Tarasme

I enjoyed this one. Everyone had something interesting to do and I was finally rid of the ever more annoying though gorgeous Aya and rid, at least for awhile of both boring Tristan and horrific Aurora (gah I wish someone had punched her prior to brickin' her ass up). I'd like to think I'm also done with the annoying Capital P, Prophecy. Prob'bly not though. :P Good use of Paul W. and cross with VDs little big bad (criminy has the actress playing resurrected RC had more than a line of dialogue in three episodes?). Stefan's not happy unless he's bait, martyr, proxy or a combination of the three. Decent use of smarmy Lucien- he's ok in small doses. Particularly when those small doses include him being restrained and unconscious. I too was impressed with the FX of the sire disconnect. I'm interested to see where this new plot point takes Klaus's line, especially Marcel. I'm always happiest when Marcel is colluding with Klaus- maybe this will give the characters an opportunity to explore a peer status rather than striving against one another for a leadership position. Then again, that seems to be the shows' go to twisty twist- Marcel's deception to whatever anti-Original threat and reveal of his true Original allegiance. TPtB may be loathe to give that card up. Is the next new ep scheduled for the end of March?

This! bothered me the entire episode. Even with a solid wave of "lots of time passed" between Glenn & Maggie watching Abe & Denise race into Rick's house and the confrontation in the kitchen, it's a stretch to think that either Maggie was tending 'maters at 3:00am or that 5 hours would pass between Carl, Jesus and everyone else on the stairs having their group meeting. The fast elapse in time made me crazy but I didn't even notice the weird clothing variety. ::::shrug::::: While I know next to nothing about the comics, I am terribly afraid that this willing rush to battle Negan has been orchestrated from the beginning of the season by Negan. 1. The as yet unexplained build up of walkers in the pit outside Alexandria. 2. The great timing of the Wolves raid on Alexandria (and every other Wolves/ W sighting). 3. No more Wolves- were all of them lost in the Alexandria or RV raids? 4. The weird timing of Darryl RPG'ing Negan's minions_interim silence/ peace_ Jesus on the scene. It's a bigger suspension of disbelief for me to think that the Wolves orchestrated ALL of the walker traps- when they acted as nutso as they did in subsequent interactions with them than to believe Negan used the Wolves to suss out Alexandria. Also easier for me to accept Jesus's bringing the CDB into the Hilltop fold as part of a Negan master plan as opposed to Jesus stumbling across CDB, then being magnanimous while searching for protection from Negan. I'm even willing to accept that the shiv in Greg (Xander Berkley brings no good news- EVER) was scripted.

Great entertaining eps. For me, my man of the hour(s) was JT. As bad a rep as he developed, Chad Michael Murray is doing a fantastic job with amazing material. Of all the characterizations written with energy, vigor, and complexity, I'm most interested in Thompson's nuances. I'm gonna get fire flinging glares for this, but, I could see- with several years and a little more depth- JT and PC being an amazing pair. Thompson has political capital and is building a resume that can be respected by politicos and heroes alike. My head-canon has developed him with an upbringing in an environment filled with political animals and with little to no influence from anyone with the nobility to insist that means matter. Now that he's undertaking leadership, he's actually beginning to grasp the weight of it- and is willing to do the right thing. It would have personally benefited Thompson to allow Sousa and the doc to be ganked in the desert. Playing the odds, he might have survived allowing Vernon to come back from his meet with Whit. Hell, he could have gone back to NY and allowed the good guys and bad guys to destroy one another then picked up the pieces, but he didn't. IMO, he can prioritize himself beneath the greater good, but he's not that well equipped to assess what "good" really is.

Agreed on the plot evaluation. Seeing Joan interact with RK's florist, building relationship and community (I had visions of future eps where RK comes over to take care of Clyde) and HONEY! was cool. Seeing them jump through hoops to run through the suspect mill just to come back to their first candidate; not so cool. Though, with all the drug talk, I was really pleased with how Sherlock's characterization was handled. His addiction is not defining to him nor does it dominate any substantive scene about drugs. Regarding the corporate red herring; I appreciated the treatment of the company too but I'm wondering if I'm gullible to do so. I feel my reluctance to accept the common corporate villain was achievable by using an ethnic female representative that presented herself as cooperative and above any appearance of impropriety. Weird, because only in media would I question either tPtB or- pushing deeper- the characterization of a company entity- choosing to manipulate the audience- if TPtB, then me as audience, or, if the character of the "company", the police & public as audience by selecting a token minority representative. In my RL interactions, it wouldn't even occur to me that anyone was trying to push my buttons in the choice of an agent. Anywho- it was an entertaining ep and I kinda hope Joan gets the bassist's number before he and his band leave town.

