bourbon

Are we supposed to like Chris? Because...no. Nicole Beharie is a fine actress, but I have the same problem with her here as I did in Sleepy Hollow. She just doesn't come across as likable here.

I wanted to find this ending uplifting, but it left me sad. So, Ben has essentially lost a child. Eden is gone And what was the point of Michaela breaking up with Jared? Those people, that family of 3, ceased to exist. Drea's baby was never conceived much less born. All that stuff about him having "hope" for the future when Hope was snuffed out of existence. And even teen Cal was much different than kid Cal. Ben bonded with *that* kid. Granted, kid Cal will eventually *become* a teen, but he won't be *that* teen. The baby born in the DC to the couple...TJ losing Olive...Yeah, I wanted to be crying tears of joy, but I was just really kind of bummed at the whole thing. The ending was much more about loss...loss of people, loss of opportunities...than it was about reunion.

Christ, I hated that. Not quite a HIMYM ending, but the show has kind of been ruined for me. I won't be going back to watch episodes. I really loved this season and was hoping they'd stick the landing. Nope.

THIS. And I will also go to my grave believing that THE PALLADINOS think this is at least sort of sad. If not, we wouldn't have all the shots of her walking through her vast, empty apartment and wouldn't have to hand wave that she probably has pics of her grandkids elsewhere in her vast, empty apartment. Maybe Midge is perfectly content being where she is in life, but she certainly paid a price to get there.

The show seemed very intentional here. True, her kids and grands wouldn't be hanging out, but they could have lingered on photos of her with them (instead of just a lingering shot of her and Joel) or there could have been a throwaway comment about them when she was meeting with her assistants. Instead we got shot after shot of her wandering around her vast, empty but ornate home. Emphasis on empty. It wasn't accidental. And does she seem sad? I don't know. Watching TV "with" Susie a continent away wasn't, for me, a super uplifting ending. Instead of a fun, frothy show about a housewife-turned-comedienne with a dream, the finale and whole season has felt like a cautionary tale -- be careful what you wish for, because you'll end up alone. Sure, she chased her dream and got it, but the show's message seems to be...at what cost?

It was a little bit of a letdown, but I think they'd painted themselves into a corner. Once they opened the season with Midge's semi-estranged children, there was nowhere else they could go. This show has always been a Technicolor fantasy of a 1960s NYC that never really existed. Then this season, we got hit in the face with a cold bucket of reality. Of course, there have always been glimpses of that...we knew what was going to happen with Lenny. I know the Shermans wanted to show the consequences of the life Midge chose...but why? Why, when they basically spent 4 seasons creating a fairy tale? I had a hunch all along that the framing device of this season would be Midge looking back on her successful career. I just hoped she would be surrounded by children and grandchildren and not walking through her cold and empty palatial apartment in the Dakota. I guess we all define happiness in our own way. I just wish the ending didn't seem like a stern warning...Be careful what you wish for, ladies, you'll end up sad and alone and watching Jeopardy on VHS. Ambition isn't a crime. Maybe you can't have it all. But can't you have more than *that*? I didn't hate it. If they were aiming for a downbeat, bittersweet ending, they got it. But I will look at the whole thing through a different lens now. (And I was totally hoping that since it was a little bit of a fairytale, that this NYC would take place in an alternate universe where Lenny Bruce cleaned up in rehab and lived to be 85.)

I really resented how the writers were trying to make Nate sympathetic early in the season. He deeply hurt and betrayed his teammates and his coach, and then two episodes later, we're meant to buy him as a cuddly stumblebum who is awkward around girls and his powerful boss. NOPE. If they had left it there and ended the series with him coming back to Richmond, it would have stunk things up. But I don't know...I'm kind of OK with the way things are playing out. I think he's remorseful. I think they've shown, especially in the last few eps, that we are all a product of our upbringing and that plays out in damaging ways. The trick is to move past that, which I think Nate is trying to do. And, no, he has not fully redeemed himself, but in this show's ethos, you don't earn second chances and then are given them, you are given them, and then you earn them. It remains to be seen whether Nate will earn it. Not arguing why Nate's redemption arc should work for all of you, but why it does work for *me*.

