polyhymnia

I finished KotSK (or whatever we're abbreviating it to) over the weekend. I had read a few summaries before (as well as TWoIAF) because I am someone that often enjoys backstory more than actual story, but it was nice reading all three D & E stories together at once. I think in some ways that the momentum of this story gets a little stymied because of the power of the red wedding followed so closely by the purple wedding - those are both tough acts to follow - and agree that the show suffered from having a season break between them. I was spoiled a tiny bit for the Red Wedding (I knew there was such a thing but not really what it entailed) but was just slack-jawed that they killed Nero/Caligula/Joffrey at almost the same time. For the show Mr. Polyhymnia was spoiled for the purple wedding (he knew from pretty close to the beginning of the series that Joffrey died because he was looking online on info about Valyrian steel swords) but not the Red. I forgot that there was more ambiguity about who killed Joffrey in the books.

The obvious fire escape was so annoying. So very annoying. Maybe parking another big rig to buttress the previous big rigs or one of those tractors from the tractor shop and then setting a continuous fire of some sort that would burn the pit zombies and hopefully attract other pit zombies. I absolutely told my kid about 5 minutes before Glen's death that he was my deal breaker on this show. She had been spoiled and did a good poker face. LOL

Maybe this explains Petyr Baelish's amazing travel abilities.

I actually fell asleep sometime during her being manic and goofy and am going to have to watch the rest of the episode tonight. I sighed out loud when she told the boyfriend about her Wile E Coyote scheme. Also, she seemed super proud of her sobriety in Lebanon. I guess being marked for death shook her up. I was enjoying this season quite a bit before this episode (which to be fair I will have to finish before being completely negative).

I am reading D & E right now (I stopped my reread when it came in) and would love a thread for it.

Capaldi and the guitar reminded me of a moment when I was at a tribute concert (some guy that goes around doing a fabulous Billy Joel) at the local symphony. We had my parents' tickets and they are in their late 60s/early 70s. Most of the people around us, and the symphony goers in general, were in that age range. When I think about that age group, I think about my own grandparents who were all spry during WWII. So when the Billy Joel kid starts doing The Who and Stones tunes I was at first "this is too young/hip for the room" but it immediately dawned on me "you dolt, all of those rock groups are the same age as your parents AT LEAST." Capaldi is even younger. So not only can he just be cool at that age, people that age can still even think that they are hip and cool. (I don't love the sunglasses or the guitar because I do think they are being a bit shoehorned into the plot. I think one or the other, or at least spacing them out and easing them in, would be better.) For some reason, him speaking directly to the audience didn't bug me as much. It was almost like a hallucination at the beginning. Who is he talking to? Is he talking to us? Bennett? Himself? Maybe I was just really tired when I watched it. I thought the segue into the theme song was fun. ETA: I would love a back story about the guitar, though. Maybe something subtle (yeah, I know).

I am neutral about Clara. I think she and Amy are almost too similar - they needed someone different between them or something. Her character suffers from plotting, writing, and dramatic shifts in direction. I think JC does a good job with the material. This episode was fun and more like old episodes, like everyone has said. That is not necessarily a positive IMO because I am more of a new who fan than an old one (I used to suffer through Doctors 4 and 5 on PBS - my mother and brother loved them - because Degrassi, the original Degrassi, came on after) but I think I appreciate old who much more than I did back then. I actually watched some of the Morbius one that aired on Sunday. Mostly to gawk at the ridiculous costume, but still. I like Capaldi, though. I think he's really settling into his Doctor.

When my 14-yr-old is complaining about dialogue and plot (she's a smart kid but still 14), your show probably has some big problems. We didn't hate the finale as much as the rest of the episodes because at least there were some zombies but the main group is already pretty evil and it hasn't been long enough for them to all start being morally compromised. Daniel being evil because he was a torturer was too easy. Pretty freaking trite but I guess keeping a little to form by killing off Liza. How do you NOT know you got bit? That was a little confusing. Strand is great (because the actor is having fun) and his interactions with Nick were fabulous but they don't actually make much sense. The Dillane kid was having a bit of trouble staying American in his long speech to his mom about how being a goofed up junkie is a big plus in this messed-up zombie world. I may have said this earlier but someone really, really needs to do a mash-up of this awful season and the awful True Detective Season 2. I was briefly confused (not really, the cinematography was not as good) when they were doing the stupid musical montage. That said, I will at least tape it when it comes back on - it's fun to make fun of.