I, too, thought it was Jeremy's night for PYKaG. While I had previously ignored his jerk factor because of the pretty, I can no longer delude myself that he's a nice guy and, it seems, an amazing chef. *sigh* I love Issac! Let him be cajun guy with a shot of destructive testosterone forever and ever. LOVE him, his humility (to paraphrase, there's a lot of things on that dish that the Vikings didn't do... he's awesome) and his sense of camaraderie. And YAY for him to win the QF and deliver the goods in the EC. And, while Issac's nod to his inner crazed maniac doesn't bother me, Marjorie's constant punch assaults do. For me, her competence in the kitchen is being overshadowed by the 11 yr old tomboy hazing she's giving her fellow contestants. And it's unnerving for me when another woman on the show reveals 50% more cleavage than Padma. YMMV. Carl... I think I'm ready for him to go. I hope Amar showed some initiative and sent flowers, chocolates, earrings, etc. to accompany his earnest plea to his ex. Go get her Amar and bring yummy French food. Wait... that *was* this week, right? As sad as I am to see Karen go, doggone that was a classy exit. Good for her and I hope we see more of her. I like Kwame fine, but his professional immaturity is beginning, for me, to be what I remember about him rather than his success at the start of the season. Maybe it's the editing and the cuts they're using of his THs. I have nothing to say about MC Hammer and the rappin' Quickfire.

Great evening of television! Several had mentioned in the thread that it was good to see Peggy lose; I guess I feel like we've seen Peggy lose a bunch, but only in a singular fashion- she was on her own last year when she was knocked down and drug around by the power structure within her office and everyone's willingness to paint Howard with the bad guy brush. Now, she's not alone anymore but rebounding the lost ball is par for the course (Ha! So many mixed metaphors!). Whether alone or with her team, she responds to adversity with grace and perseverance. Cool! I'm leaning away from my previous belief that the council was made up of Hydra. These guys, though juiced, are acting like lightweights in the epic battle for world domination. I wonder if Vernon really answers to the council or if he's under orders to do keep the council in the fold and placated. If there's a bigger shadow pulling his strings. Probably not or else we'd have actual foreshadowing. My fan wank knows no bounds. I love the direction they've taken chief Thompson. He's a nasty piece of work, but he's doing his damndest to stay within the lines of his honor even though those lines don't necessarily fall within standard notions of right and wrong. I would imagine he's had very little input from anyone, other than his co-workers, that uphold sincere values as opposed to allowing the self-profiting ends to justify the means. Wilkes & Peggy's kiss and Peggy and Daniel's almost kiss resulting in flustered Peggy was awesome. I figured this was a Joss plot of "you fall for it EVERY! TIME!" as soon as Peggy and Sousa identified the new found necklace signal as a (just not a ) trap (for them). Poor Ana. That's a Jarvis "I'll never forgive myself" sorta moment. Whitney be craaazzeee. It was good to have her megalomania reduced by steps through her interaction with Wilkes. A villain should never be all powerful for very long. Really great use of Dottie. Glad she's in the wind to turn up at an inopportune time.

This was fun, but I still had a hard time paying attention during the ridiculous earthquake villain content; Geomancer dude, you can decimate cities, try to turn down the cheese a little. Everyone in the forum here has had such great comments about the characterizations in the ep. For me, everyone shined. Hero in the Iron Mask/ Jay/ Zoom/ Hunter Zolomon-- I don't know how tPtB are going to make the Jay we've seen all season be knowingly malicious. IIRC, Jay and Harry have history. So, unless Real!Jay has been inside the mask for a shocking length of time and the Jay drugging around E1 is a doppleganger or a fabulous android (Robot!Jay would explain a lot of lackluster performance), I don't see how they're going to work it out. Unless Real!Jay has been incarcerated for the entire length of the feud, Harry would have known someone trying to pass himself off as JG. If it's a doppleganger/ clone Jay, then I hope it's on the clueless side rather than being a conspirator. If it's some other character in the mask and Jay is a willing co-conspirator and/or is Zoom,... I don't know. Is it common in other aspects of the Flash continuum for the prime villain's context to be recycled like they appear to be recycling S1- character pretending to be someone he's not- primarily someone in a mentor position?

