dangwoodchucks

Apparently Brienne and Pod are the only ones not aware of Littlefinger's teleporter or else they would've been at Winterfell by now. That library was amazing. I liked Cersei's crown. Loved Jaime's "wtf have you done?" look. Davos got me all hot and bothered when he stormed angrily into the room to tell on Melisandre. Dude's hot. Where the hell is Ghost?

Ew. I guess that means Briana will be hooking up with him now.

That explains why everyone's list of complaints never included how bad they needed to pee. Loved everyone's photos with Alberto, they looked so happy, well, except Jenna I think. Devin actually showed a little personality, and Nate and Christina are starting to grow on me. Considering he thought they were goners because he didn't jump out of the airplane to start, Nate and Christina are doing pretty well. This was a fun challenge to watch, and it's not done yet. TJ said at the beginning there was to be no leaning on each other. At one point Corey was bent over to relieve his back and Ashley had her head down on his back. Seems like leaning to me. So Camila is going off and John orders her partner to shut her down. When Camila was ranting while she was John's partner on BOTE he ordered Paula to take care of it while he watched. Why do these people blindly follow his orders and not think for themselves? He's totally to blame for what happened. He knows exactly how to push Camila's buttons which got her started in the first place after Vince knocked her down. Tony may have been drunk but he was asleep and not bothering anybody until John woke him up. This could have ended a lot worse than it did. John is a dick. A conniving, manipulating dick. I'm disgusted with BMP for the way they seem to promote him as the "star" of the challenges, and also how many of the other players treat him as such. Ugh. I don't see how Camila can watch herself on these challenges and keep coming back without resolving to do something different. If you know alcohol will set you off, don't drink. If you can't stay away from alcohol, don't agree to come on these things. If you act like this without alcohol, seek help.

Our power had been out since a severe storm came through last Thursday, and it finally came back on yesterday morning only to find out that Comcast was out. The nearest Starbucks turns their Wi-Fi off when they close at 9 so my husband and I had to go to Panera and watch the bastards battle on an iPad mini. The struggle is real, people.:) Yay for the dragons being out, I thought they'd need shades since they'd been in the dark so long. Still don't care if Dany makes it to the throne or not. I'm gonna need a rewatch to get the full effect of the battle but it seemed awesomely done. So many needless deaths, and every one of those soldiers could have helped battle the WW. I would have preferred it if the Bolton, Karstark and Umber armies would have just said "fuck this" and deserted Ramsay after he refused to do battle with Jon one-on-one in order to avoid a war. Ok, when Jon was on top of Ramsay punching him in the face repeatedly, all I could think of was Ralphie punching Scut Farkus and muttering obscenities in "A Christmas Story".

Hell, I thought once Edmure and Rosalyn were carried out for the bedding ceremony he was immediately taken to the dungeons since the killing began shortly after that. Mighty nice of the Freys to allow him a wedding night :/ I was just thinking the other day how nice it would be if Nymeria had met a nice direwolf, settled down and had some pups. They could fight the WW alongside Jon and avenge Summer.

Last time we saw them their chains were taken off but they were still in their basement apartment.

Varys left by ship, right? I wonder if he made it out before the slavers arrived. I too think Yara will show up and defeat the slavers. That will certainly make a good first impression for Dany. Maybe they can even save some of the ships for Dany's quest to take the Iron Throne (which is taking as long as the White Walkers are taking to get south). Perhaps while they're in Meereen Grey Worm can teach Theon the benefits of cuddling with women. And ffs, release the other two dragons Mother of the Year! How much did Arya really learn if she didn't realize she needed to lay low because T-Waif (love the comparison, all I could think of is Courteney Cox on Cougartown mimicking Tom Cruise's movie running) would be after her for botching her hit. We also never found out how Arya got all that money. She really didn't stress to Lady Crane enough that there was still a hit out on her. Once LC said she messed up Bianca's face, Arya let it go. Judging from the new face in the hall, it seems Arya has a thing for stabbing people in the eyes. Braavos was a bust it seems. I haven't been entertained by Arya's story since she left the Hound. I hope those two come across each other again (and Arya doesn't put him back on her list).

