aghst

Bill Simmons teased a podcast on the finale with something along the lines of "one of the worst shows I've ever seen."

They seem relatively docile but still wild creatures. One thing I always remember is that they can sit on their tail and kick you with your hind legs and it could be lethal.

He did take Kendall out of that meth den in season 1.

Yeah how long has it been since Takahashi was on the show. I don’t recall exactly what kind of plots they had with him. They have budgets to simulate rain now. Something like that has to be planned, requires logistics, shooting at night or before sunrise. So would having to plan shooting scenes involving logistics and planning diminish the improvisations the show is famous for? They’re not just working with Larry’s outlines any more or the outlines may be as elaborate, with stage directions, like almost scripts. LD seems to get into yelling matches in the recent seasons, though the sushi chefs yelling out Gabby’s business was funny. Though are we suppose to believe that Hal dumped her because of her scandalous past, kind of slut-shamed her?

Logan had a shit-eating grin for most of the episode. He thinks he can skate by buying favors from the next Republican nominee. Not just get the DOJ to back off on the cruises scandal but also go after Tech, which presents an existential threat to ATN and Waystar. I don’t know when these scripts were written but politicians are going after Big Tech, though the real life reasons are somewhat different. So Logan thinks whomever he backs, via ATN, will likely end up in the WH. Interesting that he chooses Romans political judgement over Shiv’s but he probably didn’t respect her politics or her work as a political strategist. Not clear yet if she objects to Mencken because of his politics or because Roman backed him. She was willing to back a more traditional Republican but looks like Logan never considered picking him or he went along with Roman’s immediate dismissal of him. Well according to Tom, Logan has never been fucked — though Kerry is doing something with him, so much for his health problems. Guess we’re suppose to believe that he’s been picking the president for years and has always had political connections, while Kendall seems to be making a lot of bad decisions. I don’t get the photo op. Sure Logan wants to wield power but he wants to do it behind the scenes. So taking a photo with the guy he anoints isn’t exactly staying behind the scenes. Can the puppet be effective if he’s seen with his puppet master?

Hmm didn't think of the Columbine possibility. The bullies seem to be close to high school age as is the chubby kid. Harrison and Audrey seem to be older actors. Audrey is always glammed up. Probably some kind of a model cast to play her. Her hair is done up, in cold weather? Why not wear caps?

They finally call in the K9 units but give Dexter plenty of advanced notice to lead the scent away to nowhere. BTW, John Oliver had a segment about forensic science, turns out it's not science at all, just something police departments came up with to boost convictions. He said in particular the blood splatter analysis is mostly made up BS, so that was funny watching the blood splatter guy in this episode and thinking about what Dexter used to do in the original series. But I guess Dexter had to worry enough to visit the mine, sabotage the crime scene for the K9 unit and finally burn the crematorium. Guess they had the mine scene just to have him encounter the bear, before Dexter goes to a so-convenient isolated incinerator near by. Oh and it has curbside access, so get out of the parking lot, walk a few feet, don't even have to go inside! I'm thinking eventually Harrison is going to catch Dexter doing one of these clandestine activities. Boy is suppose to be whip smart and has UFC moves so he's a sound sleeper when Dexter is skulking around the cabin or disappearing in the middle of the night? So in this episode, two catfishes, the chubby kid being bullied at school and the father getting a FaceTime call from the guy whose remains Dexter just incinerated. BTW nobody notices all the ashes around town all of a sudden? Can DNA be detected in ashes? What's the deal with the killer? He drugs the girls, lock them in a room -- that didn't look like a motel room when she ran out -- then releases them so he could shoot them and drain them? Not much of a sport either, he has a high powered rifle with laser score and he just waits for her to run a few dozen yards to shoot her in the back. Can't be much thrill of the kill, nothing like the catharsis Dexter feels. Guess the motives or whatever drives him will be spelled out eventually. I don't understand how she seemed to go into some motel, maybe the only one in that small town, and all of a sudden she runs out into the wilderness, isolated so he can take his time lining her up with the laser and kill her? Nobody around but nobody heard the gun shot? So she chose to go to some place far away from the town?

Wife was probably okay with the beach but she played along with the supposed conflict. Good for the toddlers too though there was that big kangaroo in the beach house neighborhood. Do they go through cities or towns or mostly stay in the bush? That third house, lot of yard work to do.

Are they filming right now? Maybe she didn't want him to be on the show or something. Or he didn't want to be on the show.

Kyle believes CT is the best men competitor left and he's probably not wrong. They're pretty close to the Final, probably a couple of eliminations left. So of course he's going to go on CT's team. He's choosing CT over Nelson, Devin and Emanuel.

