LadyMustang65

Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I love this show!! Not every single thing about it, but overall I just love this show. I don't need everything to make complete sense, and I am willing to suspend disbelief maybe more than I should sometimes because I just really love this show. And what I love most about it are the characters. They are allowed to grow and change, and we are allowed (mostly) to go along on that journey with them. But through it all this is a group of people who have become a family and who are still, after all that's happened to them, willing to let others into that family. They are still willing to believe that there is good in people, but they can still be pragmatic when forced to be. And they still believe they can build a better world. Carol started off as an abused woman who gradually became very strong, perhaps one of the strongest in the group. But she realized she was in danger of losing the better parts of herself, so she withdrew. Yet when her 'family' needed her, she didn't hesitate. Father Gabriel has come into his own over the last few years. They could have abandoned him along the way and some might argue probably should have, but they didn't, and the group is better off for having him there. Sasha in her death showed that she still had that group sense that they are the ones who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others, and she made her death count. I'm sure she couldn't have known exactly how things would go down, but with the information she had, she knew there was enough time for her to die and turn, and I'm guessing she was maybe hoping ZombieSasha would be enough of a surprise to give her a chance to kill Negan. She almost did it, too. So many great people - some strong to begin with; others weaker and needing help but learning with the support of the group. But they all feel like real people to me. Sometimes they succeed; sometimes they fail; sometimes they're smart; sometimes they make really dumb decisions; they have good days and bad days. Real people - not caricatures. I've seen a lot of comments about how Rick is a terrible leader and how he's no different than Negan, and I could not disagree more. I love Rick, and I would follow him anywhere. He is at heart a good man. He believes in the basic decency of people, and he wants to give them the benefit of the doubt. But he is not an infallible person, so sometimes he screws up and sometimes things do not go according to plan. I apparently am the only person who did not expect the trash people to turn on him. That surprised me. I thought the plan they had worked out with Dwight seemed fairly solid - as much as anything can be solid in their world. A lot of people seemed to complain about his statement about taking over Alexandria, but even there he wasn't doing it for the sake of conquest but because of his desire to see those people - and his - be safe, and the Alexandrians weren't making good decisions to keep them safe. If he had had to take over, they wouldn't have killed anyone; they wouldn't have made the Alexandrians slaves or captives. Even with Oceanside, Rick sent Tara in first in the hopes she could get them to talk to him, but given what they knew of the group from Tara, they had to have a backup plan they could execute quickly to get them inside the camp. And again they asked for the guns first and asked for the group to join them - they didn't just walk in guns blazing shooting anything that moved and taking what they wanted. That's Rick's leadership. I don't think he could ever become Negan. He has done some questionable things because he's been driven to it, but it is always in the pursuit of keeping his people safe and free. He stumbles sometimes, and he's not all-seeing and all-knowing, and I'm okay with that. I also am apparently the only one who didn't think it unrealistic that Michonne had a hard time fighting that woman. As I remember her, she was at least the same size, if not a bit bigger, than Michonne, and she clearly worked out. She had obvious muscles in her arms. And she had the element of surprise. She knew what was coming, but Michonne didn't, and in the seconds it took her to work it out, the other woman got the drop on her. By all rights Michonne should have been shot right there, but she fought hard and ultimately won. The Governor was bigger than she was, but he never struck me as being a physically strong person, and he always seemed like the type who would rather let others do the fighting. And at that point Michonne was still coming off having been on her own for a long time and so at the top of her form, so to speak. Anyway, while I would have liked to see Michonne dispatch the blonde more easily, I did not find it to be out of character either. As I said, the other woman had the drop on her. I loved when Shiva leapt through the air. Realistic or not, I didn't care. I cheered. And I cheered again shortly after that when Maggie's group showed up. I didn't see them as arriving at the same time but within a few minutes of each other. And my sense at the end may be wrong, but I thought the battle was still going on in other parts of the compound while Negan was with Rick and Carl. I assumed Negan was confident that with their greater numbers, his group would prevail, so he wasn't concerned about those still fighting near the gate and in other parts of the compound. And I laughed at Negan's comments: "they have a tiger?" and the widow's alive one. But they also served for me to show just how different Negan and Rick are. Negan fights and kills because he enjoys it. He appreciated the fact that his opponents had a tiger and that Maggie was fighting him. But he wasn't concerned; it was just all part of the game for him. With his arrogance, it never would occur to him that he wouldn't win in the end, so that was just all making it 'better' for him - more enjoyable - more fun. Rick fights and kills because he feels he has to to protect his family. He doesn't enjoy it the way Negan does. I get no sense that it gives him pleasure as it does Negan. My only real gripe about the episode, to be honest, is that it felt like most of the additional time was given over to commercials. Someone had posted to Facebook that the finale was going to be aired commercial-free, so I was all psyched for it. But then it wasn't, and it seemed like the commercial breaks went on forever. And I am so happy it didn't end on a cliffhanger. I'll forgive a lot for that reason alone. :) But at the end of the evening, I was a happy camper. I've really enjoyed this season once I got over losing Glenn. I still miss him. I will miss Sasha. But we've gotten some great new characters like Jesus and Ezekiel and Jerry and some of the others. I'm looking forward to next season and seeing how the three groups come together and work as a unit against Negan and his group.