The only thing Camila did wrong was not speak up when TJ asked if anyone knew anything about the token, and she should have known that if TJ is asking, he already knows the answer. She didn't grab the token out of Nate or Christina's hands (so she didn't "take it" in that sense), she found it and thought it was hers, that's not cheating. Yeah, she could have called out that she had someone's token, but I couldn't tell how far away she was by that time and I doubt the producers were going to help. Nate and Christina didn't seem to know they didn't have the token until TJ (?) pointed it out to them, because he knew what had happened. Then all of a sudden Christina just knows that someone took it. Right. So TJ let Jenna and Vince finish their trip up with the mattress and come back down before he said they had taken the wrong one. But yet he stopped Nate and Christina below where Camila dropped the token. Why not let them continue up and realize they had lost it once they got to the top? Hell, they maybe would have found the token and realized it was theirs on the way up. If not, they probably would have found it when they came down from the top to look for it. Smells like producer shenanigans to me. Regardless, Nate and Christina losing their token put the whole thing in to motion, so they screwed themselves. Redhead Zombie is probably right about there being four white skulls in that container. The producers would have known beforehand that Thomas and Simone were leaving, no need to lose another team and they knew Camila would bring the drama in the meantime. I love Wes and his comments, glad he's staying. Glad Tony's staying too. As long as he's not speaking I can enjoy looking at him. That Devin guy seems emotionless and creepy. If I'm not mistaken we've seen competitors push and shove each other before without there being a public warning about if it happens again you're out. I thought they drew the line at punching or hitting. What even started that whole thing with Thomas and Vince? It looked staged. I'm already outside of the demographic for this show so maybe it's just me (and I'm not a prude), but this challenge seems more exploitative than previous ones. There's a humping the soap bar challenge, including slo-mo thrusts for us viewers, which wasn't even important since no elimination came after (and those poor girls getting infections from it). And now choosing to eat a cake or run naked. Hmmm, that was a no brainer. It's like the producers are twirling their mustaches thinking "what else can we make them do for money?". At least when they were naked they only had to jog up the side and not climb those steps.

My first thought when Arya was getting stabbed was that we were going to see her wake up and find that it was a nightmare. The blood pack theory could be true, and she might act out her death where people could see it, and then slip away. But how could she know where the Waif would stab her?

The drown your partner elimination was exactly what I thought of too. This challenge seems to be made up of ideas recycled or left over from other challenges, like they're throwing in everything and seeing what sticks, ex pick a second pair for elimination, pair that wins get to choose order, etc. We're what, 5 episodes in and we've only had three challenges. One of them didn't even lead to a jungle and the first pair eliminated has returned. Speaking of that wtf was TJ talking about when he said they were losing too many people? You were only one pair down. How many episodes are planned because at the rate they're going they'll need to have a double elimination somewhere along the way. I don't care for any of the AYTO people. If it turns into The Challenge: AYTO I won't be watching. I liked Tony's moment of self awareness when he said "I don't know how smart Jessica is. Messing around with me she's probably not too bright". Anybody else notice that the team going into the jungle as well as the two teams picked were all sitting up front?

I am aware of why they have experts to take care of these things. I'm not faulting NCW for not doing the stunt, and I wouldn't want to see NCW or a stuntman injured. But if they can do the CGI of the dragons so well that it actually looks like Dany is sitting on one, surely they can superimpose an actors head on a stuntman more seamlessly. That was my point.

Baby Sam was adorable but Hannah Murray has got the flattest, most grating voice. Not much more to say about meeting the Tarleys except, why? Glad Arya is going to move on, hopefully it won't take too long to escape the FM. The High Sparrow has always been barefoot and wearing that same caftan, but I don't think he's ever looked as dirty as he did today. Surely it's ok to wash? They must have the means, Margaery looked cleaned up. Speaking of Tommen, there's another grating voice. Just shut up kid, you're useless. Is it me or did Walder Frey look younger than the last time we saw him? So, in how many pieces will Edmure be arriving home? More talking from Dany. Yawn. Don't talk, do. As I see it, she has no more right to the throne than anyone else who would defeat the current ruler. The fact that her family used to rule doesn't mean anything anymore. Yay Benjen! Off topic, has anyone else seen his portrayer Joseph Mawle in "Bird Song"? He was excellent. That was so obviously not Nikolaj riding that horse up the steps it took me right out of it.

That look on Tyrion's face when he was ready to tell Varys to stop challenging the Red Priestess said, "Stop trying to upset her, I might want to hit that later". Maybe if Sam ever makes it to the Citadel he'll find a miracle cure for Jorah while figuring out how to defeat the WW.

How is it that Bran's clothes still fit him?

