mattie0808

So...what was Paulie's issue with Valerie? Why did he so particularly zero in on her in the manner that he did? I was so freakin' happy when Valerie finally slugged his disgusting behind. He deserved so very much more and worse. Ugh.

I'm sooo excited for this! I still kind of can't believe it's actually happening. :) I keep trying to think what I want to see happen...

I think that's the only episode of Law & Order I sincerely can't watch. I just get too crazy. Like blind with rage. Shouldn't react like that to a TV show maybe, but I can't take watching it. I'm not sure if this is the one you mean, but the one who came to mind was in the episode with the woman who ran over her husband with her car (four times! lol), and when she openly says what she did at the arraignment, the judge says to the woman: "[Y]ou make me proud to be an American." Lolololololol.

Do people think these girls (or any combination of the four) stayed long-term friends? Beyond college? I don't mean that the entirety of all their friendships were meaningless, but I feel like they had all grown beyond each other -- especially Quinn and Stacy -- and were also tired of each other and of who they felt they had to be around each other. Probably would have fun following each other on Facebook and seeing each other at the reunions, but I have a hard time seeing more than that... Thoughts?

^^^What I didn't get about her is her repeatedly saying that the DJ only cared about money...but that goes both ways. One could say that after her terrible loss, what does she care about $600? What difference does it make? Obviously, that amount of money is quite important to THEM, so why couldn't they see that it might also be important to the DJ? Why don't they see that this kind of thing is why service providers require a deposit in the first place? Why didn't she feel lucky that most of her other vendors were willing and able to accommodate her (for almost a full year later, no less!)? That's not something she's entitled to! She bugged me a lot for sure.

^^^She was such a complete, total WHACK JOB that one. How scary to think that she would EVER do anything like being an EMT. Not a lick of self-control about her at all. I wish the guy had asked for $5,000, regardless of what the windshield actually cost to fix.

I think that's a mileage-may-vary situation (of course, like all opinions). I've never seen one second of GoT, and had no idea for the first several episodes of the season what "Budget Khaleesi" even meant until I Googled it. And I still can't stand what they've done with Lexi as a character this season since they aged her into this white-blonde, inexplicable-powers-having, Espheni-manipulated, platitude-spewing, most-important-plot-device-ever. I don't like that we may be heading toward Lexi being the key to it all (humanity's survival and/or triumph, or some kind of wonderful New World peaceful, hippie co-existence with the Eshpeni). I'm not looking forward to that, personally. Super-fast-aged, hippie-dippie (when she's not going Darth Vader/Carrie at the prom) Lexi, figuring out that invading a planet, killing the vast majority of its inhabitants, enslaving its children, and other various things might be considered, you know, kinda bad, especially from the invaded's POV, even if it's your "father" that's involved with it. But hey, actual human, raised-in-the-Earth-before-the-invasion pre-teens and teens are supposedly able to be brainwashed about how awesome the Espheni are after a couple of months in a camp. So why wouldn't Lexi -- who is half-Espheni, very young chronologically, without memories of Earth before, and splitting her time between humans in Chinatown and Espheni daddies on the outskirts -- be completely snowed about what's going on? And then once she really does learn The Truth about the Espheni side, and we go through the beats of her feeling betrayed by her Espheni family, of not knowing what to do or who to trust or whether any of it is worthwhile, then we either get her defeating the Espheni on behalf of Team Human, or bringing both of her families together for a previously thought impossible Pax Lexi. I just don't find it a particularly compelling narrative, nor do I find her to be an at all compelling character. She's a writing short-cut (superbaby -- "the best of both worlds" -- saves the day!), and a poorly done one at that. Still, who knows... Maybe she wipes out humanity completely and the last scene of the series will be Tom"s dumbfounded face right before he's turned to stardust. Maybe Lexi is killed or something this year without anything about the broader human/Espheni war being decided, and our ragtag team (and Volm rag-tag team) is on their own going into the final season. I just don't like what I've seen so far, or where it at least seems to be heading. Lol, don't they all? ;)

I love, love, LOVE that moment. Especially the expression on their faces after he asks for the hug. Lolololololol.

