whiporee

It doesn't matter what she said. What matters is what she says now.

I'm just glad there's no obvious alliance forming yet -- or if there is, they're keeping it off camera. It's been a long time, but that really took a lot out of the last season for me, so hopefully the producers nipped it in the bud -- and especially if they had the COVID time off to edit and strategize around it. I had an immediate distaste for Penn and Kim, but it went away once they stopped showing their videos. I don't like people who rush to center stage. Which, unfortunately for al old man like me, means I dislike large portions of the population these days. Aside from them, though, I didn't dislike anyone. The flight attendants energy and joy in doing it was a lot of fun to watch, so they are my favorites at this point. I like people who seem to find joy where they can.

My problem with Shan and Liana was that they were just lying about wanting to make a community statement. Shan lied to JD and stole his advantage. Liana voted Abraham out. They weren't concerned with community when they did those things, yet they were quick to throw them in the face of DeShawn, or used them as leverage during voting. I just find that distasteful. If you want to lie about your motivations, I'm understanding of saying whatever you need to say in order to stay alive in the game. But to then guilt someone for not agreeing to your term after you already violated them? That's not gameplay. it's just hypocrisy.

I'm only six episodes into season 2. There are parts of this show that make me laugh out loud, and I actually find the historical touches pretty cool. Like how Catherine still had to have the blessing of the nobles to actually try to do anything. But I do find the constant roundabout not as much fun. At some point Catherine needs to deal with Peter seriously, and she needs to simplify what she wants to do. The characterizations are fun, but I would like to seee at least some narrative movement.

If I'm betting, Naomi will set off the dud nuke. I like Duarte going back to the Dream of Mars motif. That was so important to so many people for so long. I don't know if Chrissy ever said this in the show, so I'm sorry if it's a book thing, but that was the real danger of the rings. The end of the Dream of Mars. She knew that the Dream had propelled generations of people towards a common goal, and now that goal was meaningless. Surprised there aren't nmore people like Duarte out there.

Here's a few tidbits from Tyson's podcast. It really enhanced my enjoyment this season, and I don't even like Tyson. The final one was with Cirie, and they were gold together. One thing that has changed in recent years is the jury talks alot about the game at Ponderosa. This didn't use to be the case. In the old days, you'd arrive, be sort of debriefed infront of everyone, and then the game was off limits for conversation. But now they talk and politic the whole time, so the votes have already been decided before the finale begins. Tyson told of one scenario where a group campaigned to stop someone not only from winning, but from getting second-place money. Someone had the votes -- I think it was Michelle -- and they campaigned at Ponderosa to get someone to vote for someone else. In other words, the vote was going one way, and during sequester they got it to go another. They both seemed to think this is a very unfortunate change in the game. I agree. According to them, the last thing you want to do after you vote someone out is say anything to them. Tyson thinks that Coach lost his final jury because he made an attempt to hug everyone before they left. He said the only thing that keeps you from trashing the place in rage is respect for the production crew. And Cirie agreed with him. That moment is so full of pathos and rage that all the person voted out wants to do is leave. They both also thought the immediate after party was cruel to Xander and DeShawn for the same reason. Both thought 28 days was for wusses. You're tired but you're not wiped out at Day 28. That's usually about day 33. The greatest thing you can have is the tarp. They thought that they couldn't play this new Survivor (Tyson tried and failed) but also doubted the current players could survive an old one. (that would be neat to see -- a season with, without letting them know, no idols, no advantages, no twists, no turns, just playing it straight the entire time. I'd like to see how these people who have been learning to strategize so much would do in those circumstances.) China was, according to the producers the worst. These new players talk too much.

On a rewatch, i realized that Tom wasn't just this leak. He was all the leaks. He was how Logan knew where to send the doughnuts. He's been feeding Logan intel all along.

Caroline's husband wanted a title. Logan got it for him. I'm not sure Tom sold them out. I think Logan patted Tom's shoulder as a way of fucking Shiv, who now will always doubt.