I don't have the time to read all 4 pages of comments right now, so forgive me if this has been asked and answered, but is anyone else irritated that no one on the team seems to think that Scratch is behind Reid being in genpop? He was originally scheduled to go into protective custody. The bully guard pulls him out and sends him to general population, but no one in the protective custody area even seems to notice they're a prisoner short? Really? And then the lawyer is having trouble getting something going on getting him transferred, and everyone thinks that's completely 'normal' as well? I'm hardly an expert on the court system, but it seems to me that courts are pretty protective of law enforcement personnel who end up in prison. It just seems like Scratch has to have paid off or otherwise influenced a bunch of people because otherwise it's ridiculous that no one came looking for Reid that first day to take him into protective custody. I liked the case of the week. Having the unsub commit crimes while he was sleepwalking seemed fresh and different to me, and I thought it was interesting that he committed his crimes completely differently during the day vs. at night. I even thought it was interesting how he found his victims at night. So I guess I'm in the minority, but I thought that was well done. Although I do agree that after last week with JJ crying about Reid being in prison, it was weird that she didn't seem the least bit concerned this week after he'd been assaulted. It also bugs that the team doesn't seem to be doing anything at all about finding Scratch or clearing Reid's name. I know they can't drop everything, but this would not be the first time they were not supposed to be working a case but were doing it on their own time anyway. I'd like to see that to know they're not just giving up and "hoping" Reid would be exonerated.

Thank you!! I was beginning to think I was the only one who heard that and figured Dwight was sent there by Negan to set up Rick & Co. to walk into a trap by giving him false information or something. And who was the "little birdy" who told Negan? I'm thinking it was Gregory. If memory serves, he spent a few minutes talking to the guy from the Saviors while the others were out looking around. And he seems like just the kind of weasel who would squeal to protect himself.

I almost forgot, but I am *so* happy they brought back Kym and not Allison. :)

