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The point is, like everything else the Roy kids do, they don't have a vision, they don't have a fleshed-out product or strategy. Kendall is winging it, making it up as he goes along. It's vaporware. Other part is, Waystar is like Disney with the cruises and theme parks. Disney actually has specific planned living communities in FL. Not for seniors but for people who are fans. I don't know if it's golf or they want to go to Disney World every year but they've sold a lot of homes. As far as the other stuff Kendall promised, he has no plans to deliver any of it. He's trying to pump up the stock price, to blow up Mattson's acquisition. It doesn't get more complicated than that.

I guess Sally just wasn't that excited about acting any more. She did try to audition for that director right there. And she had a good job offer but for whatever reason she didn't find it fulfilling. She was already jaded about the industry when she found that that Amazon booked a role just based on her looks. Probably enraged her that she was in a movie with a director she respected while she had to hope for crumbs. Barry offers excitement from the hum drum and hypocrisy of Hollywood? She was already feeling burned about what happened to Joplin and to see Natalie copy her ideas and get a big show after the failure of Joplin. Then she gets burned on social media for her reaction. I'm still having a difficult time with NoHo's turn as a heavy. He played at being a gangster in the first two seasons. He worried more about the superficial aspects of being a gangster, like having a nice stash house. Now he wants to be the big boss? OK, he went all the way down to Ecuador to rescue Cristobal but ends up choosing being the big boss of the Chenchen mob in LA, which is kind of a joke in itself, since everyone knows it's the Armenians and the Bloods and Crips, not to mention the Mexican and Central American gangs and cartels. Over the supposed love of his life? Maybe it's the least worst way to wrap up Hank's arc. But now as boss his demeanor is more grim than comic, lighthearted, silly. Yeah it would be a tragic end for Gene if he ends up killing his son, who was brining over Gene's favorite takeout. Lot of tragedy in his life. I liked Gene more in earlier seasons, when he was this full of himself grifter conning all these aspiring actors and the way he kept pursuing Janice. Then we learn he was a toxic asshole when he was working regularly in the industry when he was younger. Then last season, he grows more somber after learning that Barry killed Janice, though he goes hard to try t impress his former flame, giving her all the profits from his absurd TV show. So Hank and Gene, both funny characters, become more serious and dark. What happened to the comedy? I guess both their lives were touched by Barry and made worse for it is the message Hader is trying to convey? Too much of a copout, yes Barry has too much blood on his hands to end up having any positive aspects but him ruining lives of those people he actually liked and loved, not just the victims and survivors of his murders?

The other thing is, Roman had a deep fake video of Logan belittling his micro dick on his phone which he kept playing over and over. It is plausibly something Logan would say but it’s likely a fake. Does Roman play it because he misses his dad, still grieving in a perverse way? Or is it something else? Because when he was having phone sex with Gerri, she would belittle him. Also Kendall or Shiv has joked about how Roman would get off on being sexually shamed or belittled. Boy needs therapy.

That would certainly be an interesting development. Because this episode wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of strong women. At first it starts out well, Shiv parrying with Lukas, giving as well as she gets, with a man of great accomplishment, yet she was an equal to him. Then she calls out Kendall and Roman’s bullshit, the co-CEOs, sees that they want to tank the deal. No man is going to get over on her. Then the very next scene is her in the grief room and her crumbling into Tom’s arms. On the one hand, it’s a moving scene of vulnerability, given her pregnancy and the fact that she hasn’t told anyone, not even Tom. But on the other hand, are the writers saying a good strong man is the cure for all of a woman’s ills, even a strong woman who can stare down powerful and privileged white men? So either Shiv ends up with Tom, building a family or she decides Tom isn’t worthy and raises their child herself, while getting what she wants as far as control of and spoils from Waystar. That’s not to say she can’t be strong if she finds Tom worthy and wants a family with Tom, who called her on her hypocrisy when she looked down at him for wanting nice things like his watches and stuff. She mockingly said she would follow you Tom Wamsgans for love. But we know she wasn’t going to be dating someone from the janitorial staff at Waystar, rather it would be a rising young executive. So love for these filthy rich people would always be in the context of money.

