Andromeda

Like shrewd.buddha, I also am struggling with the robot boy concept. What's the point? You telling me there are no parentless children who need adopting in this age? Robots don't forget, so yeah, the kid would have to be dumbed down to replicate a human child. The creepy girl-bot head in the lab seemed to be playing some kind of memorization/strategy game, like concentration. Memorization is like the #1 task that computers are perfect at. Better than people. After a few minutes spent "learning" the game, the bot should surpass any human 100% of the time, which is not childlike. (Man, that girlbot head was creepy!!) I was also deeply offended on Mollie's behalf when her husband's reaction to them losing a child was "Here, take my science experiment and mother it." YUCK. What woman would take that sitting down? Like bot-boy and a human infant borne from your body are comparable in any way! I do appreciate the idea that they're really creating a humanist-type AI robot, not a walking, talking calculator, but I also question WHY. For instance, I could see it being a service-bot type of thing, like a more human version of a museum docent, more realistic than the one in the last episode (and with the memory of a computer, able to share information on any topic when asked -- which humans CAN'T do). I mostly have difficulty with the need for a robot child, when creating children is something humans CAN do.

Ethan creeps me out. (Kid's a good actor). I can't imagine a fake child. What's the point of raising a child if it's a robot? Parenting is about raising a child to adulthood, not keeping a pet. Yeah, they can move its consciousness to bigger bodies, but sorry, future tech people, it's definitely not the same as raising a living, breathing child. Too convenient to turn it off and stick it in the closet instead of hiring a babysitter, LOL. And the evolution lightbulb moment could definitely be a creepy bit of foreshadowing. Did his dad instill any Laws of Robotics a la Isaac Asimov so the kid doesn't decide to murder his parents? I hope not -- I want to see him melt down. SO creepy. And the lab assistant is either in love with Halle's husband or her robot kid, or probably both.

This was such a boring installment, I played computer games while watching. Obviously very heavily padded. ITA with the reviewer -- Bachelor in Paradise looks way more interesting than anything we saw on this Tell All episode. The blackie thing just bored me to tears, since they had no evidence and no one was changing their story. On Farmer Chris, I'm not surprised some people are seeing a darker side, considering he's been in trouble with the law numerous times. Of course, what else is there to do in the-middle-of-nowhere Iowa? (http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/07/01/chris-soules-past-arrests-bachelorette-andi-dorfman/) I was surprised Andi dumped him because of the rural life issue so late in the game (she reiterated it this episode), when that was apparent from the first. Unless she thought true love might conquer even a desire to live in the city instead of on a farm. I could never see Andi as a country wife (myself, either, for that matter.) My husband and I MapQuested Chris's town, and found it to be an hour to any city of any size, and about 20-30 minutes to the county seat, the closest town with a defense attorney (I think it was maybe pop. 6,000). I wouldn't be surprised if it shared a DA with another county, and I doubt that DA wants to just give Andi his job. That speed-dating segment was silly. Such an obvious set up. And why this chick? She said she's from a small town, but also from Toronto (the biggest metro city in all of Canada). So she's from "rural" Toronto, like a nearby small town? What the-- What's her actual small hometown, and why does this make her a great match for Chris? And why does she get this chance? And she had a butt-chin, and if Chris didn't find that attractive, either, he was really stuck because he couldn't just put her off on national TV. I've been rooting for and defending Ashley since her season, but I did NOT enjoy the ultrasound segment. TMI! Too intimate for TV. I assume she had one immediately prior to rule out any problems being discovered, which would be awkward. It IS a diagnostic tool, after all.

Seriously. Flying rats. Can't believe they let them sit on their heads! Letters to Juliet, with Amanda Seyfried. Same exact room where the volunteers answer people's mail. I was anxious about Andi actually telling her date that they were in the non-existent historical Juliet's hometown, but at least she said "inspiration for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," which still may not be exactly right, but acknowledges that people are writing to a fictional character for love advice.