I'm trying to decide whether Keeley and Roy NOT ending up together is either on brand or off brand for this show. For the on brand argument...I feel like this show is about being the best version of yourself, and the argument can be made that in order to do that, Keeley and Roy need to be alone for awhile. Keeley has probably been someone's girlfriend for most of her adult life. Roy is only just learning how to be vulnerable. Maybe they need to figure out how to be alone first. On the other hand, this show borders on magic realism for me. It's a modern fairytale where Ted is a warped fairy godfather. It would be off brand to have a downbeat, realistic ending where Keeley says it's too late for her and Roy to be anything other than friends. And it would super suck if Nate is the only one coming out of this show in a healthy, stable relationship. All that said, I won't accept anything other than a KJRK happy ending.

So, this show is really going to go with a Keeley, "I choose me" ending? Fuuuuuuuuuck.

I came here the minute I finished it to join in what I was sure would be a lovefest for this episode...only to find that people still didn't like it. What can I say? Tears were streaming down my face about 30 mins in and never stopped. Rebecca's speech underscored with Nate's violin playing? Gah. I'm a mess. This will go down as one of my favorite episodes of TV. Ever. And I'm old and have watched a lot of TV. I don't miss Ted, and despite the title, It was never about Ted for me. It was about the effect Ted had those around him. Everyone is better b/c of him in some way. Keeley going from Page 3 WAG to a business owner. Rebecca moving on from Rupert. Isaac and Sam moving into leadership roles. Colin coming out. Jamie becoming a team player. Roy being vulnerable. All because Ted affected them or affected someone who affected them. It was beautiful, and I loved it. Loved it. I didn't even mind the KJPR or Nate stuff. I never thought they'd fully redeem Nate (and they still haven't quite yet) but this episode went some distance. I hope he doesn't come back to Richmond. I hope he doesn't even come back to football. But I don't hate him. My one quibble was Dani's behavior. When has Dani ever behaved like that...to ANY opponent? But no matter. I am still feeling the warm glow from this perfect little gift of an episode, and I'm looking forward with bittersweet anticipation to how the next two episodes will go.

To me, that is the point of the season, and the reason why I don't agree with some criticisms of the show that this season has lost its heart or is too dark. I feel like Ted has done as much as he can in the UK for the team. The lightbulb moment that Trent had a couple of eps ago that Ted's genius wasn't for football strategy, it was for building a strong and supportive organization/team, was as much a lightbulb for me as an audience member. He's done his bit, it's time for him to do that same work on himself. It's time for him to take a stronger role in his kid's life and be a strong co-parent with Michelle. He's floundering and not progressing b/c he can't really do that half a world away. I feel like the show is building to an exit strategy were he leaves a happy, productive team in good hands and then goes back to Kansas full of hope and optimism for his own future. I LOVE this season. LOVE it. It's blue and wistful and warm and funny and everything. I'm not missing anything. It's not lacking anything for me at all. Even if I could do with less Keeley's job and Nate's love life.

GBBO past seasons are on Netflix along with the holiday specials. Maybe the American version still has a deal with ABC, but it would be great to have all the flavors in one location.

Ellie is a delight, but Zack is a little low-key for me. I forget he's there. Filming it on the same set as the British version makes it a little more twee than an American version should be, but the familiarity does lend a certain comfort-level to the whole thing. Not sure why this is on Roku and not Netflix with the UK version.

