DoctorAtomic

He's probably going to have another stroke when he sees they broke the violin.

I think JB got Larry good with the laser pointer Ted talk. I don't think I could deal with a housekeeper OR a text chain. And we got a callback to the coyotes! I know the emojis too and no way I'm using them. Freddie gets to sell a violin, and I get stuck with catwoman! I don't know how I would have held it together. You don't really see Vince Vaughn get to go off. The scene was brilliant when they were going at each other at how nice they are. I'd like to know how many takes they did on Freddy's dream. I can't imagine Jeff doesn't fly first class. Nice picture of Richard Lewis. Larry said he didn't want to fire her because of any possible bad pr for the trial, so at least there was some excuse.

The problem I have with the top quote is that these people gnashing their teeth in the streets are either coming from "it was hard for me so it should be hard for everyone else", which is a terrible attitude, or are the type of people that screech to the heavens that tax cuts for the rich spur growth, which is massively hypocritical and demonstrably false going on 40 years now. Additionally, nary a squeak on PPP loan forgiveness. It's also condescending. You going into high schools to volunteer career advice so kids won't the same mistakes you did? No? I paid off my loans, but I didn't have much because I had a ton of scholarships and fellowships, but I don't care if the loans were forgiven. It's the flip side of the tax cuts for rich people. However, I'm also torn about the loans, largely because it's not a complicated issue to fix. There's already a program where your loans are forgiven if you work in the public sector for ten years. You could do the same with, for example, cybersecurity. Most people don't need to go to elite private institutions and rack up six figures in debt. My state is incentivizing students with up to $8K no strings if they go to college in-state. You can cap interest rates on education loans. I don't think federal loans should even have interest. You also have to pay taxes on fellowships. Get rid of that. Student debt shouldn't be on your credit report either. Other countries don't have this problem. I don't know if it's a lack of understanding. As you point out, the degree is a necessity, so they don't have a choice. Or don't think they do when there are less expensive options for post secondary education. The necessity itself is a problem as well. There's probably a lot of jobs where you could get a certification at a community college and that would be fine. Employers are lazy though

Aunt Dirt again! I really enjoy when a show can pull a game changer to open up story lines. I'm surprised they didn't do an episode on oil money before. Nice callback to Judy's curling disaster. I'm surprised Santiago plays hockey. I'm so fascinated by the character because I want to know how he ended up there. Good job on Judy coaching. I never noticed Wolf and Honeybee's wedding picture. I'm surprised this is the first time Honeybee saw Cheesecake starkers. Wow Smurfs on Ice reference too. I never noticed that Ham and Crispin wear the same sneakers. This was a really strong episode for Judy.

Yes, my point though was that given that Blackthorne had legit beef with the first priest, had he slowed down a second, he could have told the second priest he wanted her to translate for him instead, and then tell her why. She could have told that to Toranaga, who would have agree with him. I thought the second priest had said to Blackthorne that Mariko was there because she spoke the language, but he was too busy yelling at the priest. I think my original post was because Blackthorne was just yammering on when he could have been paying more attention to what was going on. Neither me nor Toranaga really cared about the christian nonsense at the time. Or just tell Toranaga who would have asked either of them to translate to verify what he was saying.

I thought that Toranaga said to the room that Mariko was there to practice her Portuguese. Like I said, I take Blackthorne's point because of the first priest, but I think my point was that he needed to slow his roll and pay attention more.

I didn't realize Jen was addicted to the pain killers, but they showed it in the last episode. The Tim Daly guest appearance was great and unexpected. Though I don't why they needed the B plot. I did like the role play when John ended up getting up in it about the stairs. I have to put it on the therapist for not really working through John's issues though. She could have headed off their blow up.

The existing four regents would want to bring in a potential fifth regent to impeach Toranaga and make whatever deal they could to get it done. I don't think they'd be looking past that horizon. If they can't find someone quick enough, then they're going to have to take up arms because they know Toranaga is too crafty. Toranaga may want to flip the Christians, but I just don't see him having the luxury of playing that longer game here. Plus, everyone got wiped out by the cannons. The regents still don't know about them yet and probably won't for a while because cell phone coverage was spotty back then. Toranaga really has the upper hand right now if though he doesn't know it. It's a matter of picking the battlefield. Blackthorne et al., are closer to Edo than the regents are in Osaka. The cannons can get to Edo faster on Blackthorne's ship.

I know Amy makes it all about her on the show a lot, but if you're having a baby shower, it is about the expectant mother. However, the entire episode being a set up for "you know that's not what we meant by fuck the police" payoff was 100% worth it. Also, Margaret Cho.

I'd say that's more than just heart eyes! I tend to think Toranaga is just prolonging the inevitable. Plus, if they fill his vacancy in the meantime, then he's got even more problems. The son ripped off the band aid and kind of tests the Regency's resolve.

A rare Chris and Lois plot. I don't know; taking the pic in the shower was...a lot. Quagmire was there to really put a bow on it.

