Chyromaniac

Burnham and Saru were both Captains last season, as were Kirk and Spock for Star Trek 5 and 6. Rank doesn’t necessarily have to be an issue. Sure, we’ll see how it works with Rayner. Yet even on Q’Mau (when they actually were still both on equal footing), he could have put his drive to complete the mission ahead of her plan to save the outpost- but he still did the right thing in the end. He also could have just sat by here- but he stepped up to help Tilly and Adira solve the problem. I think he’s going to push Burnham and crew - but unless this is some weird long con on his part, I don’t think he’s going to betray her, or try and take matters into his own hands. Otherwise, I loved seeing Burnham and Saru on one more mission together. I fully expect him to be back with Discovery by the end of the season - but if those two characters don’t get a chance to team up again, this was a good mission to go out on. Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season brings for him. Hopefully it’s worth him not being with the rest of the crew- but it’s good that Doug is getting a chance to continue to evolve Saru. His character journey has been one of the best things to come from this series.

The Pabuans really need to seal off that cove…

I wouldn’t call the magic castle a tourist trap, mainly because they don’t really cater to tourists. It’s not like a museum that you can just show up to and visit - it’s essentially a club, and to get inside you generally have to be a member or know someone who is. I’d like to check it out someday - it seems like something that needs to be experienced in person to fully appreciate. I make a concerted effort to not care about anything on this show that doesn’t directly relate to the actual competition. I find it’s pretty simple to not get annoyed by the contestants or judges, if I simply ff past practically everything that isn’t cooking or judging, and ignore as much of the commentary as possible.

I don't have a go-to role for Tony Goldwyn - but as someone who follows Disney Theme Park news, I think he looks a lot like Bob Iger. Personally, my problem with Baxter is I just don't know what to make of him as a character. I think with pretty much every cast change, we've had a decent idea of their background and viewpoint within an episode or two. Nora was a law professor and took an academic approach to cases. Arthur was a big time lawyer who ran on a public safety platform. This guy? We know he was appointed by the Governor. He told the detectives he wants a more transparent relationship with police, and he's redecorating the office because it looked too... lawyer-y? Beyond that, he fired some of his employees, and makes a lot of passive aggressive remarks to the one guy we see. But... is he even a lawyer? If anything he comes across as a finance guy (again, I see Iger) who doesn't really understand the business he bought position he's been appointed to - but he's trying to maximize profits convictions to make a good impression on the shareholders voters. Jack's exit episode suggested that he was retiring so the Governor could put someone in place who would put justice before politics - but that doesn't really seem to be the case. If this is the guy the Governor chose, it feels like it really cheapens the sacrifice Jack was trying to make.

I don’t get how it took until the end of the show for the DA’s to put the pieces together. The victim was a gay black man. His partner described having a confrontation with Arnou as he exited the train. The police only tracked Arnou down, because he was a member of the mma combat course run by a guy with a WP tat. And the DA’s couldn’t find any evidence that he’s a racist? He only spends multiple hours a week associating with an obvious white supremacist. And how about the other half dozen dudes in that group? Any of them have ties to radical groups or espouse racist ideology? Did anyone in Arnou’s personal life (the ex-wife maybe?) notice any idealogical changes lately? It shouldn’t have taken an undercover agent holding their hand to prove that Arnou was a racist- let alone needing that agent to actually testify. Also- so Ellis’ partner wouldn’t have left him in the middle of a full blown asthma attack, right? So what happened between when he got off the train, and when Ellis stumbled into dancer girl? Ya don’t think Arnou could’ve said something to agitate him that set off his flare up, do ya? One other thing- I think when the defense attorney says he “prays there’s someone like Arnou” on the train with him, that’s an open invitation for Price to put the jurors- particularly the minority jurors- in Ellis’ shoes. Because really- if you’re on that train, is this really the guy you want to decide if you’re a threat? Or your son, husband, or brother? That’s the question they needed to be asked- are you okay with him making that decision about you? I dunno- overall I agree with Price at the end that Ellis deserved better. But he deserved better from the writers. It feels like they went out of their way to make this case a loser- not because they actually wanted to say something about the dangers of vigilantism or white nationalism, or even just assumptions about what makes someone appear threatening. Instead it’s some vague debate about the “greater good” that’s more about the personality conflict between Price and Baxter than anything else. And really- after only two weeks, it honestly feels like Price is just expecting to get fired. If that’s where this is going, I wish they would just get it over with, because it’s just dragging the show down more than it already has been.