I have zero problem with the tone of this show being darker. I don't notice a lack of magic. I don't have any issue with it being a "bummer." I don't care if the joke ratio is lower. I think the character writing has been rich and beautiful, and I the last three episodes up there with some of my favorite TV comedy eps ever. Yeah, I said it. But...I have major problems with the KJPR and the Nate stuff. You did NOT just spend S2 making Nate to be one of the most despicable people on TV and then give him a meet-cute where he stammers and stumbles like a low-rent Hugh Grant to try and humanize him again. And you did not make us care about Keeley and Roy and write them as the most mature, supportive couples I've seen just to break them up for no discernible reason. They've got a few episodes to course correct, but it all feels a bit contemptuous at this point. We're being *told* rather than *shown* that despite his truly awful act of betrayal, that Nate is actually just a damaged cuddlebug that we need to forgive? Or that the relationship we were drawn into caring about, that was portrayed with care, that we (with good reason) rooted for, was actually not any good and we need to not root for. I am watching with interest and hoping that this show does not become one of the several shows I cannot watch in repeat b/c TPTB so badly blew the landing.

So she appears to have learned nothing. She is honestly insufferable. I am not a fan of the fast-forwards and the glimpses into Midge's failed marriages and strained relationships with her children. (Although it is amazing how they've gotten two actors that sound just like Midge and Joel). Hacks does this much better. I wish MMM had just stuck to the fun fantasy.

Oof. This show is a bummer. I liked it when it was a fun fantasy of an NYC that never really existed with frothy dialogue and delicious costumes. Now it's this show about regret and the price of fame. Not really what I came here for. I am not digging the framing device.

If that is all we see of Lenny this season, I will be very disappointed. That seemed like a very abrupt departure for Mei. I don't know if that was in the cards all along or if Stephanie Hsu decided to move on to bigger and better things. I figured this season would be in flashbacks told from the perspective of a successful Midge in the future. Didn't think it would show quite such a rocky path for her. And I was really hoping that this show took place in an alternate universe where Lenny cleaned himself and survived... All in all, this was kind of a weird combo of bummers and ASP's too, too precious dialogue.

HATED this episode. I'm OK with the blue mood of the season, but damn, did I hate this episode. I cannot imagine (assuming it is what he told her) that Rebecca's doctor would end a text potentially breaking the news to a patient that he's going to tell her she's infertile with a chirpy, "Go, Greyhounds!" and doing the same to start a call about said infertility. He's not a med student, he's an established doctor. Surely, he'd have better bedside manner than the belabored small talk. And I can't help but think the results of her tests would be given and discussed in person. I HATE HATE HATE HATE Keeley and Jack. Representation and visibility are great, but it such a tired trope on TV these days that a female character hooks up with another female character. If you want a lesbian character, write on a lesbian character at the pub, in the press, a trainer...this felt tired and cliched. Ugh. Plus she belongs with Roy, and if they're not Endgame, then yes, this show goes down as one of the most colossal disappointments this side of HIMYM. On that note, I'm beginning to expect that she and Roy are NOT Endgame. I feel like they're setting us up for a spinoff with the whacky hijinx at KJPR. Brett Goldstein has a lot on his plate with other shows he's writing/producing, and he's got potential stuff in the MCU. I can't see him hanging on to play "the boyfriend" on Keeley's show. I feel like they're going to leave KJ single at the end of the series to give them more dating material for a potential new show. God, I hated this so much. And do not even try to rehab Nate. He is dead to me.

There have been SYTYCD alums who've passed away, but this is just next level sad. Someone who appeared to be at the top of his game, happy in his personal and professional life, a beautiful family...you never really know anyone, do you? I will never be able to watch SYTYCD the same way. It was a show about light and joy, and now there is just a dark shadow over it. So, so sad.

Just catching up with this. I watched the first few episodes absolutely riveted. The stench, the heat, the hunger...almost palpable. I had a knot in the pit of my stomach as the doctors had to make agonizing choices. There was no black or white, only harrowing, tragic grey areas. It was nuanced and gut-wrenching in a way that a show like this really should be...all until the final episode when the creators seemingly couldn't resist weighing in about how virtuous they were. What a blunder to make the dithering Robert Pine character the show's moral compass when he checked out early on, unable to handle the stress, leaving it to people like Dr. Pou. It really undid everything for me. When decisions like these need to be made, it is the ones in charge that are forced to live with those consequences, wondering if they did the right thing, wondering if there was another way, and left with a sense of guilt even if they believe unswervingly in what they did. Then Pine comes in and delivers a verbal spanking he had no right to make. A great show undone by moral grandstanding.

