GiandujaPie

My dog's ears would perk up every time Jer did her cat noises. 🤣

So glad they passed Natasha on to the finale! My heart broke for her when she started to cry when time ran out. She has consistently been a better baker and decorator than Courtney so she deserved to go to the finale. I loved most of the stuffies they made as decorations for their dessert. Rafi's little bear was super cute although I thought he said the bear would be laying down. The white elephant was done all wrong. When I've done it, you don't get to open a new gift and then decide if you want to keep it or swap with someone. You either steal from an already open gift and give up your chance to open a new one or you take a chance and open a new one. The way they did it, there was very little risk involved. And it made no sense that person 1 got another chance to steal from someone at the end. And my DVR has been recording all the episodes too, even though it's supposed to only record new episodes. It's annoying to have to check to make sure I don't actually miss an episode.

Wes should have just left Mark when he took that other guy hostage and refused to leave. He didn't have to shoot him, just go and grab the other guy and leave Mark. I admit I got a little confused as to whether the whole kidnapping thing was a setup. Were the Devlins complicit in the kidnapping and it got out of hand? Or was it that they deliberately provoked a kidnapping by going deep into territory they were warned against and hoping that the Russian mercenary would kidnap them? I couldn't believe the FBI and police didn't forbid Emmy from posting about what was going on, or take away her access to her social media sites. And then at the end, why was Amanda not hanging out with them at the bar? Not even a throwaway line about how she couldn't get a sitter?

I agree that it never made sense for Maggie to take guardianship/custody of Ella when she had relatives who were more suitable and were actually willing to step up. Maggie's life is unstable due to her job and it's dangerous. Not to say that FBI agents/law enforcement shouldn't ever have kids, but it should be a factor when deciding on legal custody/guardianship between 2 equally qualified households, especially as she is a single parent. If she had a spouse or partner who could provide stability when she's on a dangerous case that would be different. However, despite all that, I hope Maggie and the uncle find a good way to transition Ella into the uncle's household fulltime otherwise I think Ella will just think that Maggie doesn't want her anymore which would be traumatizing IMO. As to the case, not sure why it was this group of FBI agents tracking down the serial killer. Seems like this should have been a BAU case to begin with. They were able to connect all the victims, this should have been a Criminal Minds episode. LOL

Too bad about Andre. He mostly made delicious desserts but I knew that once the field started to winnow, his lack of decorating skills would be his downfall. I think Steven was saved by his slightly better decorating skills. I'm hoping Jer starts doing better. On the show she says she's from Carson City NV and I saw that in some of her photos they showed during her introduction that she works at Edgewood golf course which is where a celebrity golf tournament is held every summer at Lake Tahoe. I've eaten at the restaurants at the golf course/hotel many times and the food and desserts are really good. Tahoe is not like Vegas and there aren't really that many good restaurants so the restaurants at Edgewood really stand out IMO. According to her Instagram, she's now moved on to Palm Springs. But I'm still rooting for her even though I think she's making too many mistakes to get far.

What was the new development at the end? I was trying to figure out why this case was being covered when the crime occurred a long time ago.

That's why it didn't make sense for her to refuse to testify and for going out of the way to "protect" her.

I still didn't understand why the judge's drug addiction would have been relevant if she took the stand to testify for the prosecution. I kept thinking that it was going to be because the defendant was also her drug dealer/supplier but that never turned out to be, so not sure why this information would need to come out when she was on the stand. If this information was going to be used to impeach her credibility, then that means the information is already known to people outside of her immediate circle. The actor who plays the mayor, Bruce Altman, has had many memorable roles in the Law and Order universe. My personal favorite is Tuxedo Hill on Criminal Intent. Liam Aiken was also on a memorable Criminal Intent episode as a genius boy who lied and told his father that he wasn't getting into a school for child prodigies and so his father killed the social worker writing the evaluation and recommendation. And I loved the actor as a little kid in StepMom.

Is she going to be Scola's new partner?

I think 20/20 did this better. Dateline wasted all that time on the podcaster and the old guy who owned the Burger Land franchises. I do not think the prosecution proved their case, but I do think David did kill Karen. If she had been killed by a random person, I think there would be more forensics because that person wouldn't have been motivated to try to clean up the crime scene. David probably killed her outside somewhere and then buried the evidence which is why there was no forensics in the house or garage. I can't remember now which show mentioned it, but a burn barrel was found near the body which contained a workout dumbbell and police had noticed that the set at the house was missing one. I think Dateline also mentioned that bleach bottles were found at the house but they never said if David was able to provide a plausible explanation for them but they also said there was no smell of bleach in the house. The fact that David stalked his second ex-wife does not prove that he murdered Karen, but it definitely shows he is controlling and is probably not above getting so angry at an intimate partner that he could kill them.