Boy, that Iron Islands coronation is to die for! Euron's a dick, but I also think he's kinda hot. Loved that Yara sprung into action. She's had the admiration and loyalty of the Ironborn for some time now, it was obvious by the number of men who went with her. Is she headed to Meereen? Is her fleet going to replace the one Dany lost? The scene with Dany and Jorah was so touching. I loved Daario stepping forward to keep Dany from touching Jorah, not that Jorah would have let that happen. Tormund smiled at Brienne! She was right about Jon being broody, I wish he'd snap out of it because even though Sansa is stronger and take charge now, she doesn't know squat about battle tactics. I hope she'll listen to those who are trying to advise, such as Ser Davos ( btw, I love the way Melisandre says "Ser Davos"). Edd shouldn't be stuck at Castle Black, he belongs by Jon's side fighting the foe of the week. Isn't the Night's Watch only about 35 or so men now? Has KL stopped sending new recruits? Every time I see KL in these threads, I think of Knots Landing.lol Bran's little solo vision quest reminded me of LOTR and Pip taking a peek into the palantir. I agree with a poster above, why would the 3ER and Bran be warging into the past watching something unimportant happening when they knew the WWs were coming? Just so Bran could see what happened with Hodor? What's the point in seeing it if he can't change it and it won't help him now? My husband yesterday morning: "I'm going to the grocery store. Does a Girl have a list?"

I so wanted Yara to give Theon a hug. I know he's done bad things, but unlike all the other bad guys, he's acknowledged these things were wrong and feels he deserved what happened to him. To me he has somewhat redeemed himself by helping Sansa escape from Ramsay. Ease up Yara, he doesn't want your throne.

That reminded me of something Tormund said at Hardhome when everyone was chiding him for trusting the pretty crow. He said Jon was prettier than both his daughters but he knows how to fight. I love Tormund and Jon's relationship. I guess Davos and Melissandre weren't invited to dinner with Jon and Sansa.lol Talk about awkward. I wonder how Jon and Sansa will feel when they find out Brienne's sword was once Ice, and it was given to her by Jaime. I didn't miss Arya this episode. This training to be an assassin stuff is tedious, especially since there are a finite number of shows left. Be Arya again, retrieve Needle, and go help your sister already.

Jon and Sansa reuniting was easily my favorite scene this season. Dany's scene was impressive, but all I can think is wow, her head is going to be bigger than ever. I suppose she'll add "Killer of Khals" when she prattles off her list of titles.

John needs to put on his big boy pants and be glad he's been paired with the best competitor there (who is good at puzzles as well). I didn't watch the season where Sarah did whatever to him (which he deserved), but get over it John, she out Johnned you and you know it. Hell, he was even able to show some grudging respect for Cara last season after she bested him. Once again they're really stretching it with the reasons for the rival pairings. That thing with Camila and Tony arguing over what he said about her sister last season was ridiculous. Camila is a pretty good competitor, she just needs to keep her emotions in check. I've never seen anyone cry about the person they were paired with before. Yay, Wes! He, Sarah and Jenna were the only ones I was happy to see again. They managed to bring back the AYTO and Bloodline folks I least wanted to see. I haven't watched a RW since New Orleans so the new RW people are as unknown to me as the AYTO kids. They must be forcing AYTO on us, I find it hard to believe they would have that hard a time finding enough RW or even FM people to fill out the cast.

In addition to Ser Davos, I found Tormund rather hot as well. Liam Cunningham reminds me so much of Bernard Hill that I keep wanting to call him Theoden, or Capt Smith. After Melisandre clipped some of Jon's hair and beard, did anyone else think she was going to snip some pubic hair for the fire as well? The zombie mountain better watch out for rust. That guy whose head he smashed peed on him when he turned around.

Poor Sansa! When Theon hugged her I couldn't help but think how much that poor girl needed a hug after all she'd been through and how many relatives she'd lost.

He was supposed to be honest. How did he know they wouldn't take him? They even allow waivers for some criminal offenses, perhaps they do as well for disorders if he can show he's being treated. And if they don't take people with bi-polar at all they probably have a reason, such as insurability. In that case he would need to find something else to do. His integrity is more in question now than his mental capability. At most companies, lying on an employment application is grounds for dismissal. A quick glance at the Illinois Department of Public Health website tells me that "Upon verification of application, you will receive a confirmation letter from Continental Testing Services. The confirmation letter must be taken to the test site along with a government issued photo id such as a driver’s license or state identification card. Please arrive at the test site thirty (30) minutes prior to test time for check-in." The application is supposed to be submitted and accepted before the testing. Also, I didn't see anything on the application questioning mental illness. The writers should clarify that this is an alternate Chicago which bears no resemblance to the real world and they make up things to suit their plots. That way we won't bother trying to make sense of it. http://www.idph.state.il.us/ems/instruction_guide.htm