I kept waiting for Colleen to blink out "help me" in Morse code she looked so much like she was in a hostage video. Matt sent up giant red flags when he sat there eating his steak while Colleen sobbed in the other room. And then he lost it on camera with the producer. I can kind of understand why Colleen stayed in after they talked about it and explained his trust issues due to his first wife. But when he brought it up AGAIN? She should have run not walked away from him then because he will NEVER let her forget it. He will ALWAYS have trust issues and blame it on her conversation with Cole or some other jacked up thing, and she will NEVER know a day's peace b/c she will have to walk on eggshells around her husband as long as they are married. Which is not long, I hope, and please please let them not have the first Love is Blind baby. I'm ambivalent about shows like this. This reminds me of Ryan DeNino and Jessica from MAFS S2. Those couplings are usually a delicious train wreck, but the dude was straight up abusive. She married him anyway, and the show never stepped in, in fact the "experts" chided HER for not trying harder. Sometimes production needs to step in, and I think they should be seriously checking up on Colleen on the reg.

I didn't find Tiffany's story very compelling. It's possible something nefarious happened to her, but I don't buy the "she had no reason to kill herself" line at all. She had just been caught committing a crime. She might have thought at worst she could be going to jail, at best she might be losing her scholarship. She was upset, not thinking clearly, and in a rash moment, she jumped in front of the train. The stuff with her clothes/shoes was admittedly weird, but the most likely scenario to me is that she killed herself.

I binged it all this past week. It was a mixed bag for me. I didn't care for the Sofia character at first and glad they softened her somewhat, but I just really think Mj Rodriguez is not a good actress. She pulls faces instead of actually conveying emotion in her line readings. It bugs. I thought it got far too preachy at the end. I love Hollywood millionaires lecturing about billionaires. I was a Ben & Kate fan, too! Glad to see Nat Faxon here. He is surprisingly versatile and can pull off lazy slacker and Dad in Dockers equally well. Adam Scott looks terrible.

I really hate the head to head format. That said, I'm not mad at the results. Beau is OK in his style, but his weaknesses were really laid bare up against Carter and Keaton. I'm all for body diversity, but he just didn't seem physically capable of doing what the other boys were doing. I don't know if anyone saw the Lizzo reality dance show, but those girls were big and she was asking everything of them that she would ask a smaller dancer -- and they were delivering. If Beau's going to be Top 6, he needs to be pirouetting and jumping like the other two. I get that Essence doesn't have the technique that Raylyn does, but I'm OK with that. I wanna see dancers who are good in their style and can more or less keep up in other styles. If it were all about technique, we'd almost never see a hip hop dancer in the top 5, and that would be a loss.

Yay! A group dance! I get that this show (and shows like it) are never *really* about being the best dancer or singer or whatever. It's a personality contest to some degree. But I feel like this show is sacrificing any credibility at all in the name of pushing whatever agenda they're trying to push with Beau. It's great that they're no longer pretending that LGBT people don't exist and that they're being body positive in a way the Nigel-led judges panel never was, but it's time to stop when they're sending home much better dancers to spare him, it's time to stop. It's painful to watch his labored dancing week after week. We've seen his bag of tricks. Time to go. I never know how critical to be of dancers when they don't get the tone of the dance right since it largely feels like a choreography thing. Keaton and Ezra's dance missed for me, although there was nothing wrong with what they actually did. It was far to cutesy and smiley for two guys fighting over a girl. They missed the mark in either having the jive be aggressive and more fight-like or just keep it cute and make it about two boys dancing. That said, Ezra was invisible for me. My eye went right to Keaton. The judges are awful. Even Twitch, and I really like Twitch. I never thought I'd miss Nigel.