looks to get by, which can be said to also be the fault of enablers throughout her life.

In the midst of all that ugliness, the best parts for me were Whitney noping out before things got even stupider, and the little crowd on the steps just watching and kibitzing on the drama. That was hilarious and touching at the same time. If being a “real woman” and not a “little girl” means having to sit down and listen to diatribes, repetition, harangues...I’ll pass. Bullies and other sorts like to throw that “You have to hear what I’m going to say!” at their targets, when in reality, you don’t! You can walk away. Which is what they hate about Kathryn (however wrong her own statements have been and will be).