ACK! Why'd I wait so long to watch this? This was a great episode! I had to re-watch the first fifteen minutes to understand who was asking for what to be stolen (and, despite the crimes being committed, wouldn't Narco's theft of the computer contents preclude them from being used in any prosecution? In this scenario, Sherlock's effectively an agent of the police... Maybe I missed how the officers planned on using the data that would be allowed without obtaining the evidence with a warrant? Anyway...) Sherlock's My Little Pony mock up of the heist was awesome. As was every.single.expression he used when trying to get around Joan's "You *LIKE* her" assessment. I can't wait to see where this goes with Fiona. I love it when a show takes risks with its characterizations and gives everyone something awesome to do.

Hmmm... I'm in a minority here I guess... 'cept for my opinion of Emily. *sigh* That was spectacularly awful. Mackenzie can bring the singer songwriter in a small venue all day every day. I now need to hide my old lady crush from the spouse and subtly encourage my daughters to root for the beautiful young man. La'Porsha was awesome. Though it reminded me of Turner, it was not karaoke to me at all. Good and memorable way to end the night. Gianna's nasal tones were unimpressive and her performance overblown. With regard to Jeneve, I agreed with Harry. The harp was taking her out of the first minute and a half or so of the song. Once she re-connected to it, she did a great job with a crazy tough number. Jenna who? Jordan's not my favorite but he too took on a crazy tough song and, though shouty, was in tune and gave a performance. After the make-over, I wouldn't hate seeing him again. Thomas TOTALLY channeled TOY STORY. I thought he was more Jane than Woody, but I'm with you drafan. His affect pulls me out of his performance every time. Sonika sounded beautiful while being gorgeous and classy. Good for her. Stephany and James were ok. I agreed with the judges comments with regard to James- either he chooses to take some risks or he'll be stuck singing on the bus ride home. I'm curious about the duets tonight. Kinda looking forward to them.

I'm curious how the judges are going to balance the sum of both services in selecting the chef to PYKaG. Maybe it'll be easy and team Gray will ehF up dinner as much as they did lunch. I was startled that Marjorie treated a team member the way that she did Issac. I was equally started that it didn't seem to perturb him at all. I'dve been Up. Set. Since it's RW, and RW has always been winner takes all, I think I'm gonna be frustrated when the losing team loses it's worst. I'd like to see the LCDs on both teams be under scrutiny but alas, that's not the game. The food and concepts, for me, were ho hum. I hope Thursday's dinner delivers better.

So sad that most of the episode last night was "*You*!!! Did this!!!!" I still find it incomprehensible that not one of them came up with an exit strategy beyond affidavits confirming knowledge or being complicit or whatever. Maybe that was the hubris of this charade to begin with? Ah Gretchen. A bright spot in this lousy mess. I'm trying to understand why the team is making the decisions that it is. I can only believe that panic and desperation would have driven Louis to confront Sheila in that manner. No way anything positive could have resulted from that encounter. Same with Rachel's confrontation of Donna in the bathroom- after everything, Rachel's got some brass 'nads to, however cryptically, suggest Donna inform on Harvey. Chicago Redshirt- wouldn't it be a conflict for Harvey to represent Daddy Paulsen?