I was kept up last night trying to think who he reminded me of, and this morning I figured it out: Peter MacNicol. I agree that Andi doesn't seem that into any of them. I was in Venice for two days on a whirlwind trip -- it rained the second day, but it's such a unique, beautiful city, I want to go back and spend more time. The lie detector guy asking if the guys are there for the "right reasons" is silly. It should be reworded to say "Are you there to find love with Andi?" Because their right reason might be to get exposure or just be on TV or have fun, and they wouldn't be lying if they said yes.

My XFinity episode description for the final episode says "circumstances north of the wall are altered by an unexpected arrival." So he's coming...Finally! Why did Sansa dye her hair? I don't get it. Is it because she's still going to pretend to be Petyr's neice to the people they're visiting, and red hair is a Stark/Tully giveaway? Or what? I feel like I missed something.

My unsullied husband thought the Mountain was probably dead or dying and that it was a tie, and what would that mean for Tyrion? But since Tywin declared Tyrion the loser, he figured Tywin wasn't going to play by the rules anyway, assuming there were any rules. I never heard this theory. Tyrion clearly kills him in the book, so even if he was being poisoned, it doesn't change anything. Is it because his corpse smelled so bad? I figure corpses smelling as they rot is pretty much par for the course.

I always wonder how things like this are going to translate for international viewers. It emphasizes that they're really speaking English, not the common tongue. Actually, the thought first occurred to me this episode when Missandrei was correcting Grey Worm's use of "I" versus "me." I don't know what to think about this season. It's been a bit of a disappointment, but for me the source material also started to go off the rails when I read the non-KL things we're now seeing. So i don't know if it's really the TV show not being as good, or the story we're seeing having to pull from books 4 and 5, which were so draggy. Yes, they've added some new monologues (beetles, so YAWN), but I can't say that I'm missing anything major from the books that I was looking forward to. They're keeping the truly memorable scenes. For instance, I didn't mind reading about Sansa's activities in the Vale, but not a whole lot really happened if you think about it in terms of plot points, so I liked how it was condensed for the show. I hadn't heard any kind of spoilers about Sansa going dark side in TWOW or later. (She certainly looked like Maleficent to me, LOL). I would need to see the character development connected better in the books -- so far in the books she's still being really passive, so last night I loved seeing her take action and get the upper hand on Littlefinger. I hate Ygrette now, and so want her to die. Just no excuse. After the massacres these Wildlings are perpetrating on the populace, I can definitely see why the Night's Watch would turn on John for letting them come on through and take land. I wouldn't want those savages on my doorstep, either.

OK, so WEIRD that that's the actual title of the episode, because while watching, I thought to myself how Andi got some smart, albeit more nerdy guys, NOT like the BOHUNKS that, say, Emily got. Very few of Andi's guys would I call bohunks. Just does NOT fit. Seems to me the casting department was aiming for a more well-educated fellow, because Andi's a lawyer and a professional, as opposed to Emily, the racetrack groupie. I also was annoyed at the y'alls, which I never heard her say on the Bachelor. I get the feeling production suggested it to her to make her more relatable to the southern viewers, since lawyer is harder for some people to relate to. Since Andi is nothing like Southern Belle Emily, despite being from Georgia. That one guy Andi thought was hot reminded me of Ryan Gosling.

Jesus camp for THREE MONTHS? Wouldn't the usual two-week session be enough? I wouldn't let any girl that age go to any three-month summer program, and definitely not a brainwashy Jesus camp. She's barely started their church, and already they want her to be a counselor. Wow. I kept thinking of the Jesus Camp movie. I'm surprised Philip was even considering it. I got a kick out of the contrast with the Communist summer camps discussed by the Soviet spies. I agree, though, the idea of having that girl out of their hair for three months must have been tempting. I know, right? Why aren't they telling her about their views on the subject, even the party line from Communism about religion being the opiate of the masses could be worded in a way the girl might understand. Certainly the speed with which they bilked her out of her savings would be a good place to start.