Listening to Tyson's Podcast (The Pod has Spoken, if you're interested), he's said that tribal council usually go on for two or three hours. There's a lot that is said that doesn't make the screen. Also that the producers ask them when they arrive who they plan to vote for, and they give that info to Jeffy. With that said, I wonder how much was edited out of the Very Special Conversation. Did anyone mention to DeShawn and Danny that two other AA player were voted out -- one of them directly by Shan, and the other directly by Lianna. Solidarity has been fungible for Lianna she far, and they ought to be aware of that as DeShawn feels guilty about breaking things up.

Took me two days, but I finished it. I know this thread is announced spoliers, but proceed with caution. It was a good book and a pretty good ending to the series. They spent a lot of the book making it seem like they were not going to make Jim the hero in the end, but he was the hero of the series, and he probably deserved to be the one who figured it out and saved the universe. They ran into the problem of too many characters and the nature of the enemy wasn't ever spelled out. Sentient light is the closest I got, or was it just a matter of the other universe just forcing its way through the gates -- that the Builders weren't actual attacking but just leaking into the book's universe. I was VERY concerned that they were going the direction of saying Duarte was right, so I was pleased that in the end his plan was working to destroy everyone but him. The endings for everyone were a little anti climatic. I was glad book Alex survived show Alex's problems, and in the end he finally chose his family over the Roci's crew. Jim and Naomi's goodbye was just a little bit -- not as much as I'd have liked, but to be honest the entire relationship felt forced all the way through. I would have really liked to have heard what the navigator was going to tell Jim before the Cant was destroyed. I ended up liking Teresa a lot, but Elvi never got any deeper than she first appeared. And I guess there's something cool about Amos (?) living on, but it does say something when the sociopathic bouncer is the one who survives. Neat that Miller came back, at least sort of. And I liked the end and the destruction of the gates and what that entailed for everyone. And that mankind found its way back together eventually. So it was a good ending, and I'm sad to not spend any more time with any of these characters. Good book, good series, and while I'm sorry it's over, it was a good ride.

Here's the good stuff: I thought Chips idea was good, and I thought the stuff with Alex showing what it was like going through COVID was good, and would have been must-see TV. But it needed to be a week later -- March 11 was when things started to look disastrous, but I don't think most people had really really settled into how crazy this was all going to end up. But I liked the idea of an American icon there and discussing what it was like would have been worth watching. And if you like Jennifer Anniston, it was worthwhile to see her -- forget this Alex person she was playing -- telling all of us to fuck off loudly and clearly. I don't like being told to fuck off, but I can see how that would have been cathartic to someone who has spent her. Now the rest: Corey used to be fun. This year he simply has not been. I don't know if it was because they were showing the pressure of the job, or because they thought it was more fun to show him breaking and losing his joi de vivre, but he wasn't entertaining or hopeful. He just seemed stressed and joyless. So if you take Corey out of this group, there's nothing fun anywhere. Nothing interesting about Bradley, unless it's 1996 and we're seeing hot girl-on-girl action between Nurse Hathaway and Tracy Schmidt. Nothing interesting about Anniston unless you just like seeing her melt down. Again. And again and again. I don't know enough about anyone else to care except Mitch. And in the end, he's the most intriguing character of the season.

I'm wondering if Mitch is really dead. He and Paola might have faked his post-crash death and are moving off to, I don't know, the Maldives. What would have been. good way to kill him, though, would have been for him to suffered injuries in the crash and then die from injuries in the hospital because he couldn't get care because of the COVID patients. This is the stuff that's really worrying me about the last two episodes. They are going to overplay COVID dangers -- even pre-vaccine, this is a disease that MOSTLY hospitalized and killed the very old. I don't think anyone on the show save Holland Taylor fits into that category.

Did we know about the second time? A lot happened, but I thought that was a hot mess. Too many stories -- too much up in the air. Now that he's gone. I wish they had stuck with the original premise and not made it a direct "Today" show parallel. I would have liked to have seen Mitch and Alex bounce off each other, and then Bradley gets tossed in to the mix. And I feel bad for Carrell, who signs up for a different show and then had them change it from under him. It would have given Aniston a chance to act instead of just being hysterical the entire time -- a SportsNight or Newsroom type show. Instead we got this entertaining giant mess of a show. Fun to watch, like MCU explosions, but not a lot behind any of it.