I was sooooo hopeful that once Lexi left we'd at least get through the rest of one episode without her, but no luck. Ah well. Nice that humans are totally evil and violent and all, but the Espheni are...what now? Whatever. Poor Tektor. I'm still surprised that he missed, and that he had no other plan than to take out one Skitter. Odd. (LOL at Tom -- totally teach me to shoot a civil-era weapon at a mark 700 yards away! We've got, like, an hour!) I assume Espheni Overlord is totally tricked by this incredibly clever ruse, as he's the same one who couldn't conceive of more than one person wearing clothing similar to the "Ghost" earlier this season. Still don't care about Sara, or about Pope finding someone to make goo-goo eyes at. It was nice to see Denny again. I'm hoping for the best for Ben. Sorry we lost Kadar. Sucks to be you, Lourdes (and Lourdes' dopey followers). So, there were only about 100 people with the 2nd Mass in Chinatown? How many were supposed to be in the Charleston ghetto? How many were with Anne? The kids at the Nazi school, aside from Matt -- they're parents/families were never 2nd Mass at all right? Does that mean there are decent-sized groups of people nearby wherever they are now? Wasn't the 2nd Mass bigger than 100? And is that 100 people, or 100 fighters? Didn't the 2nd Mass always travel with a non-fighting civilian contingent? Weren't there lots of civilians in Charleston (ghetto and pre-ghetto as well? I'm assuming that the gas line explosion took out the rest of what they planned to use for the second and third waves?

The one in the title gets me because we have a glimpse of a knife floating up from a kitchen table, hovering in mid-air, and then chasing a woman out of the room. Fantastic. "A vision of Christ in a half-eaten candy bar? Talk about my sweet lord! The Immaculate Confection, next on Sick, Sad World." "When these ballerinas work out at the bar, they work out at the bar. Tanked in a Tutu, when Sick, Sad World returns." "Meet the fly-fishing pathologist who uses human organs as bait. A Liver Runs Through it, next on Sick, Sad World."

Let's get this going... Mr. DeMartino: While we continue our discussion of CULTS, can anyone give me another example of a group using cohesive techniques such as peer pressure, chanting, and SOCIAL ISOLATION to achieve control over its members? Brittany? Brittany: Cheerleading? Mr. DeMartino: Ah Brittany, sometimes despite a complete lack of INSIGHT, you stumble upon an interesting answer Daria (to Quinn): Sometimes your shallowness is so thorough, it's almost like depth. Jake: You're nothing but a... A DAMN RADIO WITH DOORS! Daria: No, Dad and his inner child are playing in the driveway. Quinn: But he's supposed to pick us up at the mall. Daria: He's discussing that with the car right now. But the car seems to be saying you're taking the bus.

Interesting, ladyrott! After I read your post I went back to Netflix and checked, and it's there. But I knew I hadn't seen it and that it was a discussion point somewhere...so some "hand job"-related Google searches later (lol), I found this by Sepinwall... (*) [The hand job scene] was cut (along with several other scenes, including one where Skyler and Marie discuss the results of the auction, and the state of Skyler and Walt's marriage) from the pilot after the first few AMC airings. The DVD and iTunes versions are the original 58-minute version, while Netflix has lately been streaming the 48-minute version that doesn't have that scene. I wonder how people who started the show recently via Netflix feel about Skyler versus those who were first exposed to her with the longer pilot. So I'm not crazy! But now I need to rewatch the pilot, I'd forgotten there were other scenes cut from the pilot by Netflix at that time, I assume I've never seen those before either. I do wonder if there's any beyond-anecdotal connection between missing that scene and liking Skyler more/hating Skyler less (at least at the beginning or earlier on).