I don't like the military portrayal either. As in the giant military plan to just kill the civilians. I think more of the soldiers would be like the kid who likes Ofelia. I can see them getting more hostile towards civilians as this progressed, but right from the get-go? I liked that a few of them were just ready to abandon their posts, though. And that except for Moyers they had a little bit of sympathy for Travis's inability to take the shot. Ironically, though, it was the U.S. military/CIA/college of Americas that trained the soldiers in El Salvador during their civil war (who were fighting on behalf of the landowners because communism, etc.). So Salazar would have reason not to trust the military and even not to trust the US military. I didn't love that he became a torturer. It didn't make sense with what he said about the war in previous episodes. Doing bad things to survive, sure, but an actual torturer. Eh. Also, so much annoyance with TV's persistent insistence that torture works. Yay! Torture works, the nice young kid who would have told them everything anyway because they had a rapport built with him still says it under duress. Whatever!! I didn't hate the teens in the rich house. I actually thought Alicia's new attitude on the bike was pretty funny. I mean, it was a very stereotypical "this is why we can't have nice thing, teens!" but them reflecting on the dead family was sort of nice. I thought Strand was a figment of crying neighbor's imagination, too, until it was obvious that Nick saw him. His dialogue was pretty ridiculous but he totally delivered. Same with Griselda. It at least made sense that she was spouting nonsense because she was dying. Liza is calm, cool, and collected. She is the only one from the core family (setting aside the Salazars) that seems to really have what it takes. No Country For Old Men pneumatic bolt weapons!! I wonder how easy it is to find the air tanks, though. ETA: I watch this with my teen (who is fairly annoyed by Alicia and Chris but not so much by Nick except the grandpa clothes) and I turned to her at several points last night to say that FTWD really must not have much of a budget. Especially the library scene. That was cheap.

I do not have my own copy of ACoK but am fixing that this weekend so just marking my spot. I just rewatched season 2.

I wonder if anyone is going to remember to feed those two dragons that are still in Meereen. They feel like those fish that people forgot about when they went on vacation.

I think uneven characterization may continue to plague this show. Last week, Madison is making all the dumb decisions (as far as survival) in the school but now she seems to be taking this seriously (getting a weapon, worrying about dispatching Susan, worrying about her own imminent demise, trying to insist they leave RIGHT NOW) and Travis, who had been doing at least some sensible stuff, is now Mr. Pacifist Who Hates Guns but inexplicably trusts the military. Next week maybe only Alicia will have any sense. It seems like their opinions and actions will change as dictated by plot needs, rather than them having an inherent character/personality/whatever. Mr. Salazar has been the most even character so far. Other than maybe Tobias. I would think he'd be jonesing to take the truck, his wife and daughter, and get the heck out of the suburbs before the military noticed. The age he (Salazar) is at is the age of my IRL friend from El Salvador who saw some of his family murdered and had some of his extended family disappear before he left the country as a very young teen/tween. He was separated from his mother and remaining sisters for years. He came to the US via Honduras (I think he had aunts living in Florida). IIRC people who didn't get out pretty close to the beginning were very much trapped there. It will be interesting if they make Salazar have a connection with MS-13 (I hope not, that would be too stereotypical, but it did originate in LA) or a former soldier for either side. Unfortunately they will probably be making it up as they go along.

The water thing bugs me too. I mean, even if it were *just* an earthquake or a fire or a tornado or ebola I would think everyone has watched enough reality tv or had a kooky neighbor so they would think about hunkering down and making sure that they were hoarding and stockpiling water. And possibly ammunition. Lordy. Also, I have kids and I sure as shit would tell them as much as I thought they could handle about what was happening. Most kids can tell when things are getting real. And my kids are younger than these stupid teenagers. Furthermore, having been around actual modern teenagers and A LOT they are so tech saavy and conspiracy theory oriented (sometimes) that they would be the ones organizing the food/water/ammo hoarding. I know this is a reset so we're theoretically a few years in the past (so you can pick either 2003 technology where there wasn't quite as much social media or 2010 when there really, really was) but the lack of communication and information is seriously ridiculous. I am enjoying the show, but this kind of stupid stuff annoys.

I was paying a lot of attention to the nurse and the hospital staff - they obviously knew what was up and I assumed that they were restraining Nick (and everybody else) not because of restraint protocol and him being a delusional tool but because they were pretty much now restraining everyone. Also, it would have been nice if they had shown the hospital being a little more interested in what he had to say as it would comport with what they knew. Nick annoyed me the first half of the show but then I found him the most interesting for the second half. The adult couple wandering in the church was idiotic. Their reactions to Calvin didn't bother me as much because I think fear can definitely do different things to different people. The teen girl wasn't awful but wasn't interesting. I think I would like it a little more if it were more of a hodge-podge of characters thrown together as opposed to a family unit.

I am behind the times. For some reason, I did not realize that the were doing a TWD spin-off and that it would feature Kim Dickens. Because I am one of the 60 people still watching Hell on Wheels, I figured this out during my catch-up session last weekend. I think it will be interesting to see it from a fresh perspective if done well. I'll reserve my feelings about the pilot for the appropriate thread.

I will watch and read until the bitter end. I think Jon Snow dying would make absolutely no narrative sense, but even that won't kill it for me. I'm not a huge fan, but it's an enjoyable enough story. If they make the Sand Snakes into a core part of the next season of the show, I will probably fast forward a lot. I am just hoping that at the end of the day one or the other ends up being a satisfying story. I don't mean a happy ending or a apocalyptic ending, just a conclusion that makes some sense and justifies the reading/watching of this.

I thought Ray was with the Sheriff's office before Vinci.

