DoctorAtomic

That was the irony of it. He fancied himself a great warrior, but he couldn't even balance himself with a sword properly.

That's what I figured when I said the term wasn't lost on me. However, I think my follow on point is apt about class.

That was a lot for a casual fan that doesn't know all the characters. I had to do a lot of pausing when all the names were mentioned. nbd though. I'm not complaining. The assault was wild. I was really on the edge of my seat. I don't know who the Morlocks are, but it looked like a big deal that Gambit blew in to get them out of there. Although, it's interesting that they seemed like a lower class (the name isn't lost on me) when X and Magneto are all talking about equality and 'our people'. I didn't get quite what was going on in the astral plane with Pryor and Jean, but I was wondering why Scott wasn't angling for a threesome (joking). Legit question though - Cable was running around before the attack and called Pryor 'mom'. Was he supposed to be Nathan from the future? She acted like she knew him already though. "Remember it" is just total BAMF. The show has really been bringing it. I'm a casual fan, as I said before, and it hasn't been hard for me to get invested in the characters. 90s fun - the song Magneto and Rogue were floating around and dancing to could have totally been an Ace of Base song. I totally hope that was deliberate.

All right then. More reason that the catholic regents might have some naval power there. I meant piracy like there was on the other side of the world with the governments issuing the letters of marque to the Erasmus, for example, to subcontract hostilities without the governments declaring war.

I don't think the other regents would have considerable forces in Osaka either. Maybe the catholic regents would have some security forces for the Portuguese. I don't think there was any piracy in that part of the world then, so there probably isn't any navy to speak of. None of them are aware of the range of Blackthorne's canon. I would think they have a false sense that the castle is unassailable.

Blackthorne wanted to go pirating against the Portuguese before, and Toranaga refused his request. If they go do that, then they're drawing forces away from Osaka because the catholic regents would have to do something to engage.

That's the whole point though. Everyone is occupied with the army crawling along. No one is paying attention to Riggs and MurtaughYabu and Blackthorne sidling up with the cannon, and no one knows the range of the cannon. Given the huge, literally half century legend of Toranaga in battle, he's got to convince people he's completely given up and is totally desolate. The whole clan is in disarray.

There's also the other time when one of Jeff's floozies left her panties. "I'm Larry David. I happen to enjoy wearing women's panties." Even in the special prior to the series, Jeff was cheating. When Jeff and Larry went to NYC, him and Larry were going out after one of Larry's sets, and Jeff's gf showed up. Back then, Larry quickly figured out what was going on and was way uncomfortable. It played out later on with Cheryl. Once the series kicked in, Larry was always complicit. My original point, since I kicked off this current line of conversation was that no way Larry's lawyer would put Jeff on the stand because all of that could come to light.

They were definitely real, but I thought it was more, "oh, I can't believe I have to let him go." I wouldn't call bull if the seppuku was staged. The guy was old, and I could see him giving it up to seal the victory for his old friend Toranaga. However, this is a good quality show; I think they would have tipped us off sometime beforehand in the episode. Don't forget she saw him starkers when she followed him to the hot spring.

He was good in Clone Wars.

ymmv.

Counterpoint - For someone like me who is a casual fan, the scene tells me this is an important name, and I can look up more about the character.

Only the good ones.

Not to be corny, it's the same thing as the Jedi council sniping that Anakin didn't "do the tests" even though he's proven himself 1000 times over in an actual war. I think that's the point though; the institutions can't get out of their own way to their own peril.

I thought they might have been going the gay route too.

I think Toranaga set up the grand surrender last time to make a big show for Blackthorne to storm out and stew around to eventually team up with Yabu. So, yes. I don't think he thought his old pal was going to seppuku, but he already went all in. He couldn't let the bluff be called. Now Blackthorne and Yabu are in the wind without anyone else knowing. They're his wild cards. I didn't. Maybe don't beat her. He didn't necessarily just 'hear'. There's a scene where he asks Mariko "did they ally yet?" Or "Did anjin go to Yabu yet?" He was playing that since he released Blackthorne. It wasn't entirely clear to me that he was released. I asked upthread. But that makes more sense now that releasing him frees him up to ally with Yabu. The whole point of being all giving up was to convince Ishido that he was completely defeated, but also giving cover to Blackthorne. I'd say it was more one within the other.

