Ottis

Yawn. A big mistake to bog this down in a hostage situation. Snore. "Stop meddling and let us get to work?" The whole situation is so half-assed and implausible. And so very, very slow. This show repeats a lot of odd lines. "Lay in the cut," or "stalking" something. I guess you are required to say "Misti Knight," as well as "Luke Cage." No partial names. This show has become less and less interesting.

The moment Liz told Tom her "deception" would fool Kirk, we laughed out loud. Yes, Liz. That will work out I'm sure. "That's our guy!" Genius, Liz. Worst bad guy chase ever. Where the bell was Red for most of this episode? Mr. Kaplan.... your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back. Not sure why we should care that you are a prisoner, but at least that's less screen time for Liz and Aggie.

Glad you are enjoying them, but I find them becoming more tedious. "Luke Cage" (you have to say both names, apparently, no one calls him "Cage") has an endless succession of bad guys and girls, each of which seems to be related to him, or each other, by blood, marriage or budding love. Meanwhile, nothing gets any better. And now we have my least favorite plot device - the framing of the good guy. So we have to wait this out before we can return to our regular programming. Can we have Luke defeat someone, make a few decisions and roll on?

Stryker was limping. Almost staggering. I find the endless, connecting Luke/bad guy back story annoying. Can we get it out on the table and move forward? I keep hoping Daredevil drops in. Unlike others, I didn't find Cottonmouth interesting. His back story was decent, but he never seemed especially competent nor dangerous. Mostly he failed. I also find the music weird and distracting. Not the acts at the club. The background music during scenes. And is it required that everyone say "Luke Cage," vs. just "Cage?"

Scene with Liz or Agnes. Skip. Alias-like scene with the gang on an operation. Not bad. Red? Always good. I fell asleep and dreamed Lizzie did something halfway competent on the FBI office. What was that stupid promo for next week? "A mother scorned?" Yes, I am sure everyone is terrified of that look of vague interest and self indulgence in Lizzie's eyes.

This show was so predictable. From the make up of the trio chasing Flynn (which we predicted from the first scene with the female lead as "genius scientist who is the only one who can make this work, then a soldier body guard and finally a nerdy but talented scientist") to the "you might change events but fate still causes some things to happen (i.e. the reporter dying, this time from a gun shot) to the "they still changed something personal in the timeline - the mom and sister/daughter," were were correct on 100 percent of our predictions. BTW, the soldier boy wanting to rescue people was unforgiveable in a show like this. The number one rule, the only thing that should have been stressed in the limited time before they left, was "don't change anything outside of your mission, no matter how hard." Make them watch "City on the Edge of Forever" at least once. He was a rube. I'm afraid this show will look pretty and give us the guilty pleasure of reliving historical moments, but the plots will be so cliched and recycled that we will tune out in boredom. Please prove us wrong, show. Which, BTW, is more like Stargate than anything, IMO.

Or any of the other half dozen conversations between hosts that we hear, in the bar and elsewhere. I can see them saying hello, or certain lines about their surroundings. But these hosts have discussions about life, with no guests around, that are essentially unnecessary. They would know when a guest gets close, and can put in motion what they need to. I still don't understand how any guests knows who is another guest. Did I miss an explanation?

I'm glad this episode sort of addressed why the hosts have their own conversations when no guests are around. That is puzzling to me, not because they do so but because the content seems so varied. What is the purpose? It confused me enough to twice think a human was killed. Also, I'm intrigued that the changing room host understands the guest's question about whether she is real, while other hosts seem confused by it. Thought her answer was too anvilish, though.

You missed some lines. While the WF scandal was about accounts, in the skit there were lines about credit cards and, because the "kid" had an account, "an exploding mortgage." My point was that the implication of the entire skit was that the bank took advantage of people, when in fact the characters were too stupid to understand what was being offered to them and said yes, anyway (in the real world as well for mortgages and loans), and the actual WF account scandal happened without most people even knowing about it.

I really hate broadway/play humor. It feels like everyone is shouting and over acting. The cast party looked as sad as I remember theatre kids being in high school, so more sad than funny. I am a huge sci-if fan and have never watched Stranger Things. The Wells-Fargo skit was trying to say one thing but actually highlighted the fact that consumers are stupid and should really know at least something about finance before committing to loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Really enjoyed WU, even the flubs and Jimmy's accent issues. The inside NY intro to the ending war scene ending was perfect for this episode, which felt like it was aimed at about 10 percent of the audience. The butt plug stuff was pretty good as a subtext to the whole theatre night theme.

