aghst

The things they’re arguing over are so inconsequential. It’s hard to believe either really would care but every time they’ve talked to each other it’s gotten heated. That’s why it doesn’t seem real. Tumi says she takes pride in setting her emotions aside and Natalya won’t let it go. Kyle admitted he’s not good at keeping information which might cause a rift between people, so he admits that he stirs up shit. Max is quite the slacker. He openly goofs off, doing pull-ups while his coworkers are trying to get things done. Could be like Benny from BDDU, not taking the job seriously or just doesn’t think a TV show about charters is a real job. Then again he says he’s been fired from every job. That kind of job history would probably prevent one from getting hired but it gets you cast on. bravo show! Ok we suspect BD beach picnics are fake, like guests are mostly indifferent to them. These guests didn’t want to hike up to that castle. But it quickly showed what Max is about, complaining about having to lug all the stuff uphill, while Lara was doing it without complaints until she complained about Max.

Yes her personality changed too easily, unless they're trying to say in the '50s they coped without professional therapy. She was triggered by being in a room with any man when the door was closed. So Calvin won her over and cured her of the panic she felt? If the plot was set in the 21st century, our heroine would need years of therapy to learn to trust any man. I thought her saying she'd never marry and have children had to do with the sexual assault but she repeats it to Calvin and then they move in together. Quite a contrast from the stiff and formal young woman and the way she was so relaxed at the pier after they tried to go rowing. Then they progress shortly to some post-coital scene of both of them in underwear, completely at ease with each other. Maybe these swings will make more sense over the rest of the season. If they don't attempt to explain it, it would be strange.

No but apparently Wendy and the show would have us believe that Prince would do all kinds of evil things like first strike nuclear attacks or rounding up political opponents. The way they rendered these characters, I would more likely believe Axe would do things like that than Prince.

Wes could just go to the seniors tour, the streaming only All Stars seasons.

My DVR shows a scheduled recording of season 39 this coming week. Not sure if it's the first episode of the season or some "road to" BS.

Yeah well they either have to beat Tori in the last elimination or in the Final. Not sure their chances are better in one or the other. Depends on the type of elimination or the type of tasks in the Final. You figure endurance is a big part of the Final and some eating challenge. So are they confident that they could outperform Tori in either of those? Or they're just looking to get past the final elimination day, worry about the Final later.

Quite a litany of travails for Miss Zott: Estranged from her parents, sexually assaulted, blocked from her intellectual avocation by the sexism of her era, then falls in love, with a possible route to pursuing what she wants to do in life. Only to end in heartbreak. Stark mood or personality swings. As a Ph.D candidate, she was more lively and expressive about her research. After the sexual assault, she's devoid of affect, unless she feels trapped and traumatic memory is triggered. Then she's drawn out of her shell gradually by Calvin, able to feel and express joy. So after the accident, she retreats again to the stiff shell shown at the opening scene of the pilot when she's a TV personality?

I guess this is the story they came up with for this final season. But instead of a showdown between Axe and Chuck, which has been the setup for most of the series, it's a showdown between Axe/Chuck/every other supporting character and Prince. I don't know if that was the plan when they brought on this character 2-3 seasons ago or they had to introduce the character to the show because Damian Lewis wanted to leave. It feels like they didn't have a mapped out plan for him and they've had to pivot, maybe more than once, for this character. At first, he was just another billionaire rival to Axe, as if they wanted to move away from the Axe vs. Chuck plot which had driven the series for 5 seasons. Then they had to write Axe off the show, with Chuck and Prince kind of teaming up for it, Chuck to prosecute Bobby (forget what his crime was) and Prince at the last minute giving Axe an escape hatch. So with Axe gone, it was suppose to be Chuck vs. Prince but Prince wasn't breaking laws necessarily and Chuck really didn't have jurisdiction to go after Prince until this season when he got back to the SDNY. Prince's crime became his overwhelming ambition, first with the now-aborted plan to bring Olympics to NYC and now running for the presidency. There's no sense of any master plan. If Prince was serious about being elected, he'd have cultivated politicians for years, got close to one of the parties and decide on an agenda on which to campaign. There was none of that because Prince and Scooter kept the plan to themselves and just sprung it as they announced the candidacy. That is why the writing feels like they're pivoting. Maybe they didn't know Lewis would be willing to come back. Then this whole big corporate decision to create a lot of spinoffs from this show and I guess they had to find a way to wrap up this show? So they had to come up with a story for why Axe would return, why he had to return, why Chuck who was after him would not only welcome him but urge him to return, forget about Axe being a fugitive from a case that he wanted badly just a couple of seasons ago. The show was originally based loosely on Preet Bharara prosecuting Steve Cohen and SAC Capital. That drove the first 3 or 4 seasons, though they made it too much about personalities, not much about the legal issues. They tried to make Rhoads and Axe bigger than life personalities than their real life models but maybe just turned them into caricatures. Then Prince replaces Bobby and Chuck is talking like some populist, about how billionaires think they can do anything and he's going to be the voice of the regular people or some such nonsense. It was far more interesting when SDNY was matching wits with Axe Capital. Axe was trying to recruit Chuck's lieutenants like Connerty, who tried to get Taylor to flip. There was even a story about Sacker and her father and her ideals but now she's just a hired gun for Prince because she wants to be a congresswoman following Prince's path to power as an independent. They've also pushed Taylor more to the background, introducing Scooter, then Philip. The supporting characters in the earlier seasons like Connerty were more interesting than these newer characters.