I watched BB on Netflix until the last few episodes (which I watched "live" as I was caught up) and this scene wasn't on Netflix, right? I read a column somewhere that posited that those who didn't see that scene felt differently from the jump compared to people who did. I still have never seen it, but I will say that though Skyler could be a nag, I didn't think that was a fatal flaw or terrible sin and it didn't make me dislike her at all. Almost immediately, she has to deal with her husband turning into a liar/secret-hider, then deal with the fact that he has terminal cancer, then deal with the fact that aside from the cancer he's still being a secret-hiding liar about something, and then that he's a drug dealer. All while she's pregnant. I'm one who liked Skyler a lot, was really disappointed that she ultimately took the path of least resistance when she found out the truth, and only started to dislike her when she decided she was pretty much all-in with Walt. I still had some sympathy in there somewhere (that whole episode where she tries to drown herself), but was truly disgusted by her making the video to discredit Hank. Lots of complicated things going on with her...

I agree that Ben wants to protect Lexi, and help her. But he hasn't been a "believer" in her or the Chinatown set-up and knows the Espheni Daddy is lying to/about her. I didn't mind him not picking up a pitchfork to join Pope's mob, but I didn't understand the treacly appeal to hope with Maggie either...that's what I thought was a WTF. The "I just need some hope so let's hope this works out" thing. I'd think he'd be wanting to work with Kadar, or the Volm, or whoever to see if there's anything they can do or try to prepare for to HELP Lexi, but not take a sit back and cross your fingers stance. I've been wondering that too. Aside from it being "west" of Charleston and wherever Anne's group was after the premier, we don't have any idea, do we? For that matter, where was Matt's Nazi Youth Camp?

Where's Dani? (The harnessed girl who has been a friend of his?) I'm not here for this "triangle," not one little bit. His little heartfelt speech to Maggie was my "WTF is going on/WTF did I miss moment?!" of last night's episode (there's always at least one per episode this season). Ben knows the Espheni dad is lying to and about Lexi, and hasn't been buying any of this Chinatown nonsense. He wants to protect Lexi as his sister, but that's it. Well, until this episode. Now he's going all after-school special, trying to melt Maggie's hardened heart about "hope." Um, what?!?! Really? And it works?? COME ON. My second WTF moment. I mean, Anne, at least, was there when Lexi whispered to her, Lourdes left, and the Espheni daddy had suddenly escaped, so... And, I assume this isn't even a question that I'm supposed to be concerned with at this point, but I keep coming back to it because it really bugs me... is Lourdes supposed to be brainwashed/under Lexi's control or not? Is she really supposed to be so entirely crazy that when Lexi's skin starts shedding and she instantly creates a lovely Espheni cocoon for herself, Lourdes main response is simply, "Something wonderful is happening"? What? MB's a really good actress. I felt something for Anne while she was just rocking back and forth freaking out ("I couldn't save him, I can't save her"), though I groaned when Lexi showed up in her head and thought the whole set-up for the drug-induced flashbacks was kind of silly. Good to see Karen again. He sure was. GMAB. I think it was Hal. And, yes! That's what I'm talking about, leave with the Volm and do that! But as long as the Masons are otherwise occupied, the 2nd Mass isn't about to do anything particularly interesting or productive. Lolololol. I have very little interest in Lexi becoming, in any substantial way, humanity's "savior" but can only assume that's where we're headed. Maybe she'll die by the end of this season, so we can get the show to kind of vaguely return to form for its last year? Like Ben, I want to have some hope!

I should probably have something more substantial to say about this ep, but my main thought right now is that it could have only contained the "Nun Shall Pass" book cover and I still would have been highly entertained. Lolololol. Okay, one more... I agree with some of the others here -- if the good Sister's biggest sin is vanity, I'll take that every day and twice on Sundays. I thought she was being real and not self-promoting with this one... Edit: Ooops, sorry, I must have gotten my eps confused. Thanks for adding the spoiler tag!

I'm fast approaching that point with Falling Skies...if it didn't have an identifiable end point (next season is its last), I would have to at least take a break this year, I think. I hope I stick to my guns and don't watch a minute of Homeland this upcoming season (or maybe just Carey Stoll's parts on YouTube or something, lol). For a recent one that's finished, in addition to anger, I felt a whole lot of relief watching the last episode of Burn Notice. I think I probably didn't do myself any favors by watching all the way to the bitter end. Bah! As for soaps, with One Life to Live and All My Children, I never really stopped watching them, but there were certainly periods where I wasn't watching religiously and didn't go to any particular effort to watch every episode. But with OLTL, my last "quiet" period was well before cancellation. AMC I had a harder time with more often. (I watched every episode of both online reboots, and would be there with bells on should either show ever come back again.)

