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Nobody ever gets cut off when it comes to booze, not the guests, not the crew when they go drinking. Hey but a guest who gets drunk and crosses boundaries is some drama for this episode and Sandy gets to look like she’s firmly in command, laying down the law. Does production know in real time the texting and messaging that crew send and receive? Or do they reconstruct these messages for the show later? Do the crew let the producers know, like did Luka say BTW, I’m still messaging Natalya after she left the boat and they transcribe those messages later to put on the screen? It just seems like it may not be a spontaneous process so they can massage it to look more dramatic if they are reconstructing these communications later. Did Natalya choose to leave the ship but hang around nearby and message Luka? Or was she encouraged to do so? Maybe they’re paying to put her up in a hotel so That she didn’t have to leave Italy right away and go back home. If there is drama later, because Jessica and Luka have been friends with benefits for awhile but Luka wants to get with Natalya, then it will seem suspicious, her hanging around and them showing all these messages. Lily seems to make simple tasks harder than it needs to be. How can she be among the worst workers on these BD shows? Is she a plant, like the chef who made taco salad once upon a time? Situation generates a lot of complaints from other interior crew.

Yeah Bill is locked into the “they want to destroy Israel so Israel gets to do whatever it wants” position Well Israel has killed an estimated 15,000 people, well over half of which are civilians. Half the population of Gaza are under 18 and Half are women. Looks like none of the guests will cite these facts and even if someone did, Bill doesn’t seem interested in any criticism of what Netanyahu is doing.

I guess they were referring to the London Underground zones. But I think the lowest fare equates to zones 1 and 2 which is pretty much most or all of central London. Previous episodes in London they had target neighborhoods like say Paddington or Chelsea. HHI tries to place London homes in relation to the nearest Tube station but buses reach a lot of places which are some distance away from the nearest Tube stations. I tried to use the bus more but you really need apps or consulting the TFL Journey Planner website, unless you’re familiar with the bus routes. In any event, bus may be better option for some trips than the Underground. I think they made the best choice, in the location they wanted with plenty of room to set up workspaces for both of them. She was right on, the second bedroom isn’t worth the extra $600 a month. He probably was arguing the devils advocate on the 2 bedroom apt for the sake of the show.

I guess people who've read the books would know but it sounds like the author would keep the Spider character around for comic relief and as foil for River. If he's killed off in the books, the show should consider keeping him alive. He's not a field agent though right, just a glorified secretary for Taverner, though he arranged the Russian meet in season 2 which led to him being ousted from MI5 -- though he was given a choice to go to Slough House, he lands a lucrative job with Chieftain, which is probably going to be blown up because of Sean going rogue on their operation. But Webb doesn't seem like the MI5 type, as he's bragging about his suits and his shaves to River. I would hope UK spies are not that unserious.

But they did that with the Travelocity app too. And every time someone wins a leg they tout the trips designed by Travelocity or now Expedia experts. But IIRC, those trips were only for two so if they wanted to bring their spouses, they'd be out of pocket and then there were tax implications so I thought I heard that a lot of racers don't take all of these trips. They were more blatant with the product placement of the Travelocity gnome but at least they were creative with it sometimes, like you had to take the gnome with them through the leg and deliver it somewhere. I seem to recall there was something with a zip line once and they had to hook the gnome to the zip line as they went on it. Or maybe it was a bungee jump.

Your TV, if it's not too old, may be able to download apps and Peacock may be available for it. Google your brand and model number and Peacock app and see if it hits anything.

I don't get the reference. A middle aged man likes Japanese cartoons? This whole episode was about some dodgy tabloid site tossing some allegations? The whole cast reacted to that nothing burger for the whole episode? At least the women were in bathing suits. Blah.

Expedia acquired longtime TAR sponsor Travelocity and I guess took over the sponsorship. I don't get too vexed over the product placement since the sponsor keeps this show that I like on the air. I believe for a couple of seasons just before the pandemic, there was some doubt that TAR would be renewed. So I have no quibble with any factor that keeps the show on the air.

She probably would have done well but she's also much shorter than the RD dancers and also the men who did this RD roadblock. So sure she has the hair like the female RD dancers but she's shorter than they are.