Tulum guy promised to build her an additional home. Wouldn’t that blow up their budget? Yeah she gave up a job and friends in LA but they didn’t say much more about the business. So maybe that wasn’t real nor the rest of this episode. Since they regularly go down there, maybe that pod is just a vacation home.

Catherine O'Hara looks younger in those commercials with Kevin Hart than she did in Schitt's Creek. Or maybe she doesn't have the caked on makeup like she often had on the show?

The Daily was fine, a series of potential hall brawls but I don't think even the biggest guys want to be crashing into others more than a few times. Unless the opponent is knocked out, you just slow down yourself in getting the dynamites, which is the object of the game, not hitting other people. However, with 3 teams, probably not the best time for this particular daily challenge. It was always going to be a matter of two teams making a deal or at least just not going after each other even in the absence of a deal. And it makes sense why the two smaller teams would make the deal against the team with the numbers. Though if Emerald was smart, they should have trie to cut a deal first with one of the other cells rather than letting them gang up against them. Or maybe this daily and the deal between Sapphire and Ruby was all scripted, to make Devin whine. They all tried to play the friend card. But people don't come here to make friends. They may end up becoming friends but the narrative is that they need the money to help family and friends. I wish just one of them would be honest and say they want the money for themselves, to get themselves some nice things, kick back for awhile, etc. Honestly, Kyle should have picked Devin in the elimination as he's the weakest choice he had. OK, you didn't try to eliminate your friend this week but are you going to let him beat you in the Final if you both get there? So what does it matter if you deprive him of chance to win the prize now or later? Yeah Emanuel's "I'm going to drink your blood" schtick is tiresome but the producers are probably urging him and the others to talk trash in those talking heads. Josh crumbled under pressure, that last miss of the bell in crunch time lost him the elimination. Sure fatigue was a factor but Kyle did the last few jumps methodically, walking up to the edge, gathering himself, timing the jump with the swinging of the bell. He didn't shake Kyle's hands either as he ran off. CT and Logan had to know Kyle was going to take his spot back in the Emerald. But honestly, they didn't want to pick any other guys and Kyle taking a Sapphire dynamite gave them the excuse to choose him. And Kyle doesn't need to prove anything to CT. He's motivated to win so he's going to try his best, which is all you can ask of him. If there is another male elimination, someone will try to infiltrate Sapphire.

I don't think their tip is ever at risk. IF the cast do stuff that may seem to offend the "guests" but still makes for good TV, the producers will make sure it's a good tip. Bad tips are rare in the BD-verse.

What was with him telling Rayna to pull her weight several times, in front of other workers? That's kind of a big deal, if any supervisor threw someone under the bus in front of coworkers. Maybe pull her to the side and give her that message but in front of others? I would think she'd be very upset. But I don't know, they didn't show his face saying it so maybe they overdubbed it later, to add some spice and laying the groundwork for more on this friction between Jake and Rayna. Also, Jake being promoted to lead deckhand is probably a story line they want to revisit later. It's hard not to suspect that this show is being constantly manipulative.

At first I thought the rap performance was cringe, a rich white boy appropriating hip hop. But on repeated watching of that episode, got into it a little bit. The crowd got into it as well. I think Kendall was in on the joke too, didn't take himself too seriously, didn't think he was some serious rapper but it's more like someone doing a song parody or people at Karaoke Night, tongue firmly in cheek. He was suppose to praise his father since the event was in his honor but decided to do it in a fun way rather than try to do a sentimental speech. It was an expression of joy from him, a contrast from the morose sad sack he'd been for most of season 2. Or maybe he's a bit manic-depressive and this was just one of the few moments of mania that season.

Roman is pretty awful. Remember the pilot scene with the baseball game, him offering a million to that poor kid and then taunting him when he fell short. Even Logan felt bad for the kid, gave him an expensive watch as compensation. Turns out he was bullied as a kid by his siblings, has emotional/sexual problems. But he's exactly the type of trust fund bro people hate and he leans into it. Though he wasn't a complete asshole at the theme park training program. He was willing to consider promoting his partner and then dropped it.

If they're doing a grid search of a large area, why wouldn't they borrow dogs from another department? Especially after the father insisted that his son may still be out there, freezing to death. It's not just about finding a crime scene or suspect. It becomes a search and rescue thing. Also dubious that Angela would ask the rich guy for helicopter. She could ask the county or state for resources since it's a life or death issue.