20/20 did have a better version. Dateline wasted all that time on the podcaster and the old guy who owned the Burger Land franchises. I do not think the prosecution proved their case, but I do think David did kill Karen. If she had been killed by a random person, I think there would be more forensics because that person wouldn't have been motivated to try to clean up the crime scene. David probably killed her outside somewhere and then buried the evidence which is why there was no forensics in the house or garage. I can't remember now which show mentioned it, but a burn barrel was found near the body which contained a workout dumbbell and police had noticed that the set at the house was missing one. I think Dateline also mentioned that bleach bottles were found at the house but they never said if David was able to provide a plausible explanation for them but they also said there was no smell of bleach in the house. The fact that David stalked his second ex-wife does not prove that he murdered Karen, but it definitely shows he is controlling and is probably not above getting so angry at an intimate partner that he could kill them.

Deadly Omission John Peek was definitely not a catch, but like most of the men who do what he has done, he knows how to target women who are the most susceptible to the sleazy charm of love bombing. I think it was Kasi Peek's sister who said that Kasi had never had a real relationship so this was her first boyfriend. Women of a certain age who have never had a boyfriend or relationship are especially vulnerable. I couldn't believe his disgusting "condition" of renewing their relationship vows.

The male eco-terrorist was a true psychopath. He enjoyed all of the killing he did. Glad to know Barnes is coming back. I remember now that the actress went on maternity leave. Not sure what was going on with Nina's dad. I'm assuming he was just supposed to be a stereotypical red stater who thinks blue states like New York are all hellscapes. But there seems to be a backstory that we don't know. I vaguely remember Nina mentioning something about growing up in Texas (and not in a good way) years ago on regular FBI but what is the deal with her changing her name from Marina to Nina?

I thought this was a pretty good episode. Although I'm not sure why they really thought the girl faked it. She gave some good details and didn't seem to be lying at all. When she came back for the second interview and was trying to be helpful by saying the wallpaper was tigers instead of cheetahs and then they accuse her of making it up, I felt bad for her. It was kind of funny that they brought up the motivation for the dad was because the girl was going to change her name after she turned 18. Brad and Angelina LOL? I don't think Smitty was gay but maybe she's finding out that she's bi? Clearly she was giving off some kind of vibe to the Portuguese cop. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out several episodes later that they've been seeing each other.

I missed what they said about Barnes and how did Hana still dating the air marshal come up? I missed that too. I didn't understand why the MW team got involved in a missing teen case to begin with. It would have made more sense for them to get involved after they knew he was abducted by the 2 girls and the team knew they were chasing them, but they got involved at the beginning when it looked like just a missing kid case. Criminal Minds used to get involved in missing child cases too, and I always wondered if that many FBI resources would be expended so soon before anyone knew if the child was abducted for ransom or across state lines. For example, I remember one where a child went missing from a mall and they whole team descended upon the mall. How did they know the kid didn't just wander off and get lost? Similarly, in this case, in the very beginning, what if it turned out that Zach had just run away? The FBI case this week, with them tracking down 2 prisoners who escaped, including a violent serial killer, seemed like it should have been a MW case instead.

At first I thought the perp, the rape victim, was being stalked by the app, as it was mentioned that once you started "dating" Eli, if you tried to break up with him he would follow you around on all your social media and try to get you back together. I guess it's kind of like the way ads for items you searched for pop up on all your other internet activity. So I thought that she got confused and thought she was being stalked by the guy in real life when she saw him even though they had never actually met, he was just the face of the app. But it turns out they actually were dating in real life! LOL I don't understand the point of the app. So you get to have a pretend AI boyfriend who will text you and call you? If he sends you gifts, is the cost of the gifts included in the app's fees? Why would anyone pay for something like this? Just so you can get daily texts as if you had a real boyfriend? She absolutely should have taken the deal. Not sure why Olivia blames Price for charging her the way he did, and it's not his fault the defendant didn't take the deal.

