attica

I agree. The book had red herring after red herring, and the adaptation dispatched a lot of them with a line or two. This series gave Burke a lot more to do than be gruff and/or drunk, and it was a delight to watch. Robin is a great character, both in book and by Grainger. I appreciate and enjoy how she evinces 'I'm so sick of this shit' when dealing with All the Misogyny. You could see her shoulders go up every time somebody called her "Robs". And I love Pat and her sneaking a vape after Saul gets fired! My one complaint is that Robin's bright copper hair is such a distinguishing feature in the books, and I'm sad they're gradually letting Grainger's hair go brown. Not that she looks bad, of course! But *sigh*.

Such bad policework from the jump. (This is what often strikes me about these cold cases, so: priors confirmed!) 'Consistent with drip gas' is nearly entirely useless as a comparison. Given the crime scene, they just jumped to Murder and chasing squirrels instead of taking their time. I don't know about the temperatures of accelerants, but taking one look at Natasha's photos, my first guess would have been Aqua-Net as the culprit! (another data point in why we need more women in police -- men fail to understand women's worlds)

I read an interview with the exec at Netflix who claimed he had tons of data showing that movies who had theatrical release got 5x as many viewers when streaming as those that didn't. There are costs involved with theatrical release: higher promotion costs (posters have to be printed, for example), prints have to be made/distributed/collected, exhibitors have to get their cuts. And no significant dvd income stream afterwards. For a mid-budget piece like this, it makes a great deal of economic sense for Netflix to limit release to contain those costs, and bring it back in-house to capture those potential viewers left wanting.

In the director's commentary for Knives Out, Rian Johnson related that he named some of his characters for Rock personae: Richard & Linda (Thompson), Joni (Mitchell). So I thought about the characters in GO, and yes, I'm willing to bet he had some jazz folk in mind: Miles (Davis) Lionel (Hampton) Birdie (Charlie Parker/Bird) Duke (Ellington) Cassandra (Wilson) Helen (maybe Merrill?) Claire (maybe Martin or Teal) This is fun, I think. Naming characters is hard! You usually want to ensure that no two share a name (notable exception being Darryl and the other brother Darryl from Newhart 🙂). It just seems easier to pick a theme and work it through!

Well, he was made in Copenhagen, and you know how those European vampires are... 😄 Allow me to go on record with my displeasure with the Foley work in this episode. From the really gross over-loud suckling/nursing between Louis and Rashid, and Daniel's cotton-gloved hand delivering a sharp CRACK when he slaps Louis? No, ma'am. No indeed.

How the hell is Justin Verlander still in the game? Isn't he as old as Moses by now?

Loved Tammy's moto jacket, too. That bears mentioning.

Multi-cam (i.e. sitcom) Kevin made me want to kill him in ep 1. I haaaaate that kind of personality. It amazes me that anybody finds it attractive, and yet lots of people do. Single-cam Kevin revealed the monster I considered him to be. I understand, story-wise, why Allison came back to Worcester, but gosh, I wish she'd have stayed away and found happiness. Which can be found in places other than the one you've lived in your whole life! I also am mystified that she didn't restyle herself as Trudy! Who needs to be Gertrude?! (Okay, that's just a nit I needed to pick. Don't mind me!) Giving a shoutout to the tremendous work done by Mary Hollis Inboden as Patty. That's a tough role to play, the sidekick with so much repression and guilt and failing to live up to family expectations (however unreasonable they may be), and MHI developed the character beautifully over two seasons. Patty needs a hug!

Colin's mom slapping Mare was completely within the trope of Grieving Family Member Taking It Out on the Cop That Let It Happen, so I was completely expecting it. On the other hand, I thought Winslet's reaction broke the trope. It's typically a stoic, somber, 'yeah I get that', but she looked honestly shocked and stung. I mean, surely Mare has seen a cop show before? She couldn't have predicted a tropey slap? ;D We haven't seen Erin's dad since the 'murdur durdur' sketch, which made me marvel at how the SNL H&M dept nailed that look!

What's most important to me in this ep is how great Mare's brushed-gray North Face coat is, and can I buy one? (Nordstrom is sold out.)

On the one hand, that's just funny. On the other hand, the habit of MLB players to neglect even basic grooming as inconvenient or loss-inducing has always annoyed me. Comb your beards and stop spitting! And off my lawn while you're at it!

I bust a gut watching Thunder Force. I guess I'm a sucker for MM's brand of humor, but sheesh, I laughed so hard.

I call these shows The Annual Tom Cruise Tongue Bath, and I stand by it. On the other hand, I nearly froze in the shade that Felicity threw: 'Oh, we just did acting for those bits.' She had no patience for all that immersive shit TC does. Heeeeee. I think Olly was wearing the same outfit he wore for his last (non-Years & Years-related) visit. I could be wrong, and if I'm not, there's nothing wrong with it! Just something I noticed.

There is a new-ish school of economic thought called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). It theorizes -- with math!-- that deficits won't cause inflation as long as there is room in the economy to grow. Which, for the US, is around $14 trillion worth of room, iirc. So we could give everybody many free things: college, childcare, college, healthcare, and on and on, without a negative economic impact. Of course, this runs contrary to established learning, and certainly runs headlong into the bias against letting poor people off the mat that we cherish so much here in the US, so top economists would rather say 'Derp, we don't know' than 'hey this thing might be worth a try'.

Honestly, I am tickled that Rupert seems to have returned to something nearer his original face. He looks very improved!