I don't know if Jeff is best to put on the stand since Larry has been complicit in his adultery since the special. JB would have gone off on how Larry gave him a place to tap that ass when his own house was destroyed. Richard Lewis is probably the best witness. It's the direction of the episode. They went kind of absurdist with the ski lift lady and all that, but they could have shifted up a gear. The jury turning into Larry at the end with no one learning a lesson at all really would have landed for me. It's Larry's show and that's what he wanted to do. Larry is on the Smartless podcast this week.

Ironic that if they have to wait 49 days for mourning, then Toranaga bought even more time. And then he says it at the end! I wasn't wasn't the only one not buying the "Toranaga is sick" "peaceful death ruse. "He's going to fight. No way he sends that guy to Osaka!" I didn't think he would go as so far as letting his best friend seppuku, but that's some cold calculating. Toranaga playing everyone like a month ahead. It's kind of the same thing as Toranaga betting on Blackthorne to outrun the Black Ship. I guess making tea one time doesn't make up for the fact your wife loathes you. What a burn from Mariko. Blackthorne seems to have learned a lot more Japanese from last week. I wasn't quite getting that Toranaga relieved Blackthorne of his hatamoto duties? Kind of short on Mariko's part to not clue in Blackthorne that the others think Toranaga is up to something. He would have come around. To think he should inherently be able to grasp what's going on isn't entirely fair. Unless that was by design, which in hindsight, I'm thinking. I really am enjoying seeing the swamp Edo is knowing firsthand what Tokyo is like. And building the palace, which I've been to.

Because they thought they could control her more easily. You can look up online resources for a timeline, but Lord of Chaos took place over less than a week. That's why I knew it was going to be a slog.

I've always been on the side that Larry is mostly right about whatever he's arguing about. Sometimes he picks nits to get a rise out of people. Other times, like for the party, the guy was delusional if the thought Larry was going to be cordial. So, caveat emptor. Knowing that Mocha Joe et al., were going to testify, I would have liked to see Larry's lawyer get into it as much as Larry does. "You're coffee was never cold? Ever? Really?" "You're asking a 60 something year old man to jump 45' because you can't be next to a man at sunset?" Why not get John Hamm up there on the stand? The spite store is just funny, and Larry being unapologetic about it always lands for me. Or JB. Kind of flipping the perspective to really muddy the waters on who is the actual jerk in these situations. You could still have it that Larry just isn't that great of a guy and that he doesn't care about 'learning lessons'. What lessons? Letting people get away with their heads up their asses? Larry doesn't bend over backward to accommodate other people's bullshit. So you could have had it that Larry is just everyone's id and basically have the jury turn into a bunch of Larrys. If they were going to bring in obscure characters, they should have brought in the pig parker to get the jury on Larry's side. Everyone hates the pig parker. Oh, I saw a license plate yesterday that said Brooky!

"Real combat veterans have nothing to prove". If that's not the ultimate diss, I don't know what is.

I, for one, am glad Lent is behind us. aah-ooogah!

So glad Richard Lewis made it for the finale. I also didn't realize that the voting law would be a felony. Larry knows you have to shut the phone off on the plane. I don't like it when he's just being obnoxious for no reason. The flight attendant was really good though. I don't know where Larry came up, but no way I'd let him in the lane either. I would have sped up though. I liked the jury selection scene though. I agreed with Larry. String tie? Get him out of there. I never saw the Seinfeld finale, but I know there was a trial and they ended up in jail at the end. I assume Larry is being meta and commenting on both. It's kind of half sided if Larry's lawyer isn't going to cross examine. The court scenes were kind of static. Without anyone to really play off Larry, it doesn't work as well. I can see Takahashi or Tracey Ullman being called in, but it's a bit much that they found the lady from the ski lift or the Japanese restaurant. I guess it's meant to be fantastical to a point, but it's flat. No one defended Larry? Jeff, Susie, JB? Richard? Even Jerry? Susie in the wheelchair has to be the greatest gag in the entire show. Bringing her in next to Larry helped out the scene better. Until she stormed off. I kind of call Susie a little out though. Was she so upset how Jeff got the recipe though? Seinfeld was clearly enjoying Larry's routine about the bearded lady. This is kind of silly to just put "Larry" on trial by taking select dialogue out of context. It's hamstringing the strength of the show.

One thing I didn't catch was what the cost of an execution was. I'm sure there's probably a lot of hidden fees that aren't obvious.

Marge is delusional if she thought Homer could cook dinner anyway.