For the most part, we really enjoyed the premiere of this season and are looking forward to the coming weeks. We thought most of the celebs at least showed some promise (Chris K. being the real exception), and several seem like real contenders. First to leave is a toss-up between Chris K and Erika Jayne. We did not like either of these people. Erika is probably the better dancer, but she was the more objectionable persona. Don't want to see either of them again, though. Ugh! Mr. T surprised - he moved better than I expected, not that that's saying a lot. And he seemed likeable. Charo is OTT, but she's always been that. She's another one who moved better than I expected. Hopefully they'll find a way to reign her in a bit or she'll leave early just because she'll be too annoying. David Ross seems like a real nice guy, and he seems to have some potential. But that had to be one of the slowest quicksteps ever. I was not prepared for the high marks at all. smh Bonner and Nick did okay. They both seem as though they could improve. Not sure what to make of the backstage incident with Bonner. I noticed it but hubby didn't. I'm not convinced it was done deliberately - it almost looked as though he was trying to rest his arm on her waist and it slid - but the way she moved the hand made me wonder if he's kind of grabby in rehearsals. I'll have to wait and see with him. I'm not a fan of The Bachelor. It's premise and the way it plays out makes me cringe, so I'm also not inclined to be kind to anyone who goes on that show. But at first blush anyway he seems like a nice enough guy and potentially a better dancer than any of the others. I know the bar's kind of low on that one. <lol> Rashad is definitely the stand-out of the guys for us. He seems like a nice guy, he was definitely having a blast, and he's clearly got some natural rhythm and natural movement. I think his dance was our favorite of the evening - not the best, but we outright enjoyed it the most. This couple is our favorite of the men right now, with David & Lindsay a close second. The women's field is much deeper. Once you get rid of Erika and Charo, I think the others all did pretty well and potentially have the ability to be standing when we get to the finals. Nancy Kerrigan is probably the weakest, simply because of her age. Not sure she'll be able to do the latin dances that well. But he waltz was very nice. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked her. I was not a fan of her attitude when she was a skater. I still remember her complaining after she won her silver medal. And I always thought she was kind of 'heavy' on the ice - she always seemed to 'clunk' down on the ice when she landed her jumps. But she was graceful. Anyway, I half-expected to find her a bit off-putting, but she seemed gracious, humble, hard-working and quite nice. At this point I'm not expected her to be in the finals, but I'm thinking she'll make it to the later stages of the competition. Normani, Heather and Simone are, I think, the top 3. I agreed with Len that the quickstep took too long to set up, but once they got into it, I thought she did very well. She seems like a hard worker who wants to learn, so I expect her to get better with Val. Heather is a beautiful dancer, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do with Maks. The fact that she's a ringer may keep her from ultimately winning, but then again it might not. We've seen ringers win, and we've seen ringers done in at the end by fans wanting to reward a non-dancer who came a long way. She played one of our favorite characters on Glee, so we've got a soft spot for her. If Maks can really bring it with the choreography (and he's unfortunately inconsistent in that department), I could see her winning it all. I know a lot of folks seem to think Simone is a shoe-in, but I'm not convinced. I like her, and she certainly did well (although not as well as the judges thought) with her tango. I'm a bit worried about this pairing. I generally like Sasha's choreography, and he did some really wonderful dances with Terra. But he was always throwing in backflips and such when he was in the troupe, and my worry is that, unlike Val, he will attempt to use Simone's gymnastics ability a lot. Val rarely went there with Laurie, and I think Sasha needs to do the same with Simone. It'll also be interesting to see how Simone does with some of the other dances. Laurie was always considered the best dancer of the team, while Simone was always a powerhouse. That won't necessarily lend itself to her being able to do some of the 'looser' dances like salsa or samba or cha cha, though. And with Laurie having just won, there is a certain segment of the audience that won't want to see another gymnast win. So we'll see. My early prediction for semi-finals: Normani, Heather, Simone, Rashad and one of David, Nick or Nancy.

Me too, PMPA. I'm getting better with the acronyms, but there are still a few that make me go huh? This is one of the ones I know (obviously). < lol >

IIRC = If I recall correctly. :)

Did I miss something? Why is Reid still in genpop? He was slated to be in protective custody. Did the guards in that section just shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well" when their third prisoner didn't show up? Has Reid's lawyer not been to see him since he went in? Why the heck didn't she take care of getting him out? And why the hell didn't JJ? Does she really think it's somehow normal that he would be in genpop? Did it really never occur to Reid to say "hey, there's been a mix-up; can you look into it for me?" I can suspend disbelief with the best of them usually, but this entire prison thing is beyond even my ability to not WTF? every week. Did I miss something that explains why everyone is just content to let an FBI agent stay in the general population and not get him into protective custody?

I have to say that for the most part I have been really enjoying this CMT version of Nashville. It's been so much more enjoyable than the last couple of years on network television. But this episode wasn't so great. Am I the only person in the world who thought that music video was awful? I have no idea how you get a 1920's style lavish mansion/party set up out of a country music song or why Scarlett needed to act so bizarrely in it or why she actually thinks it was some revelation of herself? Ugh. And I am beyond tired of her and Gunnar. Don't get me wrong - I love them as a couple when they're both acting like adults at the same time. But Scarlett is getting on my last nerve. I like Clay, but I'm still not crazy about Maddie. She hasn't redeemed herself from the last season. She was getting better, but this thing with Clay is making her regress, which is too bad because when she's not acting like a spoiled brat, she's a decent character. I did like Deacon and Rayna hashing through the past. I think it's actually good for them to understand how the other saw those years, and I would hope it would bring them closer together. I think this episode was the weakest of the new ones, but overall, I'm still really enjoying this new season.

