Biggie B

Cookie Puss! That's what we call David Cook in our household (those folks who know from Carvel Ice Cream will understand the reference). I love him! And yes, I would pay money to see/hear him perform. I've at least spent money on his music. I think he's a terrific singer, and I actually like him as a person. And while that doesn't pay his bills, at least I don't feel grossed out by him, as I do when I see Constapuke! What did Tristan sing? I have no recollection of this contestant (I only started watching this season last week - so I barely know anyone's name).

This may be the first time in YEARS of watching medical soap operas that I actively rooted for a child to die. That Maya was horrible - just awful. I appreciate that she was the strong one in the mother-daughter relationship, but she was so blatant about it - she basically said, in front of her own mother - I'm smarter, my mom's too dumb to understand any of this, I'll make all the decisions. Sure, could be a defense mechanism but jeez - what an insufferable brat. The poor mother - no one was willing to even give her a chance. Maybe she's a decent, smart woman who's been so busy trying to singlehandedly raise a very sick child that she hasn't had a chance to be her own person. Kudos to Alex for putting up with Maya - she didn't deserve it. The second ANY character on ANY show says to a therapist, "I'm fine, I'm only here because I have to be," you know they're a friggin' mess. Unoriginal writing. How refreshing it would be to hear a character say, "I think I'm doing well, but there are a few things sort of troubling me, that I'm confused about..." The brief scene with Arizona leaving her house, notice the camera never showed below the hem of her dress. You'd never know she has a prosthetic leg.

Peach, I get it - you are not a Dalton fan, didn't like his performance - no worries! Just to be clear, I am a few months away from turning 54. I am VERY well aware of Billy Idol's music, and was fortunate enough to be around when he was truly at the height of his popularity. I was lucky enough to live in Manhattan in the 80's, when lots of amazing music was going on in the clubs. So pass the Geritol. I still enjoyed Dalton's 90 seconds, knowing full well that, as I said in my original post, only Billy Idol can do Billy Idol. A dear friend of mine, who's in her late 60's, sees Idol in concert about 3-4 times a year and always does the meet and greet. Judging from her pictures and her accounts, he's still kickin' it full strength! Dalton could only *wish* to have such a career.

Same here. For a contestant I'd never seen or heard before, he got and kept my attention in a positive way. I would like to see how he does going forward, to see if he isn't just a one-trick pony or just very good looking but unable to actually sing well. He may well be horrible tonight in his duet. But I want to see/hear that performance, as opposed to most of the other contestants, in whom I have no interest already, after hearing just one 90 second snippet of singing. I can't help but wonder how Dalton would have been received if he'd gone out there and done the song exactly as Billy Idol does it. Would it be called karaoke? Would he be criticized for just doing a lame imitation (because let's face it, only Billy Idol can do Billy Idol!)? Hard to say. Edited to add: BogoGog24 has already made the same comment as I just did (about imitating Billy Idol) and I did not see it prior to writing this post, so apologies. Must give credit where credit is due!

This is only my 3rd episode of the season - I completely skipped the cattle calls and while I actually meant to watch the Hollywood stuff, I simply forgot about the show completely until last week. Thus, tonight was the first time I've ever seen these contestants. I'm a blank slate - I know nothing about their backstories, how they did in earlier episodes, whether they were even shown much or at all in earlier episodes. So...the ONLY one who jumped out at me was Dalton. He is visually stunning - really compelling and captivating. I know physical looks are 100% subjective, and I expect to see plenty of folks posting that Dalton's looks do nothing at all for them. Well, they definitely do something for me. This young man is going to look better with each decade. Look at pictures of Paul Newman through the years - he just got more and more intense in his looks (George Clooney is traveling the same route). ANYWAY, putting Dalton's appearance aside - reluctantly - I did very much enjoy his rendition of 'Rebel Yell.' I'm almost 54 - I know from Billy Idol. As a matter of fact, I just listened to that song yesterday. Dalton definitely got and kept my attention with that version of the song. More importantly, he made me curious to hear more ("more, more" - see what I did there?) from him - and isn't that the point of the competition? And beyond 'Idol,' a singer has to have the ability to make me want to spend money purchasing his/her music, as well as perhaps paying for a live performance. I am now very curious to see who Dalton will be paired with for the duets, and beyond, should he advance. The young lady who sat at the piano was awful. Cringe-worthy, I would say. The 29-year old guy with a lot of tats, and whose underarm sweat stains were unfortunately featured, was beyond lackluster. Perhaps I was biased from the get-go, as I can't stand that song - boring, boring, boring, and done 875 times before. And man, was this guy trying too hard. Jeez, a few times, he reached down towards the crowd and no one reached up in response. That was sort of pathetic (reminded me of Jeb Bush entreating his audience to "please clap."). The African-American young man seemed OK to me. I'm interested in hearing more from him. No one else made much of an impression, and that's not a good sign. Since I've never seen or heard any of them, I can't just say, "Well, his/her last performance was amazing, so I can overlook this one."