ITA. And beyond that, why the hell is she with Paul? He is a decent guy, with (generally) her best interests in mind, but he doesn't at all fit what she seems to be interested in. It's almost like some small part of Lindsey, buried deep inside, knows she *needs* a guy like Paul, but the rest of her rebels against it. I would find Paul generally annoying, but in this episode he showed that he can join the others on an impromptu adventure - I would not have expected that. Maybe there is more to Paul than we have seen.

Barry is an idiot. Best line of the night: "Have I been kidnapped?" "Hmmmm, unclear."

I wouldn't trust ANY system to protect me from other "newcomers." I better be in a fantasy in which me, or my party, are the only humans, or I'm out. Because people are idiots. The way the show touched on morality was fascinating. You first go as a "good guy,' doing all the things an upstanding citizen does, and you soon get bored. Then, in that "safe" environment, out of boredom you choose to be a "bad guy" - and love it. Interesting implications there. Unlike Walking Dead, which is a change in reality over the long-term, and wears people down, this is a fantasy place where you can be almost anything for a day. It's human nature to want to try the different paths. Video games allow that all the time. But how far down the path? After 40 years, you have moved to rape? Because you were bored? You were bad? Are all people like that? I like the way it is presented.

Actually, Liz has botched pretty much everything she has been involved in since this show started. Not this episode, this *show.* And while some of that was due to the show's need to have Red look all-knowing, a lot of it had nothing to do with Red. Liz as a character is a failure. She is overly self-absorbed, becomes distracted by her own issues at critical times, allows her emotions to affect her decisions and shows almost no competence at even the basics of being an FBI agent. Adding to it is the fact that some of the acting choices by the actress have contributed to that. In fact, despite the show's central premise that ties Red to Liz, Liz is an anchor that is sinking Blacklist to the bottom. When she was "dead" last season, those were some of the best, most thought-provoking episodes of the series. Every time Liz comes back on the screen, and Red, and the FBI, and Tom, and lord knows who else spend most of the episode chasing her (and now, her baby), it's a huge yawn. The fact those FBI characters seem to care so much about her makes absolutely no sense, given her past professional actions. They should want nothing to do with her. As for this episode, I FF'd through every scene with Liz, and heard the last line as my DVR went back a few seconds. I missed nothing. A lot of "you're not my father, I hate you" angst and then a "wait, I did live here" memory and a "awww, you're my dad" realization. Who. Cares. Yawn. The scene with Red and Mr. Kaplan was BY FAR the most poignant, meaningful piece of the episode. It made the Liz stuff seem like a high school video project. As for Red's perspective over Mr. Kaplan's betrayal, we can wank our way to whatever we ourselves believe about his motivations, but the main pint is that Mr. Kaplan not only lied to Red but did so about his inexplicably precious Lizzie in an attempt to permanently separate them. All of those are fatal actions in Red's eyes, but as he said, ultimately Mr. Kaplan was one of his most trusted confidantes ("I know all your secrets," she says to him), and the combination of her lies and that status meant he had to shoot her. Tom doesn't know what she knows. Neither does the doctor who made it look like Liz died. Only perhaps Dembe fits the same category as Mr. Kaplan. BTW, I don't think Mr. Kaplan is dead. I even wonder if her shooting is a ruse.

I'm not sure anyone has ever uttered that sentence in relation to the Kardashians.

Agree, and here is the thing: The show isn't half as good at this as it thinks it is. Edgar clearly has had PTSD for most of the series. And in the episode prior to this, when Gretchen and Jimmy call Edgar for a ride and we see him sitting outside, drinking booze alone, he is obviously having renewed issues. When they criticize his pancakes and Edgar said "It was kind of a rough night," it's obvious something is going on, and just as obvious that Lindsay and company don't pick up on it. There are little hints all over the place two episodes ago, and even prior to that. We do not then need an entire episode that is essentially a PSA about PTSD and the inept VA. Just keep going. Keep the humor, make Edgar's story part of it, and you can still show the same things. Gretchen's depression last season, which also annoyed me, was the same thing. No need to stretch it out, making the show All About Gretchen's Depression. Make each character's issues part of who they are and how they act. Let the viewers see it and sort it out on their own. Put away the anvil. In both instances, it felt like someone on the show had a personal agenda. And it was unnecessary, because what makes this comedy different is that it is about broken people. How they are broken, and how they are trying to cope with it, or mend it, or ignore it, has always been part of who they are and how they act. And it was still funny, if at times darkly so. Getting on a high horse about it makes the show worse, not better.

That tool is flawed. It sees no difference between "You suck balls," and "Will you suck my balls?" Both are equally negative. Maybe it has an agenda? ITA. We were both floored at the way she explained that, because everyone watching at our house would have been at the airport.