In the run up to the finale, Laurie got a perfect score 4 times and James got a perfect score 3 times. That's over the last few weeks. Going back over the entire season, they have tied 5 times, Laurie has beaten James in the scoring 6 times, James has beaten Laurie 4 times, and the biggest point spread between the two was 4 points, and that was a week when James beat her in the scoring. Most times there was only one or two points between them. They've been pretty even throughout the entire season. Their trio was a trio. Under the rules, they don't have to dance as a trio for the entire dance, and in fact at the beginning they never did. The early trios looked like the Maks/Val/Laurie trio. It was perfectly fine and a very clever idea. There was no lift in the paso. That leap Laurie did is the same one she did entirely by herself in her freestyle - the one that was slow-mo'ed. Sour grapes are not a good diet for anyone.

Honestly, it didn't bother me because they've done it for the golden boy so many times. It was quick that you could have missed it if you weren't paying attention. I liked it. YMMV. :)

Maybe she didn't consider it a lift. She has said in the past that part of what constitutes a lift is that the person being lifted cannot do the action by themselves. In this case Val didn't "lift" Laurie - she jumped and used him as a brace. Everyone knows she's perfectly capable of doing that all by herself using a chair or a table or anything else. Or maybe she decided not to call it because it was so darn gorgeous. Took my breath away. As far as I'm concerned, CAI shouldn't have called any lifts last night. I just thought that was kind of petty. :)

Several people have mentioned they thought the freestyle was too "young" for Laurie. I quoted you because yours was the most recent comment and so easiest to find. I have to disagree on this one. My younger son was a competitive gymnast for 13 years. He trained 6 days/week at the gym with only 3 weeks off every year. He was good enough that he made it to the Junior Olympics twice and won several state and regional titles. In his final year he was our state champion on parallel bars. (Sorry, proud mom kicking in.) Anyway, whenever the team got a chance to hit a playground, they were all over it. And we're talking boys in their mid- to late teens. They would have an absolute blast swinging, sliding, spinning, jumping. You name it, they would do it. The girls team was the same. They said it was just fun, and I think it helped them handle the stress of training all the time. These kids lose some of their childhood (how much depends on how serious they are) as they dedicate themselves to their sport, and playgrounds just seemed to be a way for them to get some of it back maybe? I don't know. I just know they loved a good playground. And yes, they would do flips and jumps off railings or large rocks and stuff like that. And usually a trip to a playground would end with them surrounded by kids egging them on to do backflips, which they'd happily do and then they'd spot the little kids to do their own backflips. It was always joyous. So to me this was just absolutely pitch perfect. Laurie getting to be just a regular kid, having fun, carefree, no pressure. I loved it. :)

When I saw what the dances were going to be this week, I was they wanted Terra to go because I thought a rumba would be very hard for her, and a trio tango rarely works well. I was right about Terra leaving, but boy was I wrong about the dances. I didn't think her rumba was all that - she did better than I expected, but the praise and the perfect score was over-the-top for me. I would have given her the 26 that Calvin got. But mad props to Sasha and Artem for that tango. Holy cow! I loved the way the two guys danced around her - whoever said they were framing her was right. I kept getting pulled towards Artem - man I love to watch him dance, but I thought that tango was excellent. I thought the 26 for Calvin on his first dance was low. I know there was a mess-up, but they recovered well and didn't miss a beat. And it was otherwise very well done. Carrie Ann went overboard with the 8. They didn't deserve that. I thought it was interesting that it was Gleb who messed up twice in their first dance. But I had to go back and check what they did before I remembered it. Jana dances well, but by the end of the night, I've forgotten she's there, and I rarely remember any of her dances. I don't know why, but it happens every week. Every after the Flashdance rip-off - you'd think I'd have remembered the shower, but the next morning, I didn't. As much as I love James, I have to admit I did not care for that AT much. The blindfold didn't seem to serve any real purpose, and it's been done a couple of times before. I kind of understood what CAI was saying - I mentioned to my dh during the number that it felt "off" somehow - a bit constrained maybe? Not as confident and almost careful. And the handstand at the end, while cool, seemed very odd and out of place in an AT. For me it was good but not great. His jive was awesome, though. I thoroughly enjoyed that. I loved Laurie's trio as well. Laurie was amazing, Val was amazing, Maks is still the smoothest dancer ever - he just glides over the floor like silk over glass. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. I've already mentioned Terra's tango. That choreography was amazing, and oh how I've missed Artem. He's another one I love watching move across the floor. I just can't (but in a good way) with Calvin and the amazing lifts. Yes, he's strong, but it takes way more than just strength to be able to do them so effortlessly. It takes a great amount of coordination as well. Another fun fun dance. Jana's paso trio was probably my least favorite, but it was still well done. This has turned out to be a really great season. Not really any celebs to hate, all of them acquitted themselves fairly well - even the weaker dancers didn't suck, only a couple of 4th wheel judges who have no idea what they're talking about. I've thoroughly enjoyed this season. We're down to a final four where, while I have my favorites in Laurie first and James second, I could still enjoy a Calvin win and feel that Jana, while she never really stood out, would be a deserving winner. So, Yay!! I am so looking forward to the freestyles next week. I am expecting some awesome and creative things.