Sorry - misread 'Miller' for 'Mulder' - I was blinded by Miller's good looks!!

'Ho Hey' by The Lumineers. Agent Miller is gorgeous. I can't stand Gillian Anderson's raspy voice. If it's something medical, I apologize, but I find it beyond grating - like nails on a chalkboard.

When Meredith finally came home and was settling in on the couch with Alex to talk to him, at one point she did say, "You can have more than one Person, I have a whole village," or something to that effect. We all know that Christina was/is Meredith's Person, so to me, that statement was a direct reference to Christina by Meredith, and a reinforcement that she and Christina are still BFF's and still very much in touch. It's just that Meredith now knows that she can and does have other Persons. I hadn't seen or heard any of the hype but for a passing mention on Facebook with a picture of Meredith's battered face a few days ago. So I knew the episode entailed her being attacked and as soon as she was alone in the room with Lou, it was just a matter of moments. Like everyone else, I thought of the 'ER' episode and thought that one was far more traumatic and stressful to watch than this one. Even when the entire cast (almost) was working on Meredith, I never for a moment thought she wouldn't be just fine, but for some funky bumps along the way (temporary loss of hearing, jaw wired shut). I thought Ellen Pompeo did a great job with the very small details of portraying someone who's temporarily incapacitated. I liked the way she touched Arizona's arm in gratitude after Arizona helped her get ready to see the children. I liked how she used her fingers to keep Amelia from taking back her 30-day chip. I liked how she banged on things to get others' attention or to express anger. Those are just a few examples of deft use of things other than her voice to convey feeling. A quick throw-away line about who and how the kids were cared for would've been helpful. Once they realized Meredith couldn't hear, it would've taken two seconds for any one of them to scribble a note to her that "Your kids are OK!" I guess the writers just let us viewers make the assumption that they were being tended to without pointing it out. Maybe they thought it would be too obvious? But sometimes those small tidbits add up to create frustration (I also felt frustrated when Richard was wheeling her down the hall and Meredith was asking where they were going, etc. Wouldn't it have been more logical and nice for him to say, "I'm taking you outside for a bit of sun and fresh air!" Even if she didn't want to go, it's not like she could outpower him and refuse to go. He didn't need to 'fool' her.) I don't even know what to say about Amelia that hasn't already been said. I keep trying to sympathize with her on some level, but it's a bit challenging. I guess for an addict/alcoholic, it is literally one day at a time, even one hour or moment at a time. It may be too much to try to step outside themselves. Maybe the only way for Amelia to get and stay sober is to focus on her own shortcomings/needs - perhaps she just doesn't have enough bandwidth to even consider how this trauma affected Meredith - Amelia can only see what it did to Amelia.

Mackenzie looks so much like E. Nygma from 'Gotham' that it just completely distracted me (not in a good way) the entire time he was singing. Very disturbing! Jeneve looked like Jesse from the first 'Toy Story' movie - I think that was her name, the cowgirl toy? Very weird.

I enjoyed it. I assumed that everything would work out one way or the other, so it was just a matter of sitting back and watching all the moving parts work together. Recreating the doctor's office was hilarious - "Everyone likes apples." Dembe didn't have a single word this episode. :-( No mention or sight of Solomon. Will he come into play again? Will he manage to weasel his way out of whatever mess he's in? Will Laurel throw him under the bus as she did Peter (whose wife will REALLY have a big anxiety attack, now that her husband has been exposed as a traitor and he's dead! Or perhaps not!)? Speaking of Peter, just where did he land, what country was that? That was pretty funny - all the scenes with him on the plane with Red and the Venezuelan guy were quite comical. Ms Wright's death - will that conveniently be attributed by Laurel to Peter? That stinks, if so - Laurel is getting away with murder. What's Red up to now, meeting with her? Strictly business, I guess, since Red got just about all that he wanted. He's able to move on in a heartbeat. Will Liz and Tom reconnect? Where's her dog (dead, I assume)? Hope she doesn't go back to living out of a motel. I enjoyed Samar working with Red - they meshed well. Samar didn't really question him, just went right along for the ride, doing whatever needed to be done. Will she be allowed to go back to work, though? And what of Harold and his marriage? Hope they can work things out. Well, lots of questions, so I guess I'll have to keep watching to see where things go from here.