Season 2 did have a better conventional rom-com ending. I would have been fine with it as the series end. But I do enjoy the writing by Matafeo and her writing partners and her performance is good. So is the performance of the actress who plays Kate. I'd like to see more of Matafeo's work but she seems mostly to do standup in the UK or have a couple of older New Zealand series which haven't been distributed in the US. So I didn't mind having this third season. If it does well maybe she will get more projects which are more widely distributed.

I would agree that would be difficult for a candidate, not to be in some traditional marriage. Not only that but he or she would probably have to have children. But Axe went for the cuckold angle, like Prince was betrayed because he couldn't sexually satisfy his wife. That probably wouldn't be good for a candidate either. That's what makes this story line about him running for president dumb, especially as a third-party candidate. Or that he'd be leading in the polls. Presidents have been well off though not necessarily very rich. We had one president claiming to be rich but he got in for other reasons than his wealth. So they keep pushing that MPC has to be seen as an asset to Prince's candidacy. I don't know, when Mick Romney was a candidate, there were a lot of stories about his career, especially on the question of whether his business activities involved acquiring companies and cutting jobs as he and his partners enriched themselves. So being uber rich isn't the political advantage that this show is trying to portray.

Yeah Fessy realized it wasn’t worth trying to count over and over, just keep going back with guesses. Could Josh not hear that Fessy already said 8? Seems like Fessy knew what Josh already guessed so he kept guessing higher numbers. Yeah and the puzzle too. Not that much of an advantage to get through the hall and to the puzzle a couple seconds before your opponent as with regular Hall Brawl where you’re just racing to reach the target on the other side of the hall. For a change, they had pretty evenly sized people. Chanelle and Fessy were bigger and stronger than Cassidy and Josh but not by much more than we usually see in Hall Brawl matchups. Plus with the pads and the puzzle, there isn’t as much of an incentive to hit as hard or push the opponent back. The women aren’t as vicious and Fessy and Josh are friends so they’re not going to go all out. Now if it was Fessy vs. Cory in a regular HB, it would have been pretty even and they could hurt each other. Both played football although I think Fessy played at a higher level. Fessy said also that the halls are narrow so he can’t square and deliver the full force of both shoulder pads, because he has to position his body diagonally so that both shoulder pads fit through the hall. Daily was unusually simple, just a pure race against the clock. They all had a pretty good idea who were the fastest. They all knew what was at stake so they kind of knew who could win and prepare for voting.

Either somebody or somebodies get fired over the course of the season or fi they're all still around, they're going to pretend to be besties again and hug it out as they exit in the season finale. Or at least civil, not doing the yelling at year other or wagging their fingers as they're doing now. It's a predictable formula.

First of all, it's Wendy's fault. She should have done more due diligence than just ask Rian to take a look. But she lives the lifestyle of someone worth tens of millions. So the only way she was going to leave MPC was to line up job which would lead to another big pay day. If Prince is as bad as she says (and she lists a litany of things this episode), why not just walk away? But no she was going to somehow stop Prince as well as lining up another lucrative job for herself except it got her trapped. And I'm not sure they're right on the laws as depicted on the show. Most of the offenses occurred before Wendy accepted the job. So how could she have certified that the start up company's financials were valid? In the case of public companies, there would be CPAs certifying the books. But if the books were falsified, the people in charge would be liable, not some newcomer. Still, it makes no sense that she would certify the practices of what occurred before she took over. But she hasn't even gone to that other job yet. And she could work with prosecutors to testify against the company, plead that she was completely misled. So this whole thing about her being in danger of being thrown in prison for 20 years or more is BS. Rich white people don't go to prison, at worst they would plead it out, either get immunity or get probation for someone who's got no criminal record and above all rich and white. So how does Axe rescue Wendy? By taunting Prince as President Cuck.🙄 That is what they have on him, that his wife was unfaithful and some other man satisfied her more? Yeah it wouldn't be helpful to his candidacy and it might be so humiliating that Prince would back down. But then again, it's not credible that a billionaire running as an independent would be so far ahead in the polls. Axe is only threatening to release the personally humiliating information. He's actually not doing it. So how are they stopping Prince's campaign? And why is Prince telling Scooter to turn all financial assets to cash? How would personally humiliating information hurt all their trades? MPC is suppose to have unbelievable financial performance -- which is what people used to say about Madoff's firm always outperforming the market and other firms for decades. They're not going to outperform the market if they go all cash. They really binged on cultural references this episode. One could Google all the names they dropped but who GAF enough to actually do so? It's as if they can't write plausible plots so they load up the dialog with these references, as if it gives the show some cultural heft or the characters some kind of depth.