I'm late to this party, but I just got to watch this episode on Sunday. I am already sick to death of the stupid 'married' storyline. But they just had to go the whole cliché thing with the case worker a 'dragon lady' with no sense of humor who appears to hate her job and hate people. Ugh. Just ugh. Can we make this go away, please? I used to thoroughly enjoy this show, but the whole baby/fake marriage thing is seriously cutting into my enjoyment. :(

May I just say how completely over I am of the fact that apparently no one in the world has ever heard of birth control? Let alone actually uses it? The unexpected pregnancy is so overdone. Birth control these days is very effective; there is absolutely no good reason why Happy should be pregnant unless she decided she wanted to become pregnant and stopped using birth control. And I'd like to think that if that were the case, she would have told Toby she wanted to get pregnant, since he would be financially responsible as the father and so should have had a say in it. This whole "surprise!" pregnancy just infuriates me. I also find it incomprehensible that the government didn't give Walter either citizenship or an extended visa given that he seems to be essential personnel. And even though they didn't, you'd think Cabe could get him one in a heartbeat now. If they end up Walter marry Paige now . . . . ugh. I enjoy the heck out of the show and usually things don't bother me, but these two storylines just pushed the boundaries of my ability to ignore.

It looked to me like Negan threw the axe out into the zombie horde. But then there was one on the roof. Rick took that when he jumped onto the hanging zombie, but then it looked like he dropped it. But when Rick dropped to the ground, the axe wasn't there by his feet. He had to go out into the field to find it. So I was wondering if that's where the one Negan threw landed, and there was a second one of the roof? It definitely wasn't clear.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think it does make sense. Most people are not really brave - not in the "I can handle the zombie apocalypse" kind of way anyway. These are people who are just trying to survive. They lost family and friends in horrific ways. They've probably all nearly been eaten alive more than once. And now there's Negan. We know he intimidates them through torture and punishes them for every infraction, real or imagined. Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't he chop off that one girl's finger because she either wanted to or tried to find her boyfriend? So most of them are terrified of him, and the ones who aren't are probably sadistic bullies as well and probably help him enforce 'the law.' But at least with Negan they are protected from the zombies. They have a place to sleep, food to eat, a doctor to take care of their ills. And what most of them don't have is the closeness of CDB. So while they undoubtedly fantasize about killing Negan, the looming fear of what would happen then (or what would happen if I try and fail) stops them. As long as they don't cross Negan, they're safe . . . or as safe as anyone can be in the ZA. And this is where Negan made his mistake. I don't think Negan can even imagine the kind of bond that CDB has. And he has no idea what they've already been through. And he certainly doesn't understand them at all. For Negan there is no possibility that someone would help just because they're good people. For him it's only conceivable that people will cooperate through terror and intimidation. Just my own musings, and I could well be wrong, but if Negan had approached Rick & Co. and said let's work together--I'll help protect your camp, and you help supply my camp--there's a good chance they would have agreed after some careful consideration. They're at heart all about people being stronger together and working together and surviving together. Instead, Negan's people attempted to take whatever Rick and his people had. Rick & Co. are willing to share; they're not at all down with having things taken from them. So they fight back, which pisses Negan off. Anyway, because the CDB folks are a family in every sense of the word except strict biology and they really do care about each other, they are shaken to the core right now and devastated by their loss, but they will heal each other over time and come back stronger than ever and absolutely determined to avenge the deaths of their friends. I don't get the sense that most of the people in Negan's group have that. He wouldn't have let that develop, and there's no sense that I get that his traveling band was made up of larger groups like Rick's. It seems like the larger groups stay in their groups but serve him through fear and intimidation. So there is no one to give the folks with him strength and determination. They see their choice as stay with Negan and be as safe as one can be under the circumstances or kill Negan and be on their own again. Because I don't really see them as considering that they could stay together and be safe. I just don't see it. And Negan has no idea what our group has faced before. He doesn't know about the Governor, about Terminus, about the Wolves, etc. Yes, Negan is more brutal than anyone they've faced before, but ultimately he's just one more asshole in a long line of assholes who have taken on our group and temporarily beaten them only to find in the end that it's CDB that lives to fight another day. It'll take them longer this time, I think, but I fully expect that they will regroup and find their way out of Negan's thrall. And Negan will never be able to understand why he couldn't dominate them as he has the others. He's a sociopath, so the idea of love and loyalty is foreign to him. Anyway, just my thoughts. I could be way off . . . I often am. <lol> And YMMV. :)