Yup, I thought for sure they'd cut it. I doesn't add any value at all. Cersei gave him the cold shoulder already. If they were going to have any sex in terms of a reunion, it should have happened when Jamie returned. Here's a Wired article on it: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/game-of-thrones-rape/ Woah, lots a peeps! I remember in the book there being 8,000 Unsullied, plus as many as 30,000 (!!) freed slaves who wanted to follow her., and ate through the countryside like locusts. Not enough was ever discussed about how Dany fed all those mouths, IMO. Especially the soldiers, who never camp and seem never to need to rest, sleep, eat, get out of their armor.... Even in the first episode, they were always at alert, even when Dario and Jorah were playing sword gambling.

ITA. The pacing seemed off, too, even a little boring. Slow and circuitous dialogue, like between Sam and Gilly. At one point I thought the DVR had done a 30-second backward skip because I was sure I'd already heard them say the same words already. Kind of oddly tedious in places. A lot of counted-out dialogue -- like with Tywin schooling Tommon to be his lapdog, going word by word, to Dany choosing her champion, going man by man. Things just slowed to a crawl in places, even though I found those sections more interesting than pretty much everything at the wall and Arya/Hound for some reason. With Arya/Hound, the scene just felt like a wayside stop, didn't really advance anything. My hubby who watches with me ended up catnapping through a couple of scenes, after looking forward to it all week.

Last year I wanted to punch her every time she said "You know nothing, Jon Snow." Now I want to stab her for taking part in the murder and pillaging of a simple country village. Was that a village? Or just a farm? Awfully small for a village. At first I thought it was the same place the whores were (Moletown, or Mole's Town, which is what Sam called it.) That whorehouse was CREEPY. Poor Gilly!

That's true. I was using "betray" more in the general sense, as in not being loyal, rather than him taking any specific action to hurt Tyrion. I wasn't surprised when it happened in the book, because duh, sellsword. And I definitely wasn't surprised about Shae, who exhibited mercenary tendencies in the book (book Shae would never have turned down diamonds and been thrilled with gold necklaces.) Tyrion has no one but himself to blame for thinking either one is always going to be on his side, but it's still sad. Yes, he tells Kat about it in the wedding scene before it all goes to hell, during wedding small talk. I rewatched the third season (some of it twice) before this one. I've been thinking the showrunners decided to replace Tyrion's young bride with Shae for awhile now, because otherwise I can't figure why they changed her character. I think they might feel it's more meaningful for us as viewers to see and know the woman he loves than for us to have to rely on him verbally retelling what happened years ago. It might work better for TV than POVs in books do. If this means Shae doesn't end up dead, I think we'll have our answer. I wonder though -- I always suspected Tyrion would one day run across his first wife. If that was planned to happen, then maybe they'd put Shae in there instead. Only GRRM and the showrunners know. Or maybe they'll reintroduce her much sooner somewhere in Essos. That said I would NOT MIND if they removed the 1,001 instances of Tyrion asking where whores go!! Davos sent him off in a rowboat headed to King's Landing. Then Davos was going to be arrested and killed for defying Stannis, but he revealed the message from Castle Black about them needing help, and that changed everything -- Melisandre said the war between kings was small potatoes, the big war was in the north, and Davos had a part to play. I wonder why they haven't gotten off their butts and headed north yet, though -- instead they're hanging around lighting people bonfires. It seems a little disjointed. That's how I pictured it when reading. Probably didn't have a hall big enough that looked as awesome as the courtyard they used. I loved the shot of the dragon shadow moving over King's Landing -- I hope that happens.

Bran saw the dragon flying over King's Landing! (It's shadow). I had seen that in the promos, and now I know why. I can't wait to see that happen.

I wanted the red sorceress way far away from adorable Stannis' daughter. How awful that her mother hates her own daughter so much, because she hadn't had a son. I paid special note to Margaery during the wedding. She was smiling a fake smile, pretending to be OK with Joffrey's bad behavior for most of it, but even she couldn't disguise her disgust at the Renley part of the dwarf skit. What a little piece of shit Joffrey is. Make that WAS!! YAY!