Anyone watch Flora and Son movie? It stars Joseph Gordon Hewitt and Eve Hewson, Becca on Bad Sisters. good reviews but curious if anyone who watched Bad Sisters saw it.

I visited Noosa last year. Had to back into the parking space, fortunately not much traffic. Didn’t venture out to the bush, stayed near the coast, where there’s crazy traffic in November, which is like May for them. Parking was impossible in the main drag which was also near the main beach. So if surfing was his main thing, he’d have to deal with the traffic and parking, rather than walking to the beach. There are other beaches though so maybe he goes to one of them. Or maybe his job keeps him busy.

Reviews seem pretty lukewarm so far.

I'm saying Tumi wouldn't be inclined to come in aggressive, ready to argue or point out that things are not good and it's going to be her way. At least not compared to the Tumi from BDDU season 1. I don't think whatever Kyle may have said would have caused her to be ready to argue. Producers probably let her know that is what they expected now that she's playing the chief stew this season, to take charge and not take any back talk. So the whole waiving the hands thing which set off Natalya. The sit down is staged. They were following them with handheld cameras but when they sat down, the cameras were set, one aiming at each woman and one showing both of them. They wanted to capture the facial expressions. They wanted them to be in specific positions relative to the cameras so it was blocked. They set all this up because they expected a volatile exchange when they sat down, because of how both were probably primed by the producers. They were saying things to poke each other while walking around. But the real fireworks started when they sat down, facing each other. You think any of that is an accident?

Not in this episode, the end of the previous episode when they first met. They met, then Natalya went around pointing some things out to Tumi. Then they went into one of the lounges where the guests hang out and they sat across from each other and Tumi said "I don't like this setup" and Natalya took offense.

Right after they went through the yacht, they both sat down across from each other. The cameras were set up, they planned a confrontation. So they were primed to have a little argument way before they were filmed together. Tumi didn't come in hot on her own. She had an agenda and so did Natalya. They were going to yell their talking points at that little sit down.

Well the Survivor team went after Michelle and tried to protect Chris. But really, they should be trying to take out Tori who's more of a threat in the Final.

Well they seem pretty friendly, in good cheer. For supposed rivals trying to beat each other, trying to eliminate each other.

Yeah Wendy, Wags and Taylor all suddenly developed ideals, rather than be purely chasing money, as they've done for years. Remember when Connerty tried to flip Taylor, apply to their idealism? For a second Taylor seemed conflicted about the lifestyle that their job working for Axe gave them, such as a huge penthouse apartment. They got over it quick and told Connerty to get lost. Wendy was going to work for Mental, some startup that was supportive of employees and providing services for the underprivileged. But she was going to get a huge compensation package from them, in addition to feeling good about doing good. But these are the rebels who's going to stop power-hungry Prince? 😆

Were those pics taken during or after the Daily? Or maybe before? That makes you wonder if there were producer shenanigans in Michaela fooling Johnny, resulting in a win for Chris and Desi, their first and maybe only Daily wins.

I blame the producer. Sure Kyle may have influenced her but there's no reason Tumi has to start out antagonistic. She's being handled differently by BDM producers compared to the BDDU producers, who at least in season 1 of that show was pretty low key. Or BDDU producers got Benny to act up, try to stir up shit with bosun Jaime and also test captain Jason. Tumi is not only aggressive with Natalya but also with the chef. They want the chief stew to be more of a type 1 personality I guess, so she couldn't be low-drama like she was in BDDU.

How could they start out so antagonistic? They’re in the service industry, meaning they wouldn’t openly bicker right off the bat. They couldn’t have been egged on to go at each other, could they? How do people who just met — or supposedly just met — be so openly hostile? Tumi was low drama in her previous BD season but she uses her rank to try to stomp on Natalya while Natalya is openly shit talking Tumi to the chef and anyone else? Obviously this situation can’t continue in a real working environment but on Bravo, it’s par for the course.