I agree that this Justin/Tonya/Jared episode was very sad. And I do give props to Bailey's parents for not trying to sugarcoat/make excuses for their daughter. I do believe the experience with his daughter probably made her dad a better cop as he stated he now has more empathy when he deals with drug addicts/criminals. The whole criminal conspiracy to kill Tonya for the life insurance money just seemed completely incompetent and while we'll never know what actually happened unless the guy who killed Justin ever speaks, it seems that Justin refused to cooperate with trying to lure Tonya out. I feel bad that Justin's parents don't have anything to do with their grandson but if they harbor such animosity towards his mother maybe it's for the best. I wonder if the aunt sees him as it appears she and Tonya were good friends outside of their connection through Justin.

This case was covered on an old Forensic Files episode. I remember the thing about finding the key in the car and how they tried every door in the apartment complex. Karen Read - too much reasonable doubt with the compromised investigation. Black Swan - I'm glad she got convicted. She didn't seem authentic to me and her story just didn't make sense. Dr. Garcia - felt bad that he was in the closet when it seems like his family and friends would have been supportive. Jordan clearly was a predator and preyed on vulnerable women and men.

The Butterfly on Friday night. That boyfriend, John Carter, was quite a trip. Initially, I thought his reactions and affect to Katelyn's disappearance were appropriate and during his interrogation with the police multiple times over the years also didn't appear to give off red flags. However, towards the end when they finally showed the dad saying how John called him and was all frantic about Katelyn disappearing despite never once asking if Katelyn was with him, that was clearly suspicious. Even Scott Peterson knew better than to call Laci's family and immediately act like he knew she was gone. It did seem odd that those kids didn't come forward about seeing John and his friend that night until years later, although I guess they were kids at the time and maybe thought they would get into trouble. But how did they remember such details? How did most people remember so many details so many years later, especially when in 2011 taking pictures on your phone and posting constantly to social media wasn't nearly as ubiquitous as it is now. I'm glad the family got some closure even though the a$$hole only got 3 years and never had to allocute.

I was pretty surprised that Wally's still ended up winning despite Bao Bei having that $800 extra from winning the challenges. I didn't understand why if Bao Bei was able to produce those steamed fluffy buns for the origins challenge why they couldn't do it on any of the other days. I understand that the first time they tried it on the first day that it didn't work and so maybe they were afraid to try it again. But what if it hadn't worked for this challenge? Did they have a plan b on what type of bun to use? Also, pretty surprised at how many people commented on how they didn't like how dense Wally's waffles were. Wally should have done better job communicating that these were different waffles and/or the foodies weren't as knowledgable as they all claim to be. I'm happy for Wally's waffles as they seem like a good team and I'm glad Bao Bei got a lot of exposure for their food which looked delicious.

Finally caught up on the episodes as I was watching the Olympics the last 2 weeks. I am glad that the last 2 trucks standing are Wally's Waffles and Bao Bei but Bao Bei is really only there because they are so good at the challenges and the challenge prize money is so ridiculously high. I'm also not sure why Empanadas didn't bring the cheating allegation to the producers first instead of texting the other trucks. The only reason would be to try to stir up $hit. I think it's a sign of how obnoxious Empanadas has been and how unlikable they must be that Wallys and Fishnet immediately took Bao Bei's side. And the actual allegation didn't make sense anyway. Anyway, looking foward to Wally's and Bao Bei duking it out in the finale although it looks like just more manufactured drama.

The problem with judging by units sold is that the trucks will then price low (even if they lose money) to get as many sales as possible. You can see that happening when there is a challenge that is being judged by units sold or by how quickly the units sell. The middle ground is obviously to judge by net revenue and is more realistic as that is how you ultimately run and stay in business. But then we would have to see the trucks price out the cost of their ingredients, do their shopping and make those calculations. From what I understand, old seasons of the show did do that but I've only been watching since 2021 and I only started because the season was completely filmed in San Francisco and I live in Northern California and wanted to see how they did what with the pandemic and so many people still working from home in the city.

All Fishnet had to do was whip up a sauce and then drizzle it over their fish tacos. It was something they were selling anyway. Was their regular sauce that great or something?

I think the prices are too high too but since it appears that the only thing taken into consideration for elimination is total sales, how can you fault the trucks for setting prices so high, especially if there are people who are willing to pay? Is the total till their net revenue or gross revenue?

Was Tommy in love with Carolyn and was jealous of Rusty, not just professionally but personally? And really, it took that long for LaGuardia to realize that Tommy was maybe too emotionally invested to be able to prosecute this case effectively? IRL, there is no way that this office would have investigated and prosecuted this case. It would have been handed off to a special prosecutor, the AG or another county. Way too many conflicts of interest here.