That's TWICE now she's harmed a harnessed kid by beating the hell out of or straight up stabbing/killing the skitter or Espheni they are attached to. That they are attached to for HER and everyone's benefit by facilitating the conversations when needed. Ugh! Of all the changes, screw-ups, and confusions we've been subject to this season, the drastic change in Anne's character is the biggest individual character assassination. First, she goes from mild-mannered (but smart/strong) doctor to Sarah Connor over the 4 month jump in the first episode. Everyone around her is so okay with this that they allow her to lead the group despite the fact that there are much more seasoned fighters and soldiers with her (Anthony!) and despite the fact that she has no strategic or tactical plan in her head, and isn't concerned with ANYTHING besides finding Lexi, and doesn't care about anyone but Lexi. Having found her, Anne's brought her Lexi-tunnel vision to new heights/depths. Good grief. Am I supposed to believe that Lourdes got the drop on Anthony that quickly and well-enough for Espheni Daddy to immediately escape like that? Why is Anthony being written this way? And I still don't get what Lourdes' deal is. In the season premiere, I thought everyone in Chinatown was sort of spaced out somehow on some hippie-dippie peace-loving mostly gentle mind-control emanating from Lexi. Aside from Lourdes, Maggie was acting pretty hippie-dippie herself. But now Maggie's her old self, Ben is unaffected, so is the Good Doc Kadar, leaving just Lourdes as seemingly unable to control herself from being completely in Lexi's thrall. Why? It was! Okay, I straight burst out laughing at that, got some funny looks on the train, lol.

I agree that once he's in there and the kids turn on him, there's little Tom can do for the majority of them. I think I'm irritated more by the fact that all those kids have somehow supposedly been so thoroughly brainwashed and by the fact that Tom (and Weaver and Cochise) went there without even the vaguest, simplest, notion of a game plan to get Matt or to help the other kids. A three-person rescue party, two-thirds of which are effectively unarmed, is supposed to do what at a Epsheni run Nazi Youth Camp? That the kids didn't want to be rescued and Tom only had to beat the hell out of one teenager are not things they could have anticipated, so I didn't get what they were trying to do at all, aside from this being Tom's version of Anne's "I have to find Lexi no matter how ridiculous my actions are or what effect it may have on my team or others I might encounter!"

YES!!!!!! Oh man, I was waiting to see if anyone mentioned that..."And these...are my brothers" as they all menacingly surround him has me just dying laughing every single time. And the last younger boy who's introduced that jumps into Charlene's dad's arms right as Anthony's finishing. And the "That's up to you, son"? Perfection. I'm laughing just thinking about the scene now. I shouldn't be reading the DW board when I'm at work!

You got that right. I was a little pleased that Anne didn't go soft when Ben and Maggie told her about Espheni Guy and Lexi, and that Ben knows Espheni Guy is lying and said so. Of course, that doesn't help if Lexi is too dumb or too programmed or too Espheni to listen to what any human around her or human member of her family has to say, so bleh. I'm getting bored watching her go all Carrie-at-the-prom every time she's upset. I need to lessen my capacity for disbelief, but I couldn't BELIEVE that when told Matt's being held by the Espheni with a bunch of other kids, 1) they only send 3 people to go on the rescue mission. 3! and 2) only one of them was armed with something more substantial than a smallish knife, and 3) they had no real plan about what to do when they got there. COME ON. Between this and Jeanie, I think it may be time for me to take a break from the show. Okay, so ALL THE KIDS IN THE BARRACKS except for the Holy Mason Child and his sort-of girlfriend have been completely brainwashed (without actual mind control being used at all, apparently) in like, 5-6 months. As soon as they literally tuned into whistleblowers, Tom -- who didn't seem to go with any plan to get all the kids/as many as he could out, whatever he said to that one boy -- immediately gives up any notion of trying to save anyone. And, after seeing what's been done to all the other kids, he allows a child the same age as his son to sacrifice herself (at best, she's putting herself at risk at being completely brainwashed), create a distraction, and have herself left behind. W.T.F. Tom?!?!? Poor Jeanie and poor Weaver. That was...just awful...I mean, did he even get a chance to bury her? I was kind of assuming he would bring the body back with him so that our savior Lexi could bring her back from the dead AND "cure" her back to human, but geez, not even a chance of that now. Oh, and Jeanie's an older teenager, right? So, she gets the new, super-duper, "perfected" skitterization process, and STILL retains enough of her own self-awareness, identity, and free-will to follow her father and die saving his life...but the kiddies at Hitler Junior High can't withstand some propaganda videos and living in a boot-camp atmosphere? Really?! I should add here that whatever I think of the storylines, the actor who plays Weaver knocked everything with Jeanie and later with Tom right out of the park. Very moving performance, very well done. Never in the 3+ years I've been watching this show have I thought, "Boy, you know what's missing? A love interest for Pope!" or " Man, imagine if Pope was a hot blonde with great hair!" (aside from diesel and prescription drugs, that house must have had quite a bit of Pantene lying around). Sigh...