They slept together, had sex, shouldn't Fiona have noticed needle marks? I know he was lying to her, but she knew he was an addict and relapsing is a very real danger. What happened to "we love each other, we'll get through your rehab together"? Sean's lying is punishable by banishment but Ian's should be rewarded? Oh, Gallagher lying = good, anybody else = bad. They originally said everyone at the diner was there because of addiction getting them in trouble. They even had a plotline about another employee ODing and Sean being tempted by/using her stuff he found. Did they drop that requirement? Is the snarky waitress a former addict? Ian and Carl worked there and weren't addicts. I need to stop trying to make sense out of this stuff if the writers don't even care. It's like other plot contrivances, they only pull them out when needed like the worker we saw getting nabbed at the diner. I'm in your small party. My husband watches with me sometimes and asks why I watch if I get angry at the show. Then he figured it out - I'm a Shameless addict. I hope there are meetings for this because at this point I'm hate watching. To hell with Fiona's wedding, that money should have been to pay for Franny's things. I can't believe Sean didn't immediately call to report his charge card stolen before Frank could use it. The actions of some characters this season have just made no sense. At the end of last season Ian told Mickey he didn't need to be taken care of because there was nothing wrong with him. Beginning of this season Fiona is reminding Ian to take his meds, but I don't recall seeing him take them and his attitude gave me the impression that he wasn't. But all of a sudden he's fine and admitting he's bi-polar. I fully expect Lip not to enter the rehab because he'll say that there's nothing wrong with him. Caleb pissed me off with his 'go fight for your job' shit, just like he did with his 'go ahead and lie on your application'. If Ian had told the truth he could have explained everything then. Saying yes to the question may not have been an automatic rejection. The lying and finding out was purely for drama so Ian could speak up for the mental illness he had been denying he had just months earlier (I'm not even sure if it had been months or weeks or what). Applications also ask about military service, Ian didn't say anything about that. Still wondering why identity theft and destruction of government property didn't show up on his background check. Dominique looked much cuter in the dress she ended up wearing to the wedding than the one we saw her try on. I have to laugh everytime her dad says something to Carl about sex with his daughter. Wouldn't he be surprised to find out she was the one who initiated it!

The time for Ian to take that stand would have been if he was turned down because of his illness, not after he was found to have lied about it. And now we know, all you have to do to get a job back is march in and give the "I'm handicapped" speech and say you wouldn't have hired me if I told the truth, but you should be ok that I lied on my application. No way. And the others refusing to go on a call without him? All of them would have been in trouble. Debbie needs to either let people help her or let someone more capable raise Franny. That poor baby deserves better. And Debbie can GTFO with her "I'm doing it on my own" mess. She's living somewhere rent free and I assume she's paying for diapers and whatnot with welfare money. I just keep remembering that she wanted this and lied to make it happen. I seriously doubt a white father on a TV show saying, "Dom, your black boy is here" would be met with anything other than criticism. But we're supposed to laugh at , "Dom, your white boy is here", delivered by an AA man. The line doesn't offend me either way, the double standard does. The dance lesson was a nice reminder of Dermot Mulroney in "The Wedding Date". I can't say I blame Sean for using, after all, we've seen the Gallaghers in action and I can understand some people not being able to deal with it. Why was it such a big deal to Fiona? When Sean told her earlier that he had used, she wasn't all that bothered by it. She was totally ok with having more unprotected sex with him. There was absolutely nothing in this season or finale that makes me look forward to next season. Thank goodness Game of Thrones is coming back on soon.

It's a good thing Fiona is a doctor and could diagnose that poor baby as being perfectly alright after being dropped. Heaven forbid they get Franny checked out because to them keeping Debbie out of trouble is more important than the baby's wellbeing. I don't care what Debbie is going through, she wanted to have a baby. Deal with it. I only hope she comes to her senses and lets Derek's parents raise Franny. Caleb had to know there would be a background check, why would he encourage Ian to lie on the application? Why would the application be submitted after Ian took the test, and why did they put someone on the job before getting the results of a background check? I guess nothing came through about Ian's identity theft and misdeeds in the Army. Ugh with this show. Although the Kev/V/Svetlana stuff was pretty entertaining, the writers really had no idea what to do with them this season.