I know it was, but taking it in-show, she never said anything to Larry. So getting all indignant from an offhand comment was out of proportion. Larry usually gets burned for things not his fault though.

Practically, the show established Portuguese = English, and maybe there's a cost factor in bringing in fluent Japanese AND Portuguese speakers.

The headline segment had scorching zingers. Gen Z's first phone call; Matt Gaetz excited about teenagers blowing up his phone. Jets making the Superbowl! They really underscored the mess around TikTok with the disparate groups on opposite sides and no one really knowing much about what's going on. I'm with Lewis Black on AI too. People aren't sufficiently unbiased or diverse in programming the algorithms.

What was that song? Wow. I've been enjoying Grace. She's been really funny. 'Why is she in front of the Twin Towers?' '9/11 didn't happen in England!' Ugh. Tucker. Go away.

I've been on Blackthorne's case probably the most, but even I had to cut him some slack in this episode. He had major beef with the minor lord who threw him and his men into a hole and pissed on him. I'm not going to be so inclined to hand over my guns either. He made a good effort to make amends with Fuji, and he was smart enough to go with their strategy of giving up the guns to them. If anything, I'd get on his case in not leaning into hatamoto nearly enough. He was titled in front of everyone directly from Tokugawa. Whether they all like it or not, they can't deny it. I think he was naive to think he'd get right to his ship and his men, and I said last night after watching that he's the target of assassination. No way he's not going to be tucked away out of reach. At least you got the house and you can walk around town. Even Makiko called him out - He's got responsibility and is honor bound to train the army. He also agreed to do that in front of everyone. What did you think was going to happen? As for -sama, I don't think it's a big deal to err on being respectful to the people you meet who haven't done anything to you. Ok, so you don't call the gardner -sama. No one told him what else people are called. He's been told thus far what to call everyone, and by and large, it's been -sama. He was being genuinely polite. In terms of the cannon, Blackthorne has a letter of marque from the Dutch crown. This is the time of pirates; if you're backed by the Crown, I think you're getting the top technology. It's a fair cheat. The letters were used to wage private wars. I don't think you're going to give them cut rate weapons. I don't think they'd be such ace cannon experts in such short a time either, but the payoff of blasting those other guys into smithereens was totally worth it.

I think LA centered shows are way more prevalent than NY, and I would much prefer to see NY any time.

Cannon from a pirate ship though, you'd want to disable a ship so it would be designed to be more precision and longer range. Pirate didn't really shell castles; maybe coastal forts, so same thing for the range. It's another dimension they wouldn't have thought out because there wasn't need for a navy. The cannon can still shell the castle from a distance. I would think they'd need more of them. There's a Siege of Osaka castle in 1615 that cements the Tokugawa bakufu so maybe they did use them then. Blackthorne's official consort (Omi?) husband had to seppuku and the child, which is technically restoring his honor, but it was his own fault for speaking out in the council. So I'd say yes and no. I never had natto when I was there, but it was popular. You could buy packages of it in the supermarket. If it smelled like cheese I probably could have eaten it. Eel? No way. I'm dry heaving just thinking of it.

"It's just one year." "Ok, so she said six months, tops." I'm actually not going to get on Blackthorne's case about wanting to go on his ship; sure, it's Toranaga's now, but the hatamoto needs the ship to carry out his duty he was tasked with. I would have just gotten on the boat and told Mariko to take it up with the lord. I will get on his case and tell him to just take the house. Did he forget he was the target of assassination? I liked the whole resolution to carrying the guns. Mariko is killing with all her asides - With utmost respect, we will depart. She takes good notes too. Blackthorne smart enough to know to keep his mouth shut if he wants to keep getting some of that sanpo suru along the Thames if y'all know what I mean. Kind of a shrewd move by the son to wipe out the Regents' emissary. You're keeping the secret of the cannon, and forcing the other lord to take his side.

Is that so? Then she needed someone in her ear like a live newscast. They have to had prepared it based on the published speech earlier though because it wasn't reflective of the actual live SOTU.

Larry ripping someone being on their phone would have been a better bit.

Good joke on Jon's expense to look in the little fancy hand mirror. I only saw a few snippets of the rebuttal, and I didn't think she was like that for the whole speech, but wow. I can't really put it on her totally. Who was directing her? No one chimed in with a 'maybe dial it down?' I don't know if she was going for 'folksey' or something like that. Don't they have multiple takes? I assume the rebuttal is prepared when the speech is released, so there's time to film the rebuttal. I was under the impression they didn't *watch* the speech and just filmed the rebuttal off the printed copy. After a few bumps, well noted here, Jon was stronger tonight. The question of why the gop thinks they're the direct descendents of the Revolutionaries is a good point. It's kind of a condescending stand to take. Those people talking about wanting a dictatorship was chilling.

In the movie theater, it didn't look to me like it was getting in the way of the legroom. That wasn't really what the guy was arguing about. I haven't been to the movies since Revenge of the Sith, so I have no idea what people do now.

And I will take those props.

I forgot it was Ted. I still didn't think it was a big deal for Larry.