Thanks, Yellowfred. I'd forgotten about that. It seems to reinforce that Littlefinger is behind it, using other people to carry out his wishes, since poison is involved again. I hate that Bron will betray Tyrion -- I know it's comng, but I hate it -- I've loved their banter up until now. Speaking of wives, we got to see fat Walda. I wasn't expecting that. Oh, and Penny -- I'd been looking forward to seeing if she would be introduced, and how. I read that they discovered it's impossible to ride pigs, so a literal interpretation of the book wasn't going to happen. I like what they DID do, but none of the five performers were female.

I think he feels for fellow dwarves, and probably doubted Joffrey would pay them properly (he was throwing coins at the other performers). I know. You'd think someone would point out that Tyrion wasn't anywhere near Joffrey's cup until Joffrey insisted he come be his cupbearer. Surely he couldn't have planned that! Shae made me want to slap her again. A woman who started out so worldly and ready to defend herself was talking like she can't believe Cersei or Tywin are dangerous people.

I believe they worked together. The Tyrells didn't want Margery to marry a monster, and Littlefinger wanted Sansa. So Littlefinger used Dontos to get the necklace to Sansa, where the Tyrells could get their hands on the poison during the wedding, in exchange for getting Sansa. I'm blanking. What is the factoid? My satisfaction at seeing the punk murdered was lessened quite a bit because I knew the finger would point at Tyrion. He wouldn't have been anywhere near Joffrey's cup if Joffrey hadn't insisted he be his cupbearer. That frustrates me. Do people really think he just happened to have some poison on him and was waiting for Joffrey to bully him into an opportunity to poison him? Still wondering what they're doing with Shae. Nothing fits the book where her storyline is concerned. Is she really gone? Or will she be pulled off the boat and made to testify?

You made me laugh so hard I started coughing (trying to get over a cold here...). I think of it as Northern California's Central Valley, sort of a temperate agricultural hub. Winterfell is British Columbia/Scotland/Ireland. Dorne is Morocco or Jordan. Tywin runs the army, which is loyal to him. If his own son had him killed, I believe there'd be uprisings. I thought of a big puppy dog, wanting its pets, but when it gets its teeth around a bone, it will NOT be distracted and will growl even at its owner. That was a wonderful scene. I am a huge Dany fan, so you're not alone. This is my sigil:

LOL!!! I Figured they were just bald genetically.

Oh, that was awesome!

I feel exactly the same on both counts. I like fantasy, but all I could think was how much better I liked Kat before she was zombiefied and how awful that bran wouldn't get to grow up and live a life.Shae... I am counting the days until Sunday to learn how they're going to do deal with her character, since she's so different from the books.

Me, too! It seems ages ago when we saw where Brienne started. She apologized for knocking Loras into the dirt -- I'd completely forgotten that swordfight. Or that Margery and she both cared about Renley, in their own ways... I hated the Theon torture scenes last season. Too much torture! Hated it. I am really hoping they dial it down this season, or just bring an end to it already. I am looking forward to his sister arriving on the scene, though. It's finger-licking good! Didn't Cersei say something about Stannis going off to the Wall? Implying the Lannisters also got the message, but were choosing to ignore it, and that they already know Stannis is heading there.

That's what I expect to happen. I'm thinking it's because while we read about Tyrion's first wife, and the horrible thing Tywin did to her, the audience for the show never saw it (just heard Tyrion tell it, a long time ago). So if they see Tywin doing something horrible to Shae in the present, it will reinforce and explain Tyrion's hatred toward his father and his violent reaction. Because otherwise, it makes no sense for Show Shae to go down the way Book Shae did, even if she's jealous. I can't see her betraying Tyrion like Book Shae did. I could have done without the cannibals. Not sure what they're really going to add. "Cannibals" were just referenced in passing in a Season 3 episode, and I don't recall anything of them from the books, except being one more tribe north of the Wall. That arm looked finger-lickin' good on that spit, though... (In reality, I doubt a human arm would provide much good meat--far too sinewy. EW. With this show, plus Hannibal, plus Walking Dead, I'm all cannibaled out for now.)