As a kid, whenever my friends wanted to play A-Team, I had to be "the girl" and I hated it. I wanted in the action! ;) Kids get things like this really easily. I also feel for the actresses, because I know how I felt in my friends' yards or at school recess. (Let me be Teela or She-Ra any day!) Still loved the show and enjoyed the movie...

I might be able to buy brainwashing of the younger kids in the camp (who aren't very young, kind of teens/pre-teens) if this was something that was started at the beginning of the invasion and they had been working on them for more than 4 months or so after several years of the kids living in a war against the Espheni, one where one of the major fears (aside from the complete annihilation of humanity) was of kids being harnessed and genetically engineered into drones. In any event, I'm with you -- I'm not sure it'd make the storyline work, but a later revelation that at least some of this kids are being forcibly brainwashed might help. Maybe? Not only was Karen around for the pregnancy-messing-with party, I thought that was the same Espheni guy who was talking to Tom and met with Lexi secretly (right?). Meaning that "harness all the adults and no more remnants of free will for you humans" guy is also "let's create a Chinatown haven with this hybrid I created where all you humans will choose to put down your weapons!" guy. Which makes no sense, even assuming that he's tricking Lexi and the Chinatown haven humans for some nefarious purpose. If there really are three very separate avenues being pursued by the Espheni, I guess I'll just continue to hope that the writers have any idea why any one of them would be pursued -- after what's happened over the last three seasons -- much less all three at the same time. I'm trying to figure out how the 2nd Mass will now get to either Chinatown or the Nazi Youth Camp. I guess Tom has some sort of thing that Cochise gave him that lets him know Cochise is around, maybe it'll start glowing again if they start walking in the direction of the camp? Also, I assume Anne isn't leaving Chinatown to look for anyone else now that she's found her Lexi...I actually thought Anne might wind up at the Youth Camp before Chinatown since they intercepted that truck full of kids, and I assumed they were going to the camp. Maybe Anthony will take some folks, wind up at the camp, find Tom/Weaver/Pope/Hal and the 2nd Mass there, and take everyone back to Chinatown. I'd prefer we didn't have the major action of the season (once everyone's back together again) happen there, but I don't see where else this might lead?