I was more perturbed that Paul's girlfriend was stuck with Paul's mom. She didn't seem to be a big enough jerk to deserve that fate. I think it would have been helpful to have a clearer shot of the Catalyst guy. I knew it was him but it was quite fuzzy. These things and the hard drive meaning exactly jack squat. No extortion potential because it had some magical security protocols and self-erased. It would have been nicer if somehow that got leaked after Frank and Ray were killed, sort of apart from the information that the journalist had. You would think Burris and Calloway (the chief) would know about Caspere's security protocols so wouldn't have been worried about recovering the hard drive and would have reassured the Catalyst exec that all was well. I also didn't know the sad scar lady was Felicia and when Ray called Ani and then told Felicia goodbye? Really? Because, well, that made me laugh. I am so very glad that the folk singer of doom got one more long montage AND walked out with her guitar. I was worried she and ByeFelicia were going to get killed. I thought (with the exception of the long, long, long train station goodbye) that VV did much better with the last two episodes. Bitter, snarky, angry Frank was a more believable Frank. I thought he did good work in the mansion with Ms. Chessani but I'm not sure why he was there but/for to let us see the body. Ray dying at the end of the clearing was a nice bit of something, I guess. Honestly, there was a story here somewhere and possibly a good one but it either needed more episodes (please don't throw things at my head) to develop/end some of the plot threads OR to pare it down to the basics and make it leaner. I didn't hate that any of the main characters could potentially die. I thought it was a bit fitting that Frank gets away with the heist but is undone by lesser gangsters in the form of the Cisco Kid and his boss. I like that the diamonds are out there in the desert. I'm not touching the baby part of the story, though. That did make me roll my eyes. I thought it nice that the redheaded kid was actually Ray's. Another redhead in Venezuela but being Frank's would have made just as much narrative sense to me. I think it sold Ani short. (I wish she had found out a little more from her last visit to Rick Springfield - once again, lots of plot threads not really meaning much which happened last season as well) Eh. I have other thoughts but none that haven't been expressed better by the rest of you.

That bothered me as well. Usually I would say the ridiculous of a detective confessing to various crimes in the jailhouse would "take me out of an episode" but I can't say that the episode drew me in so . . . Nothing gold can stay. Thank you for the stay golden, Ponyboy upthread because that whole scene already had me rolling my eyes even before the kid was informed that he was golden. The AG that announced for governor was definitely at the party. My small beef was that obviously some of the rich guys have to know that they were already filmed for blackmail, so why would they continue to roll the dice with these large public orgies? Shouldn't they be trying to go a little smaller scale?

We all are diminished by having to listen to VV deliver this dialogue. (I still didn't leap to sex with the father from that patriarch line, just vague seedy sexual stuff or other abuse. Even on reviewing. And I did understand that she committed suicide at Rick Springfield's day spa) I was rewatching this episode (and I haven't hated the last two, there have been some good things) and my husband sat down during the blue balls of the heart dialogue and said "I'm out!"

I'm not sure she really had a choice WRT going back to Winterfell. Do we really think that Littlefinger would have been "okay, my bad, let's get back to the Vale" if she had said no? Hardly. He would have talked her into it or forced her into it. I can't see her acceptance as a bad decision as I don't think she really had another choice. I would have liked her arc 100% more if she had caused some sort of even minor chaos in Winterfell while there, though.

I like the notion that she isn't sure if it's Petyr or Jon's and that the "seed is strong" bit freaked her out. This brings me back to Jaime acknowledging to Myrcella that he is her father. Why would he do that, even to her, even in private? I mean, she is ostensibly dead and it doesn't matter but it didn't make any sense to me other than to have a touching moment in the show.

You still have plenty of time to decide, but I wouldn't suggest skipping the Red Wedding. I think it was well-written. There are a lot of other generally more graphic passages between now and then, mostly just giving a window into the misery of the small folk, that I'd rather unread (if that makes sense without getting into any spoilers).

The first really infamous Sansa chapter. I read it in a vacuum (by which I mean I had no idea that she was a hugely hated character in some quarters) and it really never made me think anything but that she was barely old enough to be mooning over anyone (because she is 11 in the story instead of 13) and of course she is upset about the idea of leaving her imagined fairy tale for boring old Winterfell. Her delusion about Joffrey is very understandable, IMO. I've always wondered why D and D made her be super mean to Septa Mordane around this same timeframe in the story as there was never anything in the books that made me think she would dare be disrespectful to an adult in such an overt manner. What if? Of course, what if Ned had managed to get both of them sent back to Winterfell. War would probably still had happened. Ned would probably still have been executed but wouldn't have confessed because they weren't holding his daughters over his head. He likely would have just lingered in the black cells. Robb wouldn't have had as much impetus to become King in the North and might have instead sent men to join either Stannis or Renly.

Does California have the presumed paternity laws (as in if it is a child born during the marriage, father is presumed to be the husband)? I think they have some sort of presumed parent law but I am too lazy to google right now. I agree with WatchrTina's take on this subplot. (ETA: I also agree that it would be hard to challenge paternity, but getting custody changed might be less difficult because of Ray's sketchiness) The Chessani mom suicide as described by Rick Springfield is also confusing. He said something strange about it that got my attention but I haven't rewatched it.