I just returned from Australia, renting cars in Sydney and Melbourne, both automatics. BTW, there isn't a big premium to be paid for automatic so there's no reason to rent a manual. In any event, the first car was an MG (Chinese company bought an old British brand) and the turn signal stalk was on the left side of the steering wheel. The second car was a Toyota Carolla and the turn signal stalk was on the right side of the steering wheel. That meant the wiper controls and the cruise controls were on opposite sides too. Confusing for an American driver. Plus they really like to park rear in first or they even have these 45-degree parking spaces on some streets where you must park in reverse so that you pull out forward into traffic going in the same direction. I don't know that manual transmission is going to be representative for what travel is like in other countries. Especially when more electric vehicles are integrated into the rental fleets and there's no such thing as manual transmission EVs or hybrids for that matter.

If you Google Liffey, there are images of it being dark blue. So maybe it's more muddy in different times of the year and other times it's blue, not carrying as much sediment which might turn the color brown.

Actually the scenes at the Lyons' home wasn't based on Home Alone but Nightmare before Christmas. Hawley said he loved that film and got the blessing from Tim Burton to use it as an inspiration for this episode.

Seemed like they could have put on wet suits if they wanted? I guess the point of that swim location is to really feel the cold. But maybe the racers didn't want to take the time to put on and remove wet suits.

Jersey Shore Family Reunion renewed for season 7, with higher ratings for this almost done season 6 (done after part 2 of the reunion airing this Thursday). https://deadline.com/2023/12/jersey-shore-family-vacation-renewed-mtv-ratings-1235656923/#comments Really surprising. Did Sammi's return make that big an impact to ratings or to social media engagement? Or Angelina's search for her real family or her latest tiresome beef with other members of the cast? I watched the season but I didn't think it was particularly remarkable. Sure made a big deal of Sammi's return but that wasn't that big a deal to me. I have to say the early seasons of Family Vacation were more compelling, Mike's redemption, the incarceration, the release from jail. They bonded because he'd become a new man compared to the Sitch in the original series. They're getting paid more money than they did in the original series it seems. But not sure they're getting the ratings that the original series got, when the show and some of the figures became like national or international figures, going on the major talk shows and so forth.

Interesting, I thought he was not being so vocal about supporting Trump after January 6 but if he's being full-throated, maybe I won't watch the reboot, which I haven't started yet.

I could see this team being invited back for an all-star season, given that they just missed running the final leg this season. Doesn't hurt that AL is very photogenic. But a few years from now, Steve may be even less able to keep up and could be a medical risk. Have they ever had all-star teams invited back with just one of the team members paired with someone else? There must be a story for why she didn't get her husband to race or maybe even a younger friend, since she's so competitive as she says. She probably thinks she would have won or at least made the final leg with a more physically fit partner. Sure she can give platitudes about doing something with her father, how it drew them closer, etc. but she seems the type to be cold-blooded about getting results.

Thing about these big alliances is that they don't have a plan or pecking order for when they have to start sending each other into elimination. So Michele and the others just keeps voting with the alliance, not taking shots. But the women shouldn't only be targeting other women. There is only one winner of the prize so they should be strategically trying to get the best challengers, regardless of gender, out of the game and out of the Final. Someone remarked that if there was a 2-mile run in the Final, Big T won't be a contender anyways. Likely there will be a lot of running but it won't be too physical since it's a coed Final with just one winner. So something involving puzzles and willingness to get through an eating challenge. Then all you see are these montages of people doing strength training. Strength may come into play on the Dailies but probably not in the Final since the men and women are going to be competing against each other, not only agains their own gender. I guess you can't have a sexy montage of people doing brain teasers or other practice puzzles.

I believe Steve finished his Riverdance task before the beard guy and Steve and AL left before the beard team. But the beards got to the stadium before them and I believe they finished the hurling task and left the stadium as Steve and AL were arriving or even before them. Also seemed like Steve and AL struggled to find the pub as well. So I think navigation was the difference between making it third and being eliminated in this penultimate leg. They didn't show if any teams had difficulty driving on the left side of the road but at one point, AL reminded Steve that he was on the wrong side of the road. That's something I've experienced first hand, as I've driven in the UK and Australia more than once and for the most part I was okay but if I went to lunch or a store, once or twice as I pulled out of parking, I was on the right (wrong) side of the road briefly before I remembered. I remembered seeing a short news feature on Riverdance, how it really wasn't authentic of traditional Irish dance, how it was brutal on the dancers. But when they showed the first teacher showing all the moves, especially some of the steps on toes, it looked balletic and pretty intricate. I don't think any of the racers got all those steps exactly as the real dancers demonstrated. The judge allowed it if the racers were moving in the general direction of the dancers and moving as quickly, even if they probably didn't get all the intricate steps right. John probably got it as closely as any of them. Still think that music is faster than real Irish folk music and visually you don't appreciate all the intricate steps because they're done so fast. But if they're still selling shows, I guess it's a big Irish cultural export. I probably couldn't do this roadblock. As far as the brothers team coming off too cocky, well they won the most legs IIRC and their average finish is ahead of other teams. But I think the final 3 teams are always encouraged to talk up their chances to win the final. You never see a team who say we exceeded our wildest expectation, we're just happy for making it so far and we really can't beat that other team, etc. Even if they're not prodded to talk up their prospects at winning TAR, people are naturally going to be inclined to be optimistic, positive about their chances.

