ShellsandCheese

I'll admit, I was hesitant to watch this when I first heard about it because Hollywood has a tradition of casting black men in shows but not casting black women as love interests (they are almost always white or biracial) - so I was wonderfully surprised by this season and I really enjoyed it; in fact, I liked it more than the first season. I am glad that Marcus and Mia worked through their shit and ended up together - and in the end both seemed committed to continue to grow, evolve, and stay together. Also, I find it hilarious that Kian was played by the same actor who plays Stewy on Succession.

I gotta say, I think Condola was more in the wrong than Lawrence. If she didn’t want Lawrence to be involved - she should have got a sperm donor or not told Lawrence she was pregnant. She can’t be mad at Lawrence; they aren’t together and he’s doing the best he can. Condola is a control freak and sadly, she’s one of those women who will punish the father of her child by trying to withhold the child because she doesn’t think he’s doing enough or doing things the right way (which is her way). Lawrence needs to get a lawyer, he needs to establish paternity, and get a legal custody agreement in place that allows him time with his son without Condola interfering. Like Condola can’t decide last minute that Lawrence can’t take his kid overnight because she has trust issues with Lawrence - and honestly I don’t understand why she is trust issues with Lawrence. She’s the one who treated him like a rebound and fuck boi and at least nothing that was shown to the viewer would indicate that he was incapable of taking care of his own child for long stretches of time.

It's even worse because one of their first sources of contention was that they wanted him to treat Riley and Cade equally, because Cade's dad (er, um sperm donor) had addiction issues and was essentially what would call today a deadbeat. So from the beginning they were blurring the lines between just sperm donor and father/father figure. They even wanted him to take on that role for Cade, who was not his child. Also, I think it's hilarious that they wanted someone really good looking to be the sperm donor so the kid could be cute. Tom was really good looking but I don't necessarily think his looks translated well to Riley, lol. I'm glad that Riley though seems to be more empathetic and understanding of why Tom did what he did; her moms on the other hand, certainly know how to hold a grudge. I also think the mothers are most responsible for both Riley and Cade feeling traumatized and terrified. Clearly, they poisoned the well; even the fact that Cade thought she was going to be taken away - says a lot. Yikes.

Detective Howard knew it was Nique’s jacket as soon as he saw Kanan. I think he figured out Raq’s plan then and there right before he got shot. I don’t think he’ll rat out Kanan - so he’ll either say he didn’t get a good look because it happened so fast or he will say something like it was Nique based on the jacket and he saw him running away…… Honestly, maybe it’s just Patina Miller, Malcolm Mays, and London Brown - but I would be okay with Kanan hiding out all of season two and just focusing on the siblings. This cast is so good and the eye candy is…..chef’s kiss!

Assuming Kanan is Howard’s son, it’s highly possible they have the same blood type. So folks may assume it’s Howard’s blood. DNA as it’s used today wasn’t a thing back then.

Patina Miller is a goddess! I can’t believe how dumb Kanan and Marvin were with the bad crack.

Thank you for this. The great sushi debate is happening and most people don’t even seem to know what sushi actually is or isn’t.

Whoa! I’m not going to blame her for the sins or crimes of her mother; but I do hope she has a better future than said mom. This video reminded me of why I avoid interviews with American gymnasts like the plague. Their voices!

I mean, Linoy also dropped her ribbon, I believe. All in all, it really wasn't the best final. I'm excited for the group final which I believe just started because someone actually beat the Russians in qualifying! Will we have another shock gold medalist? Another controversy? This is why I love Rhythmic Gymnastics and Artistic Swimming. It's just so exciting. LOL.

I think there's a balance between two. For the last few years, everyone has been so focused on the big skills that they've forgotten about everything else (form, artistry, clean execution, the little details, etc). I'm not sure if it was the lack of warm-ups or what, but during the games this year, it seemed like everyone was struggling. Personally, I would rather see a beautiful clean yurchenko double over a sloppy Amanar where the gymnasts struggle with the landing and form, etc.

Same! So happy for Rebecca. I was also rooting for her in the all-around. Happy for Lee but I really wanted RA to win, because I'm more familiar with her and have liked her for a few years. That being said, I also agree with others that the event finals for bars and vault were a hot mess. It's so stupid that the athletes cannot warm up. So dumb. It's obvious that Bruno Grandi's tenure as head of FIG was just awful for the sport and sadly his predecessor isn't much better. Yes! Please bring back compulsories and get rid of this goofy scoring system. Ditto for figure skating.

He’s not wrong. There’s so much doping in swimming. Michael Phelps has said he doesn’t think he ever competed against a field of completely clean athletes. Russians are an easy target at the moment but it’s always been an issue. I just wish more athletes would take a stand against doping and not just speak out when they lose; because that just comes across like someone making accusation simply because they lost. (Ex. people accusing Ian Thorpe of doping) Like would Ryan Murphy had said anything if he won? Probably not.