But Hannah didn't say no. I'm Mitch's age -- we were raised and taught that not saying yes is different than saying no. I understand it was wrong -- I understand that current morays see it much differently and that enthusiastic consent is a the way things should work -- but we were taught no means no. That's why he never considered that Hannah thought differently about their encounter than he did -- it's why he was okay saying something like he did to her about things working out okay for her (getting promoted to head booker). And he was used to women wanting to have sex with him. So he didn't think -- probably until Hannah died -- that he had done anything wrong. When the even took place -- late 2017 -- enthusiastic consent was just starting to become the norm in colleges. The Weinstein stuff didn't start to break until '17. Cosby wasn't convicted until '18. So even now, Mitch thinks he's a good guy. He's always thought of himself as a good guy. His identity was that of a good guy -- almost, it seems like Tom Hanks' level of America's Good Guy -- and now he realizes he's not, and will likely never be seen as a good guy again, no matter what he does. Everything he does is going to be seen through the prism of a not-good-guy, even through the idea of being a sexual predator. Paola doesn't see him that way. Maybe because she's the same age, maybe because she's Italian, maybe because, like the Second Sex said, she's responsible for her own orgasm. I didn't think there was anything predatory in what she did, no more so than what people had been doing in movies when it comes to these kinds of romances since they've been portrayed. He had a degree of confirmation -- she wanted him. So he had this moment with her, and then he had the rest of it thrown right back in his face. He'll never get away from it. So he let go of the wheel.

Canon is a strong word to use with Shameless, but I don’t they rewrite any history.

Do we have confirmation Mitch is dead? Maybe he’ll end up in a hospital and die of COVID that way. Or in the hallway like the first images of Italy were showing. I think Mitch is a fascinating character, and wish they would have spent more time with him. Because I still don’t think he thinks he did anything wrong. He asked women who worked for him to have sex. I don’t think he pressured or forced, but the power difference made it hard/impossible to say no. From his perspective, though, he could have thought they wanted to have sex with him. That does happen. Maybe Mia doesn’t regret it — maybe other people on the staff end up not pitying her or Hannah, but resentful of the fact that they DID get promoted there was a lot of stuff to do there, and the show decided not to do any of it. But it would be an interesting thing to see that dissected. I’d also like to know whether Hannah actually killed herself, or if she accidentally overdosed. Last year left that ambiguous— Hannah didn’t seem like she was suicidal, mostly pissed and distressed. That’s a long way from suicidal. Would a network or a person be liable if someone over medicated? the show is bonkers, which is fun. But they tend to self-answer a lot of questions they raise.

The New Teen Titans was my favorite comic; Robin was always my favorite hero. I followed the book until Wolfman left, and this incarnation was key to me. I remember the shock I felt in the new prestige format the first time they showed an unmarried Dick and Kory in bed together. I remember when Dick decided to hang up the tunic and grow up, the brilliance of the one-shot "Who is Donna Troy?" and the joy of Donna's wedding to ordinary guy Terry. The book dealt with hard themes, but the Titans were not a dark group. Dick, Donna and Gar were, at their core, optimistic, happy people. Even with her backstory, Kory was not damaged. Vic was doing the best he could. Raven was, for sure. Wally had dark moments and feelings of insecurity, but there was nothing hard about that book. These were kids with superpowers who were cool being kids with superpowers. Which is why I'm having a tough time with this incarnation. No one is having fun. You get the idea they are all tight with each other, but you never get the idea why they like each other. Everyone is moody all the time. I'll keep watching but I had hoped for something different.

Where does Bernard live?

