Ottis

I really like this show, and yet, I don’t understand any motivations: - Why is Clint afraid of Kingpin? Clint is an Avenger. - Exactly who did Clint kill as Ronin? And how many were there? I thought they were all criminals, and if so, these vengeful relatives of criminals are getting a virtuous take. - Why does Yelena think Clint killed Nat? Does anyone else think this? Wouldn’t even a little research turn up how upset Clint is about Nat’s death? I loved the Netflix DD series, and hope the whole thing ports to Disney.

Mike fell for Milo’s trap alright. And now some feds paid the price. If Milos can arrange all that he seems to be able to arrange, from giving Mike multiple women to trackers to whacking FBI agents, not sure what he needs Mike for. What task can only Mike do? Also, there seems to be a huge fear around the local gangs going to war in the streets, but given how infested the town already is, not sure that a war of attrition with gangs would be a bad thing.

Exactly, which is why I struggled with it. They don't seem like an organization anyone would look up to, and their behavior explains why so many people distrust them. How are they different than White Cloaks?

I like that the show is establishing the Aes Sedai as the power in this world. I don’t like how the AS are portrayed. The entire opening scene made the AS look more catty than wise or noble. They could have cut off the beginning and started when the “flame” asked Moiraine where she traveled. Aside from that, super slow episode.

I actually think it is inertia, and a little bit of subconscious fear on Rand's part of what might happen if he drew attention to Mat. Maybe they will be split up, or Mat will be assumed to be evil and need to be constrained. Rand would rather have his friend near him and weirdly sick then do something that could break them apart. It's also easier. At least until Mat is so sick, or does something so bad, that Rand can no longer take no action. Thanks to those that pointed out Rand looks like Anakin. That's why I have instinctively not liked this Rand, and he doesn't seem like an innocent village boy to me.

I figured out why this show seems like a kid version of better, epic fantasy and even sci fi shows. We are only 5 episodes in, we barely know most of the characters, and we are supposed to identify with various people dying, or losing their Aes Sedai, and long grieving ceremonies and speeches, or the nonviolence of the Tinkers met with violence of the Order of Light, or whatever transformation Mat is going through. We don't know them. It's difficult to care about them. Watching these moments seems like the show is being indulgent and lazy (or feels like it has to move fast to action). I wouldn't care if Mat died right now, or if we never saw the Tinkers again. So while we wait endless minutes for people to don white and mourn, or the sadistic Light leader to torture others, none of it really impacts me. The show needs to hop around, introducing the world and getting us to invest in it, and its characters, while giving us glimpses (defined as brief) of what those characters stand for. Later, once we understand them better, put them in situations that make us care. Ned wasn't beheaded until episode 9. In this episode 5, we are just starting to get to the point where we might care about some characters. Yes, the show is doing a nice job of depicting them as dicks. Another episode or two and we will really be rooting for them to die. That's how it should work. Oh, whoops. Blew that one, too.

Now I'm *really* confused by the premise of this show. Even with all the "fixing" by the McCluskey brothers, they call their own town "Beirut" and spend most of their time fending off the results of what they "fixed." Is the premise that they suck at fixing things? The other weird part is that no one really seems to hate Mike and his family business. There is no Kingpin, or Cottonmouth, or main antagonist. Various people get irritated at him, but for some reason they work with him. Which is surprising, given how bad he seems to be at the job. Maybe shooting the pizza guy will be the beginning of a lesson. I assume the younger brother's job offer will be retracted now. I'm fascinated by how the show is clearly trying to make "Kingstown" itself a character, what with all the overhead drone video shots and music reminiscent of House of Cards. The problem is that, unlike Washington DC, I have no idea what we are seeing or of its significance. The port? OK, great. Some kind of molten metal in a moving car, so a factory of some type? I don't know. Lots of smokestacks for ... something. I thought the town was about prisons, and yet we get way more shots of industry. Don't understand. Clearly Iris is a long con, and there will probably be "feelings" by Mike and Iris, and then they will try to escape Milo. As others have said, Milo's purpose as stated makes no sense. Have Iris screw Mike, and in turn ask Mike to buy the land being auctioned? That seems a stretch. Still, I like Renner and the quality of the show. Hope it makes more sense soon.