Nope. Russia competed as Russia in Rio. In 2018 they competed as Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) and for Tokyo and Beijing they are competing as Russian Olympic Athlete (ROC). I agree that the punishment was a joke but I’m also not surprised. I’ve always felt that doping continues to be a huge issues in some sports. As for the LA games, I’m sure that LA is capable of handling them, my belief is that considering all of the issues it’s probably not the wisest idea to host them. But I also think in general that the Olympics are a bloated overpriced mess and that most host cities and countries end up with all kind of issues post Olympics. I also still firmly believe that the Tokyo Olympics should not be happening and that the Olympics should be canceled next year or countries should boycott on account of what is happening with the Uighur people in China.

I think you hit the nail on the end. Some people are a little to angry and gleeful about the whole situation. Honestly, I wish Simone would quit trying to explain and respond. Her record speaks for itself. And I would love if the media would focus more on Suni and the other members of the team; who still have opportunities to medal in the event finals. I would be shocked if Simone competed in the event finals, as her issues seems pretty severe.

Yeah. People are trying to compare apples to oranges. Not only that but WADA relaxed their rules and you can still light up when not competing. You just cannot use it during competition or close enough to competition to test positive. And I'll add to that, that the main reason it's on the list to begin with is because of the US. Every athlete competing at the international / Olympic level should be well versed in what is okay and what's not. At the end of the day one of them clearly violating their sports anti-doping policy. There is an argument to be made that Hadzic should not be at the Olympics either, but it has nothing to do with why Richardson is not at the Olympics.

I’m very interested to see what happens with her career. She’s so inconsistent!

The ITA is testing the Russians and they are the most tested athletes at the games on account of Sochi. The Russian athletes are under so much scrutiny currently, it’s doubtful that anyone who made it this far would be doping. They’ve pretty much been tested repeatedly since the end of last year heading into the Olympics. Also, I’m reviewing where Russian athletes have won medals - it’s been in sports with no previous (or at least proven) of systemic cheating or doping. There’s no way in hell Los Angeles should be hosting the Olympics. I mean California and LA in particular is dealing with draught and a massive and growing homeless population - but yeah let’s spend 10 billion dollars on the Olympics. Once you account for inflation and the fact that every host goes over budget it’s going to be at least 10B. Let’s not kid ourselves.

Yeppers. Not to mention that folks didn’t know about the abuse in that moment so it’s not even a valid critique of those who had issues with McKayla at that time. Anywho, loved the women’s AA final. It’s nice to see a close competitive final where the top four-five finishers were all generally good and there were only minor bobbles! Congrats to Suni Lee and to Rebecca, Angelika and really all of the finalist for a wonderful final.

It’s really not that complicated. And there a gazillion articles and think pieces about it. Cliff notes: It’s RUSADA that was found to have engaged in a doping program with other Russian state agencies. This mostly stems from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. WADA recommended that Russia be banned from the 2016 Olympics and the IOC rejected this and allowed about 200 Russians who’ve never had issues with PED’s to compete in Rio. In 2017 however, the IOC decided to ban the country of Russia from the 2018 Olympics and allowed Russian athletes with no PED issues to compete under the moniker of Olympic Athlete from Russia. Again, it’s the “country” that’s receiving the punishment not individual athletes. WADA later pushed for a four year ban for Russia for the cover-up to the initial scandal - but it was reduced to two. So for the 2020 and 2022 games Russian athletes cleared for competition will compete as the Russian Olympic Committee instead of as Russia the Country. Basically they are trying to do a collective punishment of the country - no Russian anthem, no Russian flags, etc while allowing individual clean athletes to still participate in the games. For what it’s worth, I’m a firm believer that doping is still pretty rampant in the summer games, mostly in swimming and track and field. In fact WADA did some anonymous survey in 2017 or 2018 and something like half of the athletes competing in international admitting to doping. It’s just not being sanctioned by the state as it was in Russia. See also the former East Germany.

For what it's worth, I think the women's competition in Barcelona was one of the last great women's gymnastics competitions. :) I found this gem and man, I really miss the gymnastics routines from the early aughts. Things went downhill quick. This floor exercise was so wonderful! I mean what is this? No wolf turns. Actual attempts at choreography, dance, and musicality?

It’s so bad! I live in middle America (NE) and we talked about the Olympics today at work and most hate NBC’s coverage and have stopped watching. And its exactly because there’s actually very little competition shown. It’s like we are trying to watch the Olympics not the US Nationals.

Nice. Good for Japan! hate the medal race and the medal count though. It’s the worst part of the games for me. I know I’m probably outlier but I tend to root for who I like regardless of their nationality.

You should give it another try. The US men aren’t the best but the Men’s Team Final was fantastic and so was the AA final. I’ve been enjoying the men’s side more than the women’s this time around.

I thought Greg came out and announced his HIV+ status years after the Olympics? I wasn’t aware that people knew he was gay or HIV+ while he was competing at the Olympic level. @Daisy I think people are referring to her refusing to do media and then dropping out of the French Open.

I’m pretty sure that people who called her out in the moment were not of aware of this. And it’s the Olympics! Of course people are going to have opinions on athlete performance and reactions. People are forever calling out athletes for how they respond to disappointment. It’s a not a personal thing against McKayla.