"I'm glad Aram and Samar no longer with the FBI. " [My quote function isn't available, apologies.] How do we know for sure that Aram has been fired or quit? How did that play out? I may have missed it by fast forwarding too vigorously.

What a fun romp! I enjoyed it so much because I look at this show like a cartoon and suspend all disbelief. Makes it a lot easier to watch, rather than getting annoyed by something as nutty as Red and Navabi getting from NYC to a storage locker in W.Virginia in like an hour or so. I hate Solomon! He's as annoying as Theo Galavan in 'Gotham.' He gets away with everything and always has that dumb ass smirk on his face. I guess that's what makes him a good villain, though. I knew Ressler wouldn't kill him, but it would've been nice to at least put a bullet through his kneecap or something. Soooo glad Dembe is out from behind bars, and loved the searing look he gave Solomon. Right? The music throughout the episode was, for the most part, horrible and tried oh-so-hard to be hip and meaningful but failed. I did sort of like the song that preceded Red and Aram's scene at the gravesite, though - anyone know what it was?

Loved it. Penguin's eye roll when Lee said she was pregnant; Lucius Fox meeting up with Penguin, et al.; Harvey shooting Arvin Sloane, still huffing and puffing from having climbed the stairs; the umbrella shoved down Theo's throat - all hilarious! I'm glad Tabitha roughed her brother up, but she certainly doesn't deserve to get away - she was as awful as her brother and for heaven's sake, she dared to try to kill Alfred!! For that alone, she deserves a taste of her own medicine. They sure are building up quite a stockpile of villains in Indian Hill, aren't they.

Could someone make a GIF of Alfred reaching up and grabbing the end of Tabitha's whip with one hand???? And was his back to her? Regardless, that was THE best moment of the whole episode for me. Alfred may not be perfect 100% of the time, but man, when he's good, he's GOOD. I was sickened to see him fall into the back of the garbage truck with a knife in him. I know he won't die, but still - I can't stand to see anything bad happen to him, just as I hate seeing Dembe get hurt on 'The Blacklist.' Loved Selena and Bruce working together. That was an elaborate scam but it worked perfectly. Screw you, Silver!! Edited to add: I loved Penguin calling Nygma at work. "Where's the spicy mustard?"

I thought for a moment that Bruce was still hung up on Silver but after his scenes with Alfred, it seemed as if he knows she's bad but he doesn't care - he just wants any scrap of info about who killed his parents and he thinks Theo might've given those scraps to Silver. Thus, he wants to see if he can wheedle anything out of her. Of course, when she looks at him with her puppy dog, pouty face, sure, he weakens a bit. And I'm not quite sure he truly believes Theo is bad to the bone. Same sort of thing...Bruce is willing to overlook both Theo's and Silver's "badness" in order to get even a hint of a clue as to who might've killed his parents. We'll see if both Alfred and Selena can convince him completely and get him back on track. So Barbara's off to be warehoused at Arkham. Gee, that oughta work out well - that place is about as secure as CTU was on '24.' Loved seeing Arvin Sloane again!! Nygma and Penguin together - oh boy oh boy! That's just gonna be all kinds of wrong - count me in!

I'm so over Barbara. She needs to die already. It's boring now with her. How many times can she capture Lee and threaten her? Enough already. And how many chances did Jim have to shoot her in the leg or similar - not enough to kill her but to incapacitate her. Which is ultimately what has now happened - they have her - they'll probably ship her off to Indian Hills where she can share a hospital room with Firefly Brigit. Is that the last we see of Theo? Also - why was Mayor James still alive? Why were they holding him as a prisoner? Were they going to blackmail his family for his return or something? It just seemed pointless to keep him stashed away if there wasn't reason for it (at least, none that we were privy to). I love that Nygma and Penguin have crossed paths. That totally works for me! I wonder when Miss Kringle's absence will be noticed and if we the viewers will see any of the other characters wondering where she is. Or if Nygma will write yet another goodbye letter as he did for the nasty cop he killed.