I don’t understand this show. The brothers are/were apparently fixers, and broker deals among various factions. Often the deals are shady ranging to illegal. Ok, fine. And yet he seems to have these issues of conscience? Or is just annoyed at having to deal with others? He is like the Michael Bluth of the almost underworld. And in this ep, he is mad because the deal he brokered went through, so he now owes factions? His mom hates what her sons do. And he has some mysterious felony past. And everyone on the show doesn’t believe in being happy. And the show plays trippy 70s Vietnam music. Not sure what the upside of all this is. There is talk of “keeping the peace,” but it seems like a pretty violent place already. What does worse looks like, maybe the gangs wipe each other out. I like Renner and the setting. I don’t understand the overall point, though. Not yet, anyway.

I watched for Renner. Enjoyed it so far but want to understand more of their ope ration.

This was boring as hell until the last 10 minutes. I had to sit down twice to finish it. Still think all the sisters should be wearing leather, not cloth. Why does there always have to be an emotional dumb ass?

Not digging this ep, unlike the first one. Book has become a stand in for season one Michael. “Are you OK, Book?” “Don’t do it, Book!” Book is sad. We get it. Losing tether didn’t bother me. They said the tether was an extra step to maintain the hologram, they didn’t say the hologram wouldn’t work without the tether… and they had crept closer to Discovery. Finding out the anomaly can change direction should be a positive. Now they just need to find its motivation, vs. watching it destroy everything in its path forever.

Cold open was so annoying I had to fast forward after a few minutes. Pretty much all media agree that, given the facts of the case and Wisconsin law, the verdict was appropriate, so mocking it felt like sour grapes with an agenda. The whole time "Staten Island" was on, I couldn't tell what was true and what was a stereotype, and therefore whether the video was a documentary or lazy. In the end, it seems that most of it was simply true, which, as a non New Yorker, made me sad for people who live there. The "First Asian" skit was enjoyable, and a little surprising coming from SNL. Karaoke was also good for a few chuckles - it's funny because it's true. Not sure what's funny about a dog in a shirt. Pretty dog, though. The ruined the cake bit again, and it perplexes me. It works best (and it did both the first time they ever did this skit, and in this ep when they got to the last cake) when the contestant *doesn't realize* that what they made is awful, or pornographic, or whatever. Their lack of awareness is what makes the joke. When the contestant openly says "my cake sucks" as they are presenting it, it isn't funny anymore, because yes, their cake sucks. That's why the "rocket" shaped cake with the white icing was by far the funniest part of the skit.

It might. But I have to say that the show's effort in adding diversity was actually distracting to me. Why, in a tiny mountain village where apparently no one leaves and has been there for a long time, would some of the characters who were villagers look like they came from another continent (including Egwene)? I get that visitors, like the peddler, might look different and that makes perfect sense to add diversity, as will people who they meet as they travel. I've read this show was expensive to make, but aside from the Trollucs, I'm not sure where the money went. Most of the shots were of small spaces, it didn't feel very grand, and most of the landscape shots that were supposed to feel grand had a ton of CGI. And so much of it was so, so dark. I also didn't understand the Trolluc battle. Moiraine's counter seemed to randomly attack Trollucs, some who were nearby and some who weren't, while also missing other Trollucs who were just around the corner. Seems like anti Trolluc magic should seek out any Trollucs who were nearby. Yeah, I agree. It has been a long time since I read the books, but shouldn't Moiraine's clothes have been red leather? It looked like cloth. I'm glad to have the show on the air. Let's see how it goes.