Some randomness a few days later: 1. Nate's a dick, but Ted deserves to be called out for abandoning the team in a crucial moment of a crucial match, and he should have admitted it in the first place. I think that might be the way it plays out, but Ted should have given Crimm a comment, and then should have hooked ups Rebecca and (I guess, Keely, since she's apparently the PR department) of how to talk about it. 2. As has been stated, Rebecca has partners in the club; I don't know what percentage of the team is owned by other people, but it's a number, and she has a fiduciary responsibility to them (not to mention the town, the fans, the other players, her staff, whoever). To be fair on it, though, Trent should have talked to Ted before writing the piece, especially if it's a single anonymous source. I don't know English libel law, but that would be borderline libel unless he had good evidence it happened. 3. Keely might just have thought Nate's kiss was no big deals and wanted to show some compassion, especially once she saw Nate's reaction. She's probably been inadvertently/unwantedly kissed a whole bunch of times over her career as an influencer, and she has times she makes a fuss and times she doesn't. 4. Giles giving the shares back to Rebecca is part of the aforementioned plan to doubt Rebecca's competence and then force either a lawsuit or a shareholders' movement about the direction of the team. It's why he convinced Nate to go to Crimm with the story -- my guess is that the funeral scene was Rupert saying he respects Nate's coaching ability (or just complimenting him), and offering to buy Nate a drink sometime, and then Nate accepting, spilling the story and then Rupert tells him to go public for the good of the club. 5. if the world's taught us anything, it's that people as rich as Rebecca can do whatever the hell they want with their romantic life. But it could work into the plot point of someone trying to take Richmond from her in the aforementioned shareholder vote of confidence, which is what I guess we see next week.

No, I think she's mega rich. Private plane, chauffeurs, offering to buy the restaurant so Nate could get the good seat he wanted. The Christmas charity tour. Plus, she does own a major-league sports franchise. She's a long long long way from any middle class. She's no Beezos, but she's the richest person on the show (except for evil Giles) by far, and there are a lot of rich people on the show. And Sassy said so.

I have a long term Ted prediction, and it involves Christa: I think Ted's mom is going to be a monster. Or if not a monster, the kind of person who teases and criticizes constantly and aggressively. That's why he's always working hard to please women -- Sassy's comments about his eagerness, his wife's complaints, the biscuits every morning -- because he watched his dad kill himself, and he's making a connection between his mother's behaviors and his father's suicide. He might even blame her for it. He's trying to keep the women around him happy. So we might see Christa playing that part in a flashback. Ted's reaction to Jamie's father might not have been a response to the way Ted's father treated him, but rather his mother. She might have been brutal on his father, and then later on Ted himself -- maybe not mean, but the kind of aggressive, heartless and attacking person Christa plays very well. Jamie's father, after all, wasn't yelling at him like he did the last time -- he was mean-spiritedly teasing him. Ted didn't respond to the yelling; he did freak out a little after the aggressive teasing. Or, on a less bad note, she may have just left. But thinking about it, I think there are mommy issues at play here. Daddy ones, too, but if we get deeper into Ted, there's got to be a reason a guy like him -- so attached to family, to showing appreciation -- hasn't mentioned his mom very much. Just a thought.

I'll be tuning in mostly to see Rogers, The Musical, and really hope they pad the schedule just enough to squeeze the whole thing in. Because nothing could be better than a dancing Hulk, right?

Christa only plays Jorden/Ellie. I don't think they wanted Ted's wife to be mean, and I don't think I've seen Christa do anything un-mean in a while. She would be fun as Ted's loving but acerbic sister, though.

Especially for someone who prides themself on their curiosity.

I like that they are showing, in the end, Ted is not good enough for this job. He might be great a building culture, or being the guy to talk to about stuff, but he simply doesn't know enough about soccer to be a major league coach. I think that's what is getting Beard -- this started as a lark, but they've been at it two years now, with very limited success and very visible failures. They have a team that was in the Premier League last season, with the same players returning -- and added a legit superstar -- and not only did they get blown out in a marquee game, they aren't dominating the lower division they were relegated to. He's taken a mediocre Premier League team and turned it into a mediocre Championship team in just over a year. The team only got better when they brought in someone who knws what he is doing -- Roy. But Ted is just not good enough, and I'm glad the show is showing that, intentionally or not. I like Sam and Rebecca, though I think there'd be a lot more paparazzi around both of them. I had thought Ted's father had killed himself. That explains his therapy aversion more than his marriage counseling issues.