MissLucas

Apparently I got something wrong about Matty and Ellie's dialogue. I thought Matty said Ellie could have daily supervised visits now and regain full custody after a year of staying clean - that's why she suggested Ellie to keep the teddy as a reminder. I don't think it makes a big difference because with addiction there are so many unknown variables at play that making the 'right' decision is nearly impossible. The crucial point of those flashbacks for me was that they do some heavy lifting in explaining Matty's scorched-earth approach to her quest. As others have pointed out she's clearly feeling some guilt over Ellie's suicide - she more or less admitted to that while talking Paloma down. And it really doesn't matter whether those are feelings are justified or not - they are clearly there and add fuel to her rage. And it's also clear that hubby was not okay with how Matty pushed for sole custody. It doesn't matter whether it was the right move or not - what matters is that she pushed his concerns aside every time he wanted to talk about them. And so he decided to hide that email. Not the right decision either but understandable for me. (Less understandable is why the question of Alfie's father never came up during the custody hearings but I'm not lawyer so maybe that's not unusual.) I rolled my eyes at Sarah's subplot. Clearly the writers decided that this episode was too heavy and needed a bit of comic relief. Didn't work for me. Also not working: Olympia behaving like a 14 year old when she got that misdirected text message. Showing it to Matty giggling 'What does that mean?' was completely OOC. As for Billy and Sarah sweeping Paloma's house. That was odd, the firm needs a Kalinda! And I don't think things will end good for Billy dating Sarah's nemesis. I also did not care for his high and mighty attitude but I admit I am biased. Also annoyed that 'the pen' was brought up but then got lost in a marital shouting match.

My bad. I must have missed that bit. I still think that's a bit of lazy writing but at least they tried.

That was weird. It felt as if the show wanted to go dark but not too dark and somehow missed the mark especially when it came to the relationship between Teacher and Disciple. I mean the new Disciple had only been there for a very short time and he was already turned, how? Criminal Minds would have gone there. I did like the ending with Colter telling Camille what the grilling had been about and her deciding to travel now - something she had not dared to do in case Gina came back. That at least felt authentic.

Holy Cow! Avasarala... I mean Shohreh Aghdashloo! Somehow I had forgotten that they had cast her. Looks like she'll continue her streak to play characters with a badass wardrobe. Tbh I'd watch this show for the costumes alone but this looks exciting.

Sarah has every right to be pissed off because Matty did not change her mind in the middle of the night thinking Billy had more empathy - that was complete BS she switched to distract Billy from her snooping around in his desk. Sarah does not know that but she had allowed herself to be vulnerable and open - i.e. following Matty's advice - just to get the door slammed in her face by Matty basically telling her 'You're still not good enough!' I'd be pissed too - in fact I am on Sarah's behalf and I do hope that this is one of the mistakes that lead to Matty's downfall. There was character growth that Matty just squashed to not get caught. Obviously what she (and hubby) are doing to Olympia and Julian is just as bad or worse. Even if Olympia and Julian never had a chance to get back together so far their kids had parents that got along. Thanks to Matty and Co. that's now gone. Finally we get word on Alfie's Dad. At this point I wish he'd be someone decent who never knew he had a son and then files for custody. Preferably after Matty's house of lies came crumbling down because Dad would have a really good case at this hands. And hopefully Olympia will be his lawyer. Yeah, at this point I'm ready for Matty to get her comeuppance!

I thought it was pretty decent but I agree, I wanted more Carol. And I got distracted by how much the killer looked like Conan O'Brien's younger doppelgänger.

I get it. The show's pretty to watch, has straightforward plots and a relatively likeable lead. It's the equivalent of a comfy slipper or comfort food - not challenging nor complicated. Something you can enjoy that will not kick you out of your comfort zone. Tltr: it's comfy 😁

It was a lovely Christmas episode and the fox story was such a fantastic touch. I also appreciated Tristan admitting his feelings and anxieties to Siegfried - not something that would have happened in earlier seasons. I agree that the baby stuff was over the top especially the squabble over his future profession. I've said it before but the knitwear in this show is spectacular. It's of course period appropriate but I've rarely seen a show delivering on that scale. The men's fair-isle vests are always great but in this episode several pieces worn by the female cast were swoon-worthy: Helen's bottle green sweater with the zig-zag pattern (I really wish to get my hands on that pattern), Mrs Hall burgundy cable knit cardigan and Jenny's sweet short-sleeved jumper with the ajour pattern.

I've been a fan since 'The Hour' which was an absolutely fantastic show with a brilliant cast (Whishaw, Peter Capaldi, Dominic West, Romola Garai, Anna Chancellor). There was a brief scene with Capaldi that still haunts me. I'm still miffed at the BBC for cancelling the show after only two seasons. It takes place during the Cold War - so lots of espionage going on. Spies and Paddington are the constants in Whishaw's resume.

Urgh, this was not the episode to correct errors in my cable-knitting. The COTW flew right over my knitting needles but I enjoyed all the interactions between the main players. Once Matty's house of lies comes crumbling down the fall-out will be epic. I love how the writing adds those subtle layers of self-doubt to Matty. And now we know what Senior meant when he called out Julian earlier over the failure of his marriage. TV rules says that Julian must have been sleeping with someone at the firm and that would indeed leave Shae - again according to TV rules. I do hope for a rule-breaking though.

As long as Kasie is not running around the building yelling 'Parker, Parker, Parker!' I'm okay with her. Abby was fine in the beginning but over the years she started to grate - especially her knack of forcing her coworkers to do things they did not want to do. Which I never found as endearing as the writers seemed to do.

I agree this was all over the place and only the acting and the settings were holding it together. I liked the narrative at the core: Sam and Helen's relationship and how it unfolded but even that was at times in danger to get sucked into the many, many gaping plot holes.

I decided the best way to enjoy this show is to figure out who gets the idiot ball in each episode. Congrats Michael, you're this week's winner! You have a little daughter for whom you presumably care a lot about yet you invite the guy who just told you that killed around 35 people (and you were present for some of those killings) back in your life. Runner-up is Helen who never wondered why a CIA agent would turn within three minutes and never opened that damn envelope Reed gave her.

I was intrigued by Doctor Grace's approach to Lily. TV standard is going to fish for repressed memories, her insistence that that could cause false memories was quite refreshing because the controversy surrounding the issue barely makes it into tv. I also liked how she separated Mum from Lily and respected Parker's wish to keep whatever had happened with his mother to be shelved for the time being. Her suggestions for Parker to ignore the past and deal with the present moment when Lily appears sounds as if she's practicing gestalt therapy. As for the car murders - that was really cold-blooded and I would like to say far-fetched but that might be naive. I enjoyed the other agencies having a field day with the BOLO. And I'm with Parker - stop the elevator abuse!

Helen simply calling the baddies without any precautions was beyond stupid. I enjoyed the bit of Tarantino in the car with the three assassins and the backstory of Sam and Helen's friendship. Despite all the annoying flashbacks to their respective twu luvs these two are show's OTP. Sam's first wet job being his Dad was soo cliché it almost hurt. The acting in this show is top-notch and what keeps me watching, too bad the writing is not of the same quality.