That seems something urged on by producers. Too much of a coincidence for all of them to be doing it, especially when there are cameras on them and they are mostly alone. I can see several people singing some well known song or rap together because they’re all fans of that particular piece of music but improvising a sing-song about some mundane thing they happen to be doing? Some of them probably had to do a couple of takes to get it down. Lot of other fake things, on this episode, like Lee reading the guests the riot act — you won’t do it again or your charter is over! Um no, if these were real guests paying thousands for a couple of days, the captain would be a lot more diplomatic, no blunt and talking down to them like wayward children. The (paying) customer is always right, no matter how much assholes they were. The arranged night out for the crew was also contrived. That truth or dare game was entirely for the cameras. They all worked hard on the charter and now they had to be entertaining, no time to relax before they return to work. And the hot tub thing, purely for the cameras, as it was on BDSY and BDM. Shit is probably choreographed, Eddie picking up heather and swinging her ass in front of the camera, the threesome kiss. Really it’s one thing to hang out with coworkers in a hot tub but who wears a thong in front of coworkers you barely know? Plus they spent the whole day cleaning up the boat and they go around tracking epeater all over the place?

They seemed such a happy family, to the point of being saccharine sweet. So one random act of violence destroys that happiness and the brothers both go berserk? The sister’s death radicalizes them, makes them both willing mass killers? Their father’s death and their mother being paralyzed, possibly at the hands of one of the brothers, didn’t make them stop for a second, think twice? Upper middle class boys living in privilege, guests in the country, become anti immigrant? Why do Brits have any more right to be in Hungary than Arabs? They would probably look down at Andras, not be his followers. I guess they weren’t good enough parents. They provided them all kinds of material and educational advantages, emotional support. Yet they’re ready to slaughter dozens? Like Emma said, Will may talk about killing people but she can’t believe he’d actually go through with it. The home is elegant but seems isolated. So a stranger just walked in through an open door. I though ambassadors had some lavish homes in the embassy compound, ready to host distinguished guests, VIPs, heads of states and so on. Doesn’t seem like Emma and her family would live far away from the embassy.

I couldn't finish the last season of The Chi. I am guessing this is a lot better show which takes place in the same part of Chicago.

Tom offered to hold the scepter. Can they not think of more ways to humiliate him? Shiv goes back to sleeping with other men or women?

I’m not sure what Nathan’s business is suppose to be. Was that beach party business-related? If he felt awkward with Issa or didn’t like being friend-zoned, why invite her to the party? Good that they cleared the air, maybe it won’t be awkward between them. A little aftershock when they kissed. But not fireworks? Molly’s love life seems all over the place. In the first season she wanted to only date accomplish men and then remember they were surprised when the guy she was seeing admitted he didn’t go to college? In this episode she was looking for a hookup and they alluded to her hooking up on dating apps. So Issa’s been in relationships and still pursues them. Will the show end with her going off into the sunset with a man while Molly’s situation is still unsettled, kind of going through the same pattern as season one? IOW, is Molly still going to have a broken pussy?

Forget the reason but the actor who played Sandy isn’t coming back. but rather than write him out completely, they want him to be around because this proxy battle is a personal vendetta between Logan and Sandy. so he has to be around for awhile but ultimately replace him with Sandi, who says she’s only doing what her father tells her. Of course Shiv repeats that line right back to her but Logan is in fact out of it and she’s making decisions. presumably Sandi will start calling the shots, either to usurp her father or he will die or be permanently incapacitated as Stewy ungraciously cracked a couple of times about Sandy being a vegetable.

Is Woody Harrelson hardcore PETA or Larry just mocking animal rights activists? Hmm, a plot about black people and watermelon. No way Leon GAF if Larry sees him. Entitlement to not pick up food dropped on the floor or just sloppiness? It’s obvious a lot of Hollywood stars want to be on the show so it seems like they have to strain to fit them in. Plus, how does he decide whether to have stars play a character vs. themselves? Kaley Cuoco is arguably a bigger star at the moment than Woody but she plays an entitled/sloppy optometrist while Woody plays himself, a star whom Larry wants to cast on his show. BTW it has to be a running joke that Larry is always working on a show within the show but none of them ever make it to air. Or Jon Hamm plays himself while Vince Vaughan plays a character. In any event, the episodes have been around 40 minutes instead of the 30 minutes in previous seasons. I think he’s trying to fit in all these stars, probably friendly with them in real life. So he tries to have these different plots dovetail in the end, which used to work beautifully in some early seasons. But it seems he’s trying to do that for every episode this season. Many of the individual plots are good but there are too many and they’re forced together.