Good moments last night. Pacing was ever so slightly slow, but not so much that it impaired enjoyment. I'm glad that team SSR now know that there is big scary with regard to Whitney. I'm not sure what to make of Wilkes' blobbly visions- is the energy that Whitney's harnessing absorbing everything through her? Including Wilkes? Only connecting since her experiments seem to line up with his experiences. Everything surrounding Hunt's abduction was magnificent. I enjoyed the compare/contrast of Whit and Peg. I'd like to think that it wasn't just encouragement but a deep rooted lack of empathy that caused Whitney to manipulate based on her looks rather than rely on more wholesome (?) aspects of her character. Though Peg's mom chided her for horseplay, she didn't degrade Peg or tell Peg to stuff it in order for Mommy to get hers. Perhaps Aggie's Mom's actions could be rationalized, but I bet there are other examples of single moms within the era that didn't prostitute themselves in order to be comfortable.

ITA to your entire post. And, to top it off, tPtB started on a great path with Lord. He challenged the status quo, asked serious questions about supes, could offer assistance when needed, etc. Somewhere in the midst of the Danvers' character growth, Lord was reduced to mustache twirling. And... I have no idea why. Lord's power hungry? He's a hater? What possible motivation could a seemingly reasonable person have to go the direction in which they've shoved him? Because he could? God complex? What? I feel as though we've missed at least two episodes developing Maxwell Lord from mysterious but capable genius CEO to... poor man's Lex Luthor- but a no motivation Lex Luthor. Max has not been shown to compete with Kara, to want to be Kara, to want to have the accolades or adoration given to Kara.... So, production team, what's his deal? And now, like UncleChuck so eloquently put it, Lord has all the cards. There's no way to put that genie back in the bottle. DEO has three options, 1. allow him to continue in custody, 2. kill or mind wipe him (and the mind wipe has a whole page of probable consequences that are all bad), 3. allow him to run a muck and out Kara.

SO much good here Danielg342! Agreed that tBL sucks at crafting the personal stories of these characters. I think that's why so much of this season has been successful so far; the first half of season 3 was a complete blows 'em up, action/conspiracy thriller. Robert Ludlum would be proud. Now, we've settled out of action mode and are back in BL of the week w/ ensuing character drama. Rough waters ahead. And, in light of Danielg342's comments, I can articulate what bothers me so much- I still don't understand Red or Tom's motivations in pursuing Lizzie. Red was in love with Lizzie's mom? Tom loves her? Is that really it? TPtB somehow manage to have Lizzie both embrace Red and Tom while simultaneously casting them aside. Quite a feat and confusing as hell. And, since I don't understand why Red and Tom are attached to begin with (though, at this point, Tom's motivations seem to have been simplified- his comments about liking their life together), I am not invested in the outcome except that I enjoy the performance of both actors and don't want either to leave my screen anytime soon (in fact, more JS and RE in the same room is a very good night of television for moi). And, with regard to either character providing some benefit to her, at least Tom makes her smile and laugh. Exclamation points!!! With regard to Aram- as much as I enjoy Amir Arison's performance, I want Amar to grow the hell up already. I'm suspect of his love for Samar- I guess I don't count what we've been shown of his love as love at all. He's gotta a big ol' crush and is making stupid decisions based on that crush. I'm not impressed by Amar's warm fuzzies for Samar and wish he'd stop with the wounded puppy dog face/actions with regard to her. And the last comments go back to the fact that I think this whole show works better when the conspiracy and action are amplified. Unfortunately, because we're back on procedural ground, Red's MB trickery have been short shrifted on screen time.

I was confused during this entire episode. From the most idiotic QF I've witnessed (though, I agree with BravoFan27- Amar was awesome throughout) to a Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeefffssstttteaaaaaaaaaaaak. BEEF. STEAK. BEEFSTEAK. Challenge with almost NO BEEF. And Jeremy- I've crushed on you player but please, don't go all Machiavelli on me now. Playing to win should include assisting your own team in presenting the best damn food possible. No matter how much we all loathe Philip. For reeellz, I'm wondering if there is shenanigans to keep Kwame because how Carl's lone cow w/ Karen's sauce (???) kept them out of the bottom- without even a judges table meep about mealy shrimp- is a mystery. The entire hour was a whirlwind of WTF.

Agree to disagree on Ani-teri's motives and the resulting chaos of imploding so many judgments. I considered the deterrent motive but still think the negatives to the existing paradigm far outweigh the positives. And, with regard to SUITS world- Mike's only ever helped the "little" guy anyway. That's who will be the ultimate victim in all this- all those folks that received verdicts and $$$. No?