Don't think anyone suggested this should be a new version of King of Queens. This episode was a drama. Period. I don't think there was even a laugh, unless you count dark humor like Edgar sneaking up on what he thought was a crime in progress and realizing it was the paper boy. If YTW wants to be a drama, that's awesome. I would stop watching it, because there is enough drama on TV and in life. I started watching this show because it made me laugh, and the fact the laughter stemmed from people who were all broken in some way made it more genuine, and sometimes more real, than most comedies. But as a short version of The Deer Hunter? No.

I guess we changed out the writer from last season with depression in his/her family with one who has a personal connection to PTSD. Look, this episode was done well, and Edgar acted the heck out of it, but it would be like Gilligan's Island doing a show on rape. These PSAs don't work for me in this show, and I was disappointed that it went there. The only lesson I learned was that Gretchen and gang are as tonally deaf to Edgar's issue as Edgar's issue is to this show.

Good question, and one I hadn't considered. I think I assumed Belichick (NE) was a jerk and low balled, but that's a huge difference even if you include that factor. Probably would have gone down smoother if they had Dallas or Washington overbid instead of NO. then you could blame it on Jones/Snyder. This is where the show's inability to give us footage of the players on the field hurts, because we don't see anything special about Ricky without that context. BTW, thank goodness Spence went to the doc. Not sure what was going on with his hip at the end, but that discoloration screamed blood poisoning or gout/amputation. Get thee to a doctor.

I live in Denver, and this is in fact a big deal. A very big deal. I know, because our first house had a south-facing driveway, and our second has a north-facing driveway because I wasn't paying attention. Because of the altitude, when the sun shines -even in the winter - it is more intense than most anywhere else. So if it snows 2-3 inches overnight, a south-facing driveway, which gets more sun in winter, will melt all by itself in a matter of hours. In a big snow, its possible a foot will melt in a day, with no help from you. In contrast, a north-facing driveway (like ours), DOESN'T MELT. The snow sticks and often freezes. We've been out with brooms to sweep small snowfalls away, because if you don't, it lingers and become ice. Big snows freeze and become car hazards. Our neighbor across the street enjoys heckling us when we shovel, pointing out "That looks like a lot of work!' while his driveway is bone dry due to the sun. Bastard. As for snow in July... no. But let people think that. Maybe it will stop them from moving here. The temperature on Mt. Everest ranges on average from -4F to as much as -60F. No amount of sunlight will melt that snow. The combination of Denver being closer to the sun, our semi-arid climate and dry air, our more frequent sunny days than most regions and habitable temperatures all contribute to relatively quick snow melts. Even at +10F I have seen my neighbor's snow melt on a sunny day, and melt very little or not visibly on a cloudy day.

To which I repeat: "If Stage 2 works, and they erase debt, what is their goal? Complete anarchy? If so, to what purpose? And they have more than an inkling now that whatever they do next will likely hurt regular people more than anyone. At this stage, they all just seem selfish. Or disturbed." It's hard to care about anyone on this show when the goal(s) of the main characters simply seem to be destruction of a society where they don't fit in. That's the ultimate self-indulgence. At least in season one, when Elliott used his skills to out people who deserved it, there was a point. I'm starting to feel like Mr. Robot is a show that is trying to convince us how cool it is, when in reality it is a highly stylized repeat of cliched plots with little depth.

I keep thinking about all the cool things Red could be doing if he weren't chasing Lizzie and Agnes all the time. So disappointing. During the summer, EW had a brief Q&A with a show runner/producer who talked about how upset fans were that Lizzie was killed. Who? Who was upset? Anyone? This show is so much better without her.

True, however, as the show played out Ricky's situation, the offers didn't all stream in. There was a lag, with little movement. I think Miami made a subpar offer first. Then Spence and team working the phones. Then an offer from NO. Then Ricky trying to make a decision. Then, when he had made a decision, another offer, from Buffalo. Then, later, a very cheap, one-year offer from NE. This all took place over a number of days or weeks. So it isn't like Ricky was a highly coveted free agent with multiple offers. It took time, and his team working the phones, to make it happen. That was my point. And if that's the case, then I don't see how HoF over his last three years factors into his decision, because he doesn't appear to be viewed that way. This isn't Reggie White going from Philly to GB, with many teams courting Ricky. This is a "convince me" process, both ways.

I couldn't figure out what they were going for with Penny's family. They all seemed nice enough and generally bland. And yet the brother had been in prison for meth, something the mom and dad seemed fairly congenial about. Katy's mom had no bite at all, which seemed like a waste. She didn't need to be nasty like Leonard's mom. She could have been more Brooke Shields on The Middle. And the dad was just a blank canvas. I don't watch BBT all the time - are we supposed to believe that Penny came from a boring family? Because if that was "white trash," then apparently most everyone I know is white trash. No family is perfect. That one was barely there.