Tbh, I’m surprised if anything about the show is memorable. I don’t even mean that negatively- what I want is for it to be funny in the moment while I’m watching it, which it generally is. I feel like that’s the goal of the show- to be cheap, disposable humor. I mean, the signature game is about spitting out as many puns as possible in a minute. If anything, the memorable things are the times where the show didn’t work- like that chud Pally trying to hijack the games. Since I don’t want to end on a negative note, I’ll add that if something is going to be memorable for a good reason, I’m not surprised PFT was involved.

I thought this was a strong episode, buoyed immensely by Mehcad’s performance. However, I think this is a good point- I seem to recall affirmative defenses allowing some kind of evaluation from a state expert from the old show . I think that could have helped explain some of the debate over whether the defendant fit the diagnosis, and also taken some of the heat off Price- because honestly it felt like the defense expert felt more credible than he did questioning her. And hey- if the message of the episode is that this condition is real, then having Oliver say, “you don’t want to put me on the stand” is a way to convey that. How do you make time for that in this episode? The easiest solution is to just have Shaw confront the guy on the bridge after the shooting instead of before. Then he goes to the precinct, hears about the shooting, and he and Riley investigate the crime. Eventually they come across the shooter at that apartment, because Shaw told him to go be with his kid. I think that would shave at least 10 minutes off the investigation side- you could even keep the scene about the hospital video. As it is, we get to the bail scene at almost exactly halfway through the show- I suspect that’s the case in nearly every episode now. I don’t think it’s always necessary for this show to be literally half cop show/half lawyer show. Sometimes one side is going to need more time. Right now I feel like they are so beholden to this format, that they end up padding out the first half with red herrings or extraneous issues - but the second half almost always feels rushed and confusing. In an episode like this one- where it’s perfectly obvious who the killer is going to be- they don’t need to treat that part of the show like a big mystery. Save that screen time for when it can really make the story better.

I made this screenshot of my favorite moment from Dune 2:

For me it felt like a worthy exit for Jack - and I’m glad he got one last witness to grill, and one last big courtroom speech on his way out. He knew this case was a one way ticket, and he made it count, and spared his team in the process. This is not meant to denigrate Price or Maroun- tbh, I wonder if some of the problem with their characterizations are because the writers are trying to give them attitudes and temperaments that set them apart from him. Still, with Jack there’s just something more compelling about his character. Whether it’s the writing, Waterston’s acting, or something else entirely, there’s just a sense of (forgive me) conviction about Jack McCoy, and how he presents himself in court. Maybe now that the new kids are out from his shadow, the writers might be able to infuse some of that zeal into their characters.

Of course, ymmv - but my assumption is that the issues potentially come off as heavy handed, because sometimes they only have room in the script for someone to just literally say what the message is supposed to be, rather than let it play out as part of the leap story. And, I feel that's mostly due to all the stuff they have to accommodate happening back at HQ now. That's what I meant when I said focus on the leap, and treat the issues thoughtfully - dial back the present day stuff, and concentrate on working the message organically into the leap. Because frankly, QL has always been about social issues. Whether that's big societal stuff like oppression or intolerance, or small personal matters - this show has always been about taking people from the past, and changing their circumstances for the better. It's about taking the audience and, through the experience of the leaper, literally allowing them to understand and empathize with those people. To me, that's what made the original show special. I feel like the new version has the same potential - I just want them to do it more consistently.