I apologize if someone has already mentioned this, but I haven't had time to read through all 6 pages. My two cents' worth - yes, it would make more sense in a retribution kind of way, but in a "let's keep everyone in line" way, what he did makes more sense. It's one thing to know that if you mess up, you'll die. You might decide to risk it anyway. But to know that if you mess up, someone else will die is a very effective deterrent. You might be willing to accept your own death, but how many would be willing to risk someone else dying (and a very brutal death at that) for their actions?

I'm more inclined to believe they're just getting a bad edit. We've seen Artem with older lady after older lady, and he's been sweet and caring and concerned. Even the first few weeks with Maureen, he was still being shown that way. The past couple of weeks it seems like they're deliberately just showing us the problems, and it's totally without context. We don't know what led up to what we're shown or where in the rehearsals it might be coming. We also have no idea how many times she's cried already that day/hour/week. And I really didn't think anything he said to her was that bad - more frustration than anything else. And again because we didn't see what led up to it, he may well have felt that she wasn't really trying or wasn't concentrating. We just don't know. So since he's not usually like that, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that's not typical behavior from him. Others may disagree, of course. :)

In his first season with Cheryl, I would agree.

And I didn't notice a thing because I kept staring at that thing on her head. Ugliest bun I've ever seen! < lol >

I loved this show. This has to be one of the best theme nights they've ever had. All of the contestants seemed to really get into their dances, and for us it was just a whole lot of fun. I think Calvin was underscored - he was terrific. Terra was a bit overscored - don't think I would have given her a 9 but again she did a great job. Only Babyface really seemed to struggle. I'm honestly still not sure what was wrong with the dance, but it just didn't look good. It didn't really look like he was missing steps or messing up or anything - it just wasn't good. I blame Allison for that. I love to watch Allison when she does contemporary. I was a huge fan while she was on SYTYCD. But she's not a ballroom dancer, and it shows. I think another pro could have done more with him, but I'm guessing (hoping??) he'll be going home tonight. I have no idea who else will go. Aside from Babyface, I thought the rest did anywhere from a respectable to a great job. Loved Laurie's dance. It was jazz, so no you don't see much 'partner' dancing. But she nailed the attitude and everything else. My favorite of the night. James was another one who was great. We really enjoyed him. Even Ryan seemed to do so much better this week. He's growing on me, and I hope he stays around a while longer. Maureen and Marilu seem to be two of thd weaker dancers left. I guess my preference would be to see Marilu go this week but only because I want Artem to stay around a while longer. But I thought it was fascinating to learn about Marilu's 'condition.' I didn't realize that was a real thing. Anyway, we all thought it was one of the best nights of DWTS ever. We loved the Cirque people and the themes and the costumes and the make-up. Just loved it all. :)

That's the way I took it as well.

It rotates from year to year so it's never the same person twice. And the designated survivor only takes over if everyone ahead of them in the line of succession were to die. In 2014, the HUD Secretary was the designated survivor. Here's a link to a 2014 article that gives a good explanation of the process (and I apologize if someone has already done this - I didn't have time to read through 6 pages of comments to make sure no one had already answered this). http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/designated-survivor-state-of-the-union-2014-102658