I actually think it is the opposite, and for that I'm glad. I think the show did a nice job of setting up a reasonable position, posited by the president, that Michael is extremely qualified but her flaw is her need to basically be dramatic (in the interests of saving people). The way the show had the president talk about this makes me hope they continue to make the debate reasonable and not all "Michael is always right." Because "Michael is a snowflake" nearly derailed the first seasons of Discovery. I dug everything about this episode except naming the space dock Archer, given Enterprise was the only ST I ever quit watching because it was so, so bad and un-Trek. Shoot, I have even seen every animated show. I loved the camera movement in the crises, from one key person to another as they examined and solved the problem. Loved the upside down station. Loved the Trek warm and fuzzies about "that's what we do" re: Starfleet. And I loved the horror of the ending and what had happened. Apparently we have a mobile planet destroyer as the baddie, which I also like. Not an intelligence, not a war - a natural phenomena (at least, as far as we know) that is wreaking havoc. Trek needs to be about something (other than smug captains, Archer) to be great. Discovery started to find that place with Pike, and now has continued it with the evolving Michael. Now it just needs to keep showing "modern" camera techniques and interesting new concepts. I hope it stays this way. P.S. Did anyone actually mention Kirk in the Maru dialogue? If so, I didn't hear it.

It took me a second to realize what the show was implying at the end, with the girlfriend in Chile, the two wine glasses and then finally the toy airplane that Amado had been seen with earlier. I had assumed it was her way of hoping each day for his return at first, and it was sad. But I looked up the real life story and saw how some people today believe he was successful in his plastic surgery and escaped, and I appreciated that ending much more. This whole season felt like a transition to something else. Maybe other shows about the same characters? Unrest among the cartels in various states, Chapo in prison, Breslin transferring ... none of it led anywhere in particular. Not complaining, though. It was a glimpse into the impacts of drug-related violence on all sorts of people, some civilians. And from what I could see online, it all continues today. The B plot about Tapia was heartbreaking. A cop in a corrupt police force finally grows to care about something, puts himself in danger trying to protect innocents, nearly wrecks his marriage (?) with his late night pursuit of the killer, finally thinks he has the guy... Ugh. Yeah, aside from the plane part, and some generic comments about creating disconnected cells, I didn't see what was so special about that system as presented by the show.

The first time I ever heard Swift sing live was some years ago, when she appeared on one of those morning shows ... Good Morning America or something. I don't think she had even broken big yet, and I watched her performance and was astounded at how bad of a singer she was, just off key and a weak voice. I marked her down as yet another dime-a-dozen "country" singer who wouldn't do well. And I have been astounded since then at what she has become. I haven't really heard her sing live since, so I have no idea if she has gotten better. Mostly I see headlines about her past relationships. Points for going for it in the "sad virgins" video though. I did not know who Jonathan Majors is. I still am not sure. He did seem nervous. Enjoyed the First Baptist sketch. WU seemed a bit muted this week.

The strangest thing about this show is that the setting and plot of each episode resembles an actual ST show, and then they ruin it with Dal. Even “my progeny” acts like a realistic character, and Rok and team are kiddie stand ins for the wonder of exploration. Dal? Is just a tool. And using the logic of the rest of the show, he should have died on the planet.

So help me out, what is this show an allegory for? The choice of a religious war to destroy Earth is a really odd and outdated one. It feels like something that would have happened in the Middle Ages, not in a scientific future. So there must be a reason for that, and I assume it is the framework of the allegory. I find Mother fascinating as hell, a woman who truly does have all the power. And she also seems unstable. The combination both fascinates me and terrifies me. I don't care much about the Sol warriors, their religion, and especially their obsession with finding the kids. Finding the kids to offer them what? Certainly not a better life. Their religion? But again, why religion? I would like the show more without the Sol group. And without most of the kids. The planet, Mother and Father and how they react and survive would be enough. But the show must be trying to Tell Me Something, given its choices. I'm just not sure what that is, yet.

All I saw the whole show was the host's stupid ass haircut. He was one short 'stache from a full Adolph. At times, I kept thinking he was Toby McGuire. Never watched Succession, the commercials look too much like a soap opera. So is all the media brouhaha about the fact that Cecily, in her WU clown sketch, acknowledged she had an abortion at 23? It's like everyone is talking in code and I'm not quite sure. Partway through the sketch it occurred to me that was what she was doing, but even so, aside from saying she did and why, I'm not sure what else the sketch said to get all the headlines yesterday? I suppose it is topical with the SC involvement today. I need to watch the bit again. The Spectrum commercial was very good, though a variation of what has been done many times (usually with cable companies, sometimes airlines or phone companies). It's hard to cancel a lot of things these days. I've had to dispute cc payments a couple of times to stop payments and service. What I really want to know is, which consultant came up with the advice to hide the ability to cancel service as an ethical tactic, and who accepts it at each company? The Trump impression was good in a way Baldwin's wasn't, but was lacking in ways Baldwin's was good. The new guy has the voice inflections down, but he doesn't seem visually convincing. The 90s horse sketch was mostly boring, in the way that all sketches whose whole joke is that it resembles another era is boring. I kept waiting for something funny to happen, but it was really just "Hey, remember the Avril Lavigne vibe?" Note: Yes, she hit big in the early 2000s, but that whole "skater boi" thing was hers.