Yep, it's all still Universal Studios Hollywood - and the location at the end is their famous European Street. Funnily enough, during the first hour I was thinking it was a shame that the park bulldozed the Backdraft Show to build the Transformers ride - they probably could have shot some of this in there too. I've joked before about wanting them to work the Jaws animatronic into an episode - but screw it, let's do all the attractions. Like, I would absolutely love it if they could justify shooting outside Hogwarts or at the Waterworld stunt show. Yeah, the lack of any follow up on Hannah felt like a pretty big omission. I was frankly expecting her to die in part one, and have that be the impetus for Jeffrey to go bad. I wonder if that was the plan at some point - because having him create a secret identity makes a lot more sense if she's gone. "Moooooom, I keep telling you - I'm Gideon Rydge now. No, it's not a silly name!" BTW, I guess kudos, show, for making the fake sounding name an alias - whoever came up with "Gideon Rydge" must have spent time writing for WWE because that name seems right out of their playbook. But back to Hannah - it just feels weird for there to be no follow up on her post-70's, once the crisis has been resolved. I get that we need to know that Jenn is alive, it's nice to hear that Beth and Janis are back where they should be, and it's even fine to reveal that "Jeffrey Take 2" is a big donor to QL. But with Hannah, all they talk about is her formula. It kind of makes her entire character run feel like a means to an end - as if all that really matters is this thing she came up with. Still, I'm hoping that the show comes back, because I'm still here for the basic concept. I'm concerned that this season was their idea of a "course correction" - I feel like they heard that viewers didn't care about the present day story, and their solution was to try and make us, by giving us more of it. No thank you - just focus on the leaps, and give us characters whose lives we want to see fixed. If that involves a pressing social issue, that's cool - giving the leap more time will only help present it in a thoughtful way.

True - there's a difference between his real life and his wrestling persona. But, I think it's pretty significant that they've decided to make "The Rock" a bad guy now because many fans were upset at things "Dwayne" was doing. Specifically here, they felt that he was trying to use his pull (he's now on the board of the parent company) to insert himself into the top match at Wrestlemania. In doing so, he was going to step in front of Cody Rhodes, who the fans felt "deserved" that billing (Rhodes "earned" his spot following a year plus long storyline, so they are heavily invested in seeing him there). That's where I think Disney has a problem - because it's Dwayne that needs to sell movie tickets, not The Rock. Now, I concede that they can (and probably will) find a way to flip The Rock again - but I think it would be concerning that what people think of Dwayne can impact the way they view his performances.

The Moana news is pretty wild, given what’s been going on with Dwayne in his wrestling career. I can’t imagine that Disney is thrilled about him being back to calling entire arenas full of people trailer park trash, even if they probably aren’t the target audience for Moana 2 or the remake.

I’m sure Magic will be back- they’re not going to just dump Ernie Hudson, at least not like this. But honestly, I’m not sure what he or Jenn really brings to the table- QL could lose them both, and it really wouldn’t make much difference to how they operate. Addison works with Ben, and Ian is there to run the computer- that… pretty much covers everything. I don’t know why they need a “security” expert (when people just seem to walk right in), or an on-site administrator. In retrospect, I think it would have been better to have one of them be a historian or researcher - someone who could comment on the times and circumstances Ben finds himself in. I don’t think we needed both of them- although I can generally do without the present day story altogether.

Agreed- there’s a difference between hearing a couple of notes sung from a song, and actually showing someone singing. The bit from Defying Gravity isn’t even a word, it’s just a vocal run. What’s the difference between that, and the kind of vocalizing found in any number of movie scores? And while Wicked absolutely was a phenomenon, that was also twenty years ago. If this movie is going to be successful, it’s going to have to draw in kids who weren’t even alive back then, and adults who have probably forgotten/never knew that there even was a musical. The fans know, and they’ll show up (unless they’ve heard that it’s only half the show, and decide to just wait until they can watch both parts at home). Either way, it would be nice for them to make it clear that this is a musical - I think Hollywood would be in much better shape if they would just tell us what their movies are actually like, rather than trying to fudge them into looking like what they assume random moviegoers would want to see.