One of the best bosses I ever had was named Job. He was a WASP from Connecticut, complete with a Roman numeral after his name (Job Txxxxx III; his license plate was JTIII). He was a high powered litigator in NYC when I worked for him at a very large law firm. Custom made suits and monogrammed shirts (always French cuff) - he was like something out of a movie. Great guy - and his name fit him, I can't imagine him with a different first name!

Andre asked J Poppa what the "J" stood for and then reeled off a few examples of words starting with "j," among them "jigga/jigger." (however it might be spelled)

(Emphasis mine). This is a soap opera...no basis in reality at all! :-)

Just watched this episode today (Saturday), so I don't have much new to add by way of commentary. Jo's hair looked like raccoons chewed on it - really awful. The one thing that bothered me during the Meredith-screaming-at-Amelia scene was: why didn't Meredith indicate that she (Meredith) had JUST found out/recalled/remembered who Penny is? As soon as Amelia said, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KEPT THIS FROM ME!!!!" I would have screamed back, "I JUST REALIZED TONIGHT WHO PENNY IS!!!!!!!!!!!!" As it is now, Amelia might mistakenly be thinking that Meredith's known about Penny for days/weeks/months. So that irritated me very much. I can't stand April. I hope to hell Jackson pursues the divorce to completion. I used to like them as a couple but I'm done with them together, and I find it almost a bit sick that April refuses to acknowledge that Jackson is done with her. This show is a soap opera first and foremost. The whole point of soaps is tension - miscommunication - wrong place/wrong time - misinterpretation - forbidden or illicit couplings and so on. Happy people are boring and would not be able to carry a 48 minute story line. No one wants to watch that for more than a few moments. Since soaps have been around since the days of radio, there's very little left in the way of originality, so I'm not sure what else can be done that's witty, compelling, and novel. Thus, I don't expect much from this show. Good looking, well-dressed people acting like idiots most of the time - that's about it!

One of the brothers did kick her when she neglected to provide glasses with the bottles of beer. I made the assumption that she's been hit pretty regularly. Additionally, when Selena came upon her out back, she was sitting there crying with her knees drawn up to her face. If she hasn't been beaten regularly, she's certainly been abused verbally by her 'brothers.' That's how I took it.

I just felt that her delivery of those lines fell really flat - like she was trying way too hard to sell herself on the idea that she'd never have sex again, that that part of her life was over. The lady doth protesteth too much, to paraphrase Mr. Shakespeare. My husband, who doesn't watch this show, happened to walk in the room just as Meredith was making the "never again" proclamtion, and he said, "So of course that character will be having rabid sex any minute now, right?" I get what you're saying - that at that moment, Meredith truly believed she was done with sex and love. It could be a defense mechanism - it's pretty scary to try to imagine opening yourself up again to such feelings, as it could lead once again to pain and loss, so your brain protects you by making you say, "Not gonna happen!" I just didn't believe her...I guess all those years of watching soap operas makes me cynical - whenever a character says something, you can almost always expect the opposite to happen.

I lost track of how many times I rolled my eyes during this episode. Just too much contrivance. Stevie Wonder could've seen a million miles away that Abe was going to die - showing Arizona the engagement ring was a massive anvil. And any time one character on a show (e.g., Maggie) says with vehemence, "I am NEVER GOING TO HAVE SEX AGAIN WITH SO-AND-SO!!!" you immediately know that they will indeed be ripping each other's clothes off momentarily. Such lazy, unoriginal writing - we've seen this sort of lameness for 50+ years on any countless number of soap operas. Same thing when Meredith said, several times, "I'm done with sex! I had my One Great Love, but now I have my kids and career and that's enough." Yeah...right. While I do agree that she doesn't need to have a new love interest right away, neither does she have to proclaim with such gusto that she's NEVER going to have love/sex again. Come on! Fake, fake, Fakey McFakerson! I'd rather she'd have said, "I had my One Great Love. I miss Derek with all my heart and soul and always will. For now, I'm going to raise my kids, bust my ass at work, but I hope that someday, I'll be ready to love again. We'll see, who knows...but not right now." That to me would have been more realistic. Don't blast these ultimatums around because we all know that it's not going to last!

When Red told Lizzie that she's his constant, his North Star, I almost threw up. Yuck! As bad as the whole "Meredith is the sun" nonsense on Grey's Anatomy.

Having not seen the Batman movies nor read the comics, is Theo Galavan (or whatever his last name is) part of the original canon, or is he just made up for this show?