If she went all Sarah Conner in Terminator on them, shooting up all the home invaders, which I assume even in MN people are allowed to do, that would have raised more red flags not only for Roy but all law enforcement, following her abduction and escape at the gas station. She did take shots at Gator or one of the other home invaders at one point but she probably intentionally missed. In the end, Gator and his crew all slipped away before the cops and the fire dept. showed up. This is probably Dot's goal, chase them away but not kill anyone, not raise any more suspicions to reveal that she's more than a suburban PTA mom. So she had her MacGuyver-improvised home security traps, not a real arsenal. She might decide at one point she has no choice but to shoot if Roy keeps coming for her and her family.

Lamb mentions Tiger team and all the agents are “of course” like it’s a common thing for a private security company to run some operation or sting on MI5. I would think MI5 wouldn’t just let it go, would try to make life difficult for the Tiger team but in this case, it was Judd the asshole Home Secretary who wants to be Prime Minister, who hired Chieftain to “test” MI5. Even Ingrid Tearney, Diana Taverner’s boss, has to accept Judd’s stunt, order a review of the Park’s security protocols. You’d think someone gets sent to Slough House because of the breach River pulled off. That has to be even a bigger humiliation that a slow horse breached the most secure part of the Park. Duffy gets his shots in at River, trying to provoke him into fighting a senior officer, which would get him fired permanently from the Service. Lamb gets River out but there’s a wrinkle, Sean Donovan has gone rogue on Chieftain, refuses to release Taverner as planned and in fact takes a Chieftain agent as a second hostage, demanding that MI5 releases the Grey Books, the MI5 dossier on all conspiracy theories to him, if they want him to release the hostages. Shirley and Marcus break into Sean’s flat, sees a corkboard with all the Grey Books stuff. But they’re busted for breaking and entering and the cops find a bag of coke on Shirley, prompting Lamb to have the cops tell them that they’re “fucking fired.” River and Louisa go to Chieftains office where they find that Spider now works for them and had them target Slough House, River in particular. He’s whooping it up at their expense until he’s ordered to sort out the hostage situation with Donovan, who isn’t cooperating. In fact he gives Webb a head wound — maybe fatal — and drops Webb’s body in front of the tony restaurant — Anna Livia — where Lamb Is confronting Judd and the Chieftain boss about the cocked up sting operation. I don’t think Donovan is the conspiracy theory truther type as Roddy Ho believes. Ho opines that he doesn’t believe the moon landing was real, which prompts a silent look from Lamb. Instead, Donovan still seems hung up on Alison Dunne (Katherine Waterson) so the Istanbul scene in the season premier seems to have triggered this whole series of events.

Maybe the law varies in different states but if you hit someone with a car, you have to stop, can't leave the scene. If her car was identified by witnesses, not because Kathryn came forward, it can't be good for her.

Sandy tells Lily it’s a job. But the crew are encouraged to drink up. Point of the job is to be filmed having happy drunken times. Lily though doesn’t seem to be too worried about doing well on this yacht and getting other yacht jobs. The work is drudgery. With so few charters left do they even bother to replace her? Have her clean toilets and throw laundry in the machines, better than nothing, unless she sleeps 5 hours into her shift every time they go out. The guests didn’t want their minds read but enjoyed the card tricks. These guests are nondescript except for the drunk guy. Luka and Jessika seem headed for drama even if they’re lovey dovey now. Apparently Natalya is hanging around nearby, probably at the encouragement of the producers.

Interview with Noah Hawley. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/noah-hawley-fargo-alien-star-trek-1235646824/ Talks about his other projects but says he's not done with Fargo. No specific plans but there will be more after season 5.

She hasn't done many overseas episodes in a few years. Maybe not since before the pandemic, except maybe Quebec. About a year ago, she was touting a European cruise that viewers could sign up for and she would be on that cruise. I would have thought she'd have filmed episodes of the show since at least one cruise company sponsors the show. Or she could have filmed episodes before or after the cruise, though maybe she doesn't want to be away from her family too long.

Heard that Portman does a nude scene in this? Would that be her first?