OMG Cyborg daddy, enough with the implied racial grievances. The opening Dada crap reminded me of my time in college, when I would visit a fellow student who majored in theatre and lived in a house with other theatre majors. The Ethel Merman impressions, the overacting, the drama… it was exhausting. Which brings me back to this episode. How do these people function with so much guilt and anger and shame. Around and around we go, ep after ep. It’s like watching those long ago theatre majors, focused on how to sing a line in a showtune instead of, I don’t know, hold a coherent conversation. About halfway through this ep, when Clare rang the doorbell, I imagined a soap opera filter on every scene, with overly dramatic gestures and reaction. And it fit, perfectly. “I finally feel like the person I am supposed to be!” Good grief. I so enjoyed the first season of Doom Patrol. It felt like a new direction in hero shows. Since then, though, it’s like a new agenda has taken over. Like a mental health organization started writing the scripts. It’s as interesting as a soap opera, which to say, it isn’t interesting.

Killer blanket fort. I try to put myself in the place of the writers. In which direction do we take a show that has wondrous characters and fabulous and whacky quirks. And I decide to… make it virtually incomprehensible. Subconscious memories and shame, yay? Hi Brendan, good to see you again!

Thank you for your reply. It has been a long time since the previous season so maybe I forgot something. If not, then having that symbolic character pop up randomly seems as likely as having, I don't know, someone Billy knew in Vietnam that we had never seen before show up suddenly.

It did? What was the reason given at the end? After watching the entire season, I don't know why there were any fantasy sequences. They just told us things we already knew (McBride sees himself as a hero of the people) or helped McBride work through things in his subconscious (which he could have done in much less drawn-out ways). The last 2-3 eps were more like what I had hoped for, however, I struggled with the issue of opioid drugs being presented as so black and white. Maybe because when I had wisdom teeth taken out 10 years ago as an adult, I was prescribed a couple of medications and Oxy was one, and I was warned then by my dentist to go easy on those and that they could lead to addiction if I wasn't careful. I chose not to take them at all, and got by on over the counter stuff. So it makes me wonder, how many doctors actually blindly prescribed those medicines without ever warning their patients that they could be addictive? And how many patients took them anyway, and became addicted because of their own actions? And whether the pills were free for a week or a month, what difference does the actions of people like George make when, in the end, patients are the ones who choose whether to take them or not? Because of that, some of this fell flat, especially McBride's big speech in the courtroom before the judge warned him he wasn't a lawyer in this trial. It came off as very sanctimonious, especially from a guy addicted to cigarettes and alcohol.

Is it just me, or does that new impression seem to come really close to Nicholas Cage several times each skit? It's the way he lets each sentence end in a sort of hiss. I keep expecting Biden to talk about stealing the U.S. Constitution.

Jason S has always been “generic white guy” to me on SNL. Never seen Ted Lasso, but I imagine he is the same there, and that show is as inexplicable a hit as Schlitt’s Creek, the broadest, most predictable sitcom since According to Jim. But I digress. The monologue was just weird, with its switch from mild comedy to sudden seriousness. And pretty much every skit after that, Jason S seemed off. His science teacher should have been more unhinged, his Annie character should have been darker, his kindergarten character should have been more over the top rico suave, etc. I guess that’s a range issue, or just poor takes. Overall, it felt like all the skits missed because the host’s take wasn’t quite right. WU was on fire, though. “Wal-Mart shoppers,” heh. P.S. OK, his red track suit guy was alright.