Yes- TeenGreenDay will probably go far. After both he and Jaci (?) pushed through, I found myself fast forwarding unless I saw contestants on stage. It was way past "listen to video filler packages of stuff I've mostly already seen" time. I didn't even realize plumber-young-dad was cut. I was hoping he'd stand out. Was his line o' 10 audition shown or just the cut? Sonika, Emily, and La'Porsha have my attention so far. Meh on everyone else featured last night. I'm looking forward to hearing more singing.

Pacing was good. Jessica and Donna were dressed in AMAZING clothes. GM could *not* have been shot prettier (ahhh, boxing. mmmmmmmm.). Mud and LotRs bonus. All that good yet the entire premise was hooey. Fed vs. State aside, I cannot swallow Mike being cuffed, booked, interrogated, etc. w/o ANYONE at the firm getting a whiff that an indictment was coming? Also can't fathom that NONE of them would have played this scenario out and developed a plan (which, under no circumstances, would have included BigDaddyZane). That Harvey (so, so pretty) would have gone in public, or encouraged anyone else to discuss it in public, to deal with anything related to the charges- as the defense he's planning seems to be based on the allegations being false. Then, encouraging Mike to shake down Soloff publicly (maybe his office is considered private but many many prying sensory organs about), ugh. For me, the biggest hooey is the AUSA being interested in the case at all. The ramifications of turning over every. single. case. Mike has worked on is a crazy black eye on the entire justice system. I don't see how any prosecuting office would want to reveal this gross undermining of the system and ring a bell that'll tie up every aspect of the judiciary for what could be decades. I absolutely could see the THREAT of prosecution being used to manipulate PSL- but since both Harvey and Mike were on their way out (and I go back to above- it seems that fictional Law Offices would have communicated- in some fashion- with the prosecutors to reveal this kind of info) what could Teri's motivation possibly be? The "message" that would be sent by such action is how all lawyers are scum and the system doesn't work.

So. This brought back awesome memories of the beginning of internet fandom (and it's position as the HI-larious great uncle of social media), traveling to an XF AOL fan convention where Stephen Williams was supposed to be in attendance but unable to make it, YEARS of VCR tapes, and a bunch of warm fuzzies. THEN, the opening credits ended. Sigh. What the hell Chris? Do you not know this series is available on Netflix? That anyone that mastered their DVR to bridge the thirty minute delay posited by the NFL already knows all this tripe? The one good thing you did was blow the shit out of Sveta before end credits. I stayed away from as many spoilers as I could, just so that I could watch in wonder- with no preconceived notion of good or bad. I guess it's good I did or I'd have probably given up when the PRE-CREDIT VOICE OVER was stale and used verbatim dialogue from the golden years. In fact, I think a couple of sentences were actually from the frickin' pilot. What a way to waste momentum. Of course, I'm going to watch the rest of the week, but I won't be excited about it.

ITA paragraph 1 wholeheartedly. Philip's ridiculousness last night removed all sympathy I had for him. Marjorie also grates but not significantly. My internal jury is still out on whether the comments in her interview are truly snippy or just saying something in order to say *something.* I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt because of the kitchen competence displayed thus far. Why so many tomatoes Carl? Sheesh. I'm not sure what to make of Jeremy. I'm afraid he might just be getting lucky. Kwame- either Jason's food was seriously wrecked or the whole "PYKAG is based on each EC" is a complete fraud. Michael! So glad to see you back on my screen you beautiful creature! Please come back soon! And bring your brother! Was anyone else disappointed that a ten years of Top Chef challenge was so lackluster? I have no real constructive criticism expect to say there could be "wow" involved in such a celebration people. But thanks for bringing Michael. Maybe an entire Michael episode (in his cute little skinny fit chef's jacket) would have been wow enough.