Well...that was the best episode of the season, though for my part, that's rather damning with faint praise. At least the part of the ghetto escape felt connected to what we've known of this show in the previous three seasons. Tom randomly and lengthily lecturing on a somewhat-related history lesson? Pope being an annoying pain, but coming through when it counts? The 2nd Mass leading an action when they're outgunned (this time they literally had NO guns, lol) and otherwise against the odds? Check, check, and check. So that was somewhat helpful. Not to say the ghetto-escape plan was without its problems. I mean...Tom is truly, honestly, for real a full-blown superhero now?! That last jump away from the explosion? Into some apparently really deep water we hadn't seen on the side of the building before (or at least, I hadn't)? And I thought the explosives they were using were highly sensitive, which my South African homie thought was crazy, given that he was going to be trying to climb/crawl over an electrified fence while possibly being attacked by skitters. So...Pope gets jostled by a flying skitter, drops the bag which snags near the bottom of the fence, falls from the top of the fence and the bag hit the ground (and Pope), and...nothing? Okay. South African homie couldn't have put the suit on while they were waiting for the go signal from Tom? After they're successful, they stand altogether, at what looks like a distance of 3 feet from the fence? They aren't worried about being attacked? Speaking of which, are the Espheni unarmed this year completely, am I missing something? All those skitters following Superhero!Tom these three episode haven't been shooting at him, right? The ship didn't shoot at the ghetto while Pope was trying to unplug the extension cord (did they shoot in the last episode when Tom was on the ship and they were throwing rocks)? The truck and the skitter Anne's group stopped didn't appear to be armed, right? And the only mech I think we've seen this season is the shut-down one in Chinatown with Lexi? What's going on? Okay, so Anne and her group have found Chinatown, so that's got to help move things along. I hope! So now Anne remembers that the Espheni straight up messed with her pregnancy directly, and it looks like the same dude who's been talking to Tom and Lexi this year. Not a big shock. I didn't much understand the rest of the Chinatown scenes -- still not clear where Maggie's head is at, or what everyone else in Chinatown actually thinks of Lexi, or why they aren't bothered by her sneaking around to chat with Esphenin guy, or what. And Nazi Youth Camp continue to make the least sense to me of all. Are we supposed to think our head youth Aryan guy has switched sides without any type of forcible mind control? Same question for the girl who brought in her parents? Matt's little girlfriend isn't that bright, is she? Sigh. Cochise in the house though, so that might get interesting. The camps just seem like a really, truly weird use of the Espheni's resources and attention, and I'm still not sure to what end they're aiming at. What does trying to convince kids about how awesome the Espheni are, and to snitch on their parents (and each other) have anything to do with; 1) turning every able-bodied adult into a harnessed soldier or grunt worker anyway, or 2) creating a wonderful, idyllic peace with hybrid Lexi as the leader? (Hell, what do those two ideas have to do with each other?) Still waiting for that new, major threat. And...the West...

Hmmm...well, I don't know that this episode helped clear things up or help get me more on track with where this season is headed. But my main confusion was the head Espheni guy on the ship with Tom who was talking through the harnessed kid. Espheni Guy: We've got a totally new plan. No more harnessing kids because since they're still growing, they're too unpredictable. And no more free will for harnessed people whatsoever, because that turned out to be a mistake. We just want completely controlled adults to do our fighting and grunt work and whatever else for us... But in the meantime, hey, this Hitler Youth Camp to convince the kids we rock seems like an awesome idea! Because...? Espheni Guy: Tom, we need you to be the bridge between us the humans, to be the human leader and the face of our bold new plan as outlined above. We will totally kill your family if you won't do it, but will spare them if you do. This is, like, really important to our efforts. What say you? Tom: Ok...? Espheni Guy: Great! I totally believe you, even though I literally JUST commented on the fact that you and the humans have been 100% resistant to everything we've tried since the invasion began, they're shooting at us now, and you were the Nazi ghetto masked avenger super-hero about 15 seconds ago. What are you still doing here? Go ahead and get back to all your buddies and take some food with you and get to all that leading, face-of-the-Espheni stuff! It's not like we're going to keep you here, or accompany you back, or even monitor you. We totally take your word. Go get 'em, Locutus! I have too many other questions to deal with (why are seasoned/experienced fighters so blindly following Ann when it's clear she's only rather psychotically going after Lexi rather than trying to do anything otherwise strategic or helpful? Was Maggie just acting last week when she seemed so hunky-dory with the whole Chinatown life since she seems so relieved to be able to talk to Ben? Did Espheni Guy say there's ANOTHER alien race about to get thrown into this fracas? Do the Volm know that? Weaver went after Pope with not one single other human being? Lexi's working directly with the Espheni? Where is the "West"? Like, the west side of town? The country? The universe?) but I guess I just need to adjust to what the show is, now.