SnarkySheep

This episode made me wonder how much Miles is getting paid that he can live in NYC without a roommate in such a huge apartment...

This times about a thousand! As a former journalist, this always irks me. Unless you're the child of somebody rich or famous, you start off writing about elementary school science fairs and Town Council, not getting your own column where you get to write about whatever pops into your head. However, on TV they always make journalists be this way, just like they are currently doing on Chicago Fire (small-town reporter wrote an investigative piece that was immediately picked up by the NY Times Magazine, even before she had completed it, LOL)

Not to mention, the whole "oops" pregnancy storyline on TV is such an old and tired one. It's like every show gets to a point where they don't know how to mix things up, so they toss in an unplanned baby. What do you want to bet that instead of being motivated to get their own apartment, Haley will simply keep living at the Dunphy home with Dylan and little Dylley?

Well, don't forget, he was happy retrieving the frisbee Greg was throwing the dog. So playing with Anna-Kat is really a step up.

I know JJ longs for independence...but given the extent of his disabilities, wouldn't it be better for him to commute to a local school for at least the first year, or even take online courses? That way also makes sense for the show, as he'd still be home and regularly interacting with his family.

Finally made myself watch this ap - I've lived with chronic pain due to lupus and a rare neuromuscular disease for the past 14 years. I need opioids in order to keep working, living independently, etc. (As it is, painkillers are NOT a "cure"; they simply take the edge off the pain so you can force your body through the day's activities.) Anyways, I've become rather knowledgeable on the subject. I know, for one thing, that only about 1-2% of legit patients (which Antonio is) become addicted. The other 98-99% are just fine. Yet according to TV shows, every single person immediately becomes an addict. NBC is a big fan of this trope - they did this storyline on This is Us last fall, with Antonio here now, and a few other shows. Chronic pain patients already fight tooth and nail these days to get what they need to function; we do NOT need further shaming and stigma via media, which IS a huge means of giving people ideas. Why exactly couldn't Antonio have an injury, get some painkillers, and be ok? Now there's a novel storyline! But no. Antonio will "detox" in January - and we will never again hear about his shoulder pain, which is what started this all in the first place. It wouldn't just go away on its own, but thanks to TV magic, it will. Sorry for the long post, but this is a subject that's painfully close to my heart.

The trouble, IMO, is the word "assault" means so many different things these days. Bush could be referring to physical or sexual assault, or emotional harassment. Unless she gets more specific, there's really no way to know what to think, as we really have no idea what she's talking about. Obviously none of us know Bush personally, just what we can glean from her interviews and social media. But my take is that she's very forceful with her opinions (that's actually why I stopped reading her Twitter, as it became 100% about politics and she literally did not want to hear a single word from anyone that dared go against her existing beliefs), Jason Beghe also seems to be a very strong persona. So this whole thing, if it even actually IS about him, might simply be about two strong, clashing personalities who did not get along, and things escalated (but we don't really know how). Anyways, I realize I may be totally off, and of course I know it's not really my business anyways. But that's my personal theory.

So it's dangerous for Will to remain in Chicago...but not Jay?? Something tells me the Burkes won't be too happy with his shooting one of their tribe, even if it was justified, he's a cop, etc.

As a side detail: Anyone else notice Anna Kat and her class was eating lunch outside? In Connecticut. In December. I don't expect a show filmed in CA to get all the details of life in CT right, but seriously? There wasn't even a single autumn leaf on the Ottos' green, green lawn all through October and November. How hard would that be to do?

The ridiculousness of getting a high-ranking firefighter to stick his neck out for you (multiple times) aside, I just don't like Naomi. She smiles and throws herself at Casey, but IMO she wouldn't hesitate to throw him and 51 under the bus if it served her career.

The main thing I got from the tipping scene is that Haley has tons of cash to throw around without batting an eyelid. Apparently she thinks nothing of dropping $50 for a light lunch or snack at a diner. Are we to think her wonderful job pays her that well, or Phil and Claire still give her an allowance like she's still in high school? Huh.

Did I misunderstand Anna Kat, or did she say her class has someone choose a movie EVERY Friday? Seriously? I can't imagine all those helicopter moms being ok with their kids just wasting an hour and a half to two hours of instructional time every Friday... Re: Insignia - Working in an urban school district where I come across MANY bizarre names regularly, I found this hilarious.

I don't claim to be any kind of expert on the subject...but wouldn't a soldier experiencing Nicky's obvious mental health issues be eligible for a medical discharge? Section 8, I believe it's called? Because someone like Nicky is not only a danger to himself but his fellow soldiers who need to depend on him...

Random musing: If Hassan was so devout and traditional, you'd think Tara would be expected to wear a head covering like her mother, wouldn't you?

I don't claim to be at all knowledgeable about this sort of thing...but isn't it pretty standard these days for a driver's phone records to be obtained from the provider in the event of this kind of accident? So I'm not entirely sure why Brett was in such agony over it, as it would surely have come out with or without her.

Pity hire or no, I highly doubt Kenneth has the authority to hire an employee with no clear (or actual) job duties...

IMO Lindsay and Halstead were always into one another - and fairly equally. The only real reason for any resistance was their fear of losing their jobs. Neither Ruzek nor Upton seem too concerned about any of that, which is rather surprising, considering Ruzek not only went through it with Burgess but witnessed the Linstead issues, and Upton has - til this - seemed smarter than risking her career for a fling.

Don't forget, Bekker doesn't even like Snickers (which I personally find inconceivable, but that's neither here nor there) as she told Rhodes she hates peanuts. He can't even be bothered to know something like that about her at this point?? And I don't presume to know much about bipolar disorder, but somehow I doubt meds would kick in that quickly for the new mom. She'd presumably been off them for months, but within a couple of hours after giving birth she seemed like a whole different person.

I wondered the same...thought maybe one of the others had swiped a couple of amputated body parts just to mess with Devin, since they made such a big deal about it being his first Halloween in the ER. Re: Conrad and Marshall - When Marshall mentioned not seeing his son for a decade, and only then because of a private investigator, I wondered if perhaps that's why they have different last names, as Conrad would've wanted not to easily be found.

Somehow I am really having a hard time seeing Jaya as this super-dedicated aspiring doctor. IMO everything we know of her thus far has made her seem rather shallow and for-the-moment, not the kind of person you'd picture buckling down through med school.

Huh, this sounds really intense. Maybe the fear of having to buy 150 boxes of expensive cookies again was the reason they let Beth go?? Hey, just saying...

An interesting thought, especially when viewed alongside Rebecca calling her Bug...

So...was that beginning part a dream or reality? I thought a dream, because it was way over the top even for this show. But then Maya made reference to the bear. Color me confused! And Dylan shares a bedroom with her two older brothers...but never noticed they weren't in bed when she was? When they were in London Jimmy mentioned the house was like 900 square feet...but Dylan never heard people playing Jenga in the living room? Sure, ok.

Is it just me or is Jay incredibly unlikable every time he's on this show? I mean, yeah, I totally get he's been dealing with a lot of difficult and unpleasant things in recent seasons...but IMO he just comes off as mean a lot of the time.

Chiming into the learning Spanish subplot...yes, it's helpful and good to learn a language with a lot of speakers in your area. But it kind of bugged me how Cruz acted, putting all the burden on the firefighters like they were totally lax in their duties by not learning. Yes, they could learn some Spanish; but also the woman could learn some communicative English, as it is the de facto official language. Not a single word was mentioned about that. And Hermann did have a point about learning Polish and all that...Polish is the 3rd most widely spoken language in Chicago after English and Spanish. But you can't learn every language.