Good premiere! Very entertaining. I don't think there was any portion where I was looking at the clock wishing they'd get on with it. And if we can get Angie to show up as a newly discovered film ingenue, that'd be righteous. About Violet- if Sarah Bolger isn't an agent, I'm gonna seriously question her choices. She practically had "B. Widow" stenciled on her lapel. Never trust the blond chics in AC-ville. I like CMM's Thomson. They provided him with depth last season and I'm gonna trust this season will be similar. ITA to above posters that believe he's playing along with Hyd... ack-hum... I mean, the contacts in the FBI that are thwarting his investigation in order to expose them and meet the goals of justice. He's a proud ambitious bastard, but he hasn't been corrupt (ummm, I'll gloss over the nuances of corruption and beating suspects for information). Yay Ana! Yes to the confident woman that is secure enough in her relationship to allow her husband to hang around the likes of Peggy, Howard, and Howard's innumerable entourage without insecurity. Sock on the doorknob indeed. So I guess the Not!Stark wanna be senator only wears his He-Man Woman Haters Club pin when he's at meetings? So who was dumb enough to leave the pin in the car for Peggy to find? Maybe I should just let that one go as a mcguffin. I like the gravi-goo as a plot device so far. Nice way to bring the MCU together and fill in part of the timeline.

Screw you Jason, you jackass, for making me feel more sympathetic to Philip. Again. Philip- continue getting your garbage together. His issues make me think of Opie needing a clue and an object lesson. I don't sense an over abundance of ego, ill will, maliciousness, or anything else truly evil in Philip. Rather, he's young, ambitious, proud, but- with his weirdly rabbit looking face- I think he is able to adapt and learn. Unlike Angelina for whom the chip on her shoulder interfered with her gaining any ground. Bye. Wesley, I'm gonna miss you. Issac- GAnH! I'm never going to be able to look at chocolate covered frozen bananas again, but I'm glad you'll be on my screen awhile longer. Chad & Karen- even with your wins, I'm not convinced I'll remember you in five weeks. Carl? Cool that you opened a pop up taco bar on the beach. Jeremy- Kwame's going to jujitsu beat you. Like a Ninja. Marjorie- I like you but I'm thinkin' you need to seek opportunities to make more deserts. AMAR! Though you started this never ending season of the carrot, I'm looking forward to seeing you do more of the food within your zone.

Good enough. Particularly when there's almost nothing else to watch in the mid-season wasteland before many series new eps arrive. I liked Jimmy. I liked that Jimmy, both old and young, was unapologetic. If he did what he thought was right, he should stick by it. And... if what he did was illegal, then he is stuck with the consequences of that. Cool. I'm glad that a big part of the FBI corruption and Jimmy's Not!suicide was dealt with in this episode. It'll be interesting to see how quickly they pick up on the thread of the shot callers behind the corrupt FBI. I missed his name but, during the bridge and home invasion scenes, the Caucasian guy that was giving Duval's partner instructions, he's part of the group playing everyone, no? The twins. Not sure how I like Otto and Mary yet but I laud the production team for finding a dysfunction that allows for secret language, genius savant, billionaire corporate head, AND cancer patient. I wish they would wrap the cancer patient plot- Hey! The Jimmy cure works! But I have a feeling all season- if not longer- will mine the drama and tension induced by Mary's impending doom prognosis. And I wanted desperately for someone to trip Otto while on his scooter ride through his company's halls. I'm a bad person.

Criminy, why does this show have to be so damned dark? Not metaphorically dark, literally dark. It was so dark it actually made it hard to hear.

This is interesting- I didn't consider that Sunny's extraordinary power- everything over an above his kung fu parkour- could have been manually shut down. And that The Widow could have been similarly affected. I guess I didn't get beyond wondering if Sunny is a "light one" as opposed to a "dark one." Cause- "Sunny." It could be that his metaphysical state is affected by his moral state- maybe his "light one" (sheesh- if there even is such a thing) power is unable to function while he continues killing. But then, maybe "light one" power isn't all that useful? ::::shrugs:::: As happy as I was to see Quinn get stabbded, I was as unhappy to have his lifeless body omitted from the scene of Veil's walk through town. If Veil's stuck having to provide more medical attention to that jackass, I'm gonna be Up.Set. Is there a question about ItB renewal? I haven't heard one way or another. Jade. Jade jade jade. If you're going to attempt to throw the switch to get all of your enemies removed in a single blow, you'd better damn well make sure they're all gone when you get out of bed. Especially when your best maneuver is to poison yourself. Sheesh.