Stanley is on Citadel, which is getting heavily panned. However, Amazon has committed reportedly $300 million so he's going to have that project competing for whatever time he may have for Searching for Italy, if there are newer seasons. I guess he owns this show so he's motivated to sell it to another service if they will make it lucrative enough.

I think Angelina, like all of them act a certain way to end up in more scenes that make it on the air. If they're low key, they become invisible gradually and they'd have little reason to keep them on. Snookie falls into this too, as does maybe Deanna. Recently Deanna's husband didn't want to go out while she wanted to go out drinking kind of later in the evening, after they had dinner. Honestly she might have felt pressured to participate rather than go to the hotel room and tend to her kids. If Sammy is a regular next season and you know they want to bring back Ron if Sammy is going to be there, it becomes kind of crowded so they have to vie for camera time. What happened to Nikki this season? Did Pauly break up with her? Or maybe they weren't interested in paying her despite the big fight she had with Angelina last season.

Interesting, if they did lie to the cast about the format and the eliminations in each episode. This is the first cooking competition I've ever watched. I thought it was absurd that they had an hour to cook up 3 dishes. Maybe these chefs, at restaurants or as private chefs, have big time pressures but the hour is an artificial constraint, designed to make some contestants boil over and lose it. Obviously they wanted things to go wrong so one of them would be blamed and voted off. Very much like The Challenge and I assume shows like Survivor and Big Brother. I will say though that the chefs being under pressure makes the show seem to move quickly or at least gives it a sense or motion, progress. Of course the judging goes to the personal tastes of the judges and there's no transparency or any semblance of actual criteria for evaluating the end product. Was it the brodo with all the seafood in there? Because in Italy, you get a simple broth, nothing loaded up with stuff that actually competes against the tortellini. I don't even get the lure of the grand prize, some title and the ability to train with some Italian chefs. Does that actually lead to them getting better jobs, more income? Does going to the Cordon Bleu in France lead to more jobs? I would guess chefs are hired based on their CV and maybe some tasting of their dishes or some trial period. I would think having actual cash would be more useful but maybe they get to stay in Italy for a few weeks or months, all expenses paid or something.

So does she only travel around the US in season 1? Season 2 is starting soon. Wonder if it's only to cover the US food scene, given the name of the show. How does the scenery porn compare to shows which travel to different countries?

So no comments about New Plymouth, NZ? They traveled together to many countries and it was travel that finally made her date him. But not married, no engagement. She was saying she wants to do a lot more travel before taking more steps. He didn't get a water view but he talked her into a cheaper place with less maintenance outside. Wonder if they're still together.

I hope putting it on Monday nights didn't sabotage the series prospects for more seasons. I liked this case more than the season 1 case, though obviously Tatiana Maslany is a bigger draw than the guest stars of season 2. Also liked how they showed Drake's competence and savvy, even if he was conflicted about some aspects of the work. Della got her chance to show her chops in the courtroom and Julia Rylance got to show her goods. They showed the warts of the main characters, Perry accusing Ginny, being a little too sad otherwise and Della cheating on her lover and almost being too close to Camilla -- she wasn't happy to find out Camilla was the main villain.

Jalisco episode restaurants https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/eva-longoria-searching-for-mexico-restaurants So they touched a little about the mestizo question, referenced how the revolutionary and civil wars secured the place of mestizos in Mexican society and nation. But how well are mixed and indigenous peoples treated in modern Mexico compared to people who are more clearly of European descent? How do the different demographics fare in employment opportunities, earning, education, etc. relative to each other? The show has featured both fancy sit-down restaurants which appeal to more well-heeled clientele, including probably affluent American tourists, as well as these modest places which might be for campesinos. I still remember the one episode where one of the women traveled by bus for hours from her village to a larger city, to have a food stand outside of a market. I suspect the viewers of this show, if they traveled to Mexico, would frequent restaurants more. Maybe try some street food here and there but would be attracted to nicely decorated restaurants which look like places they'd visit in the US or Europe. But as they noted on this episode, the average income is like $13 a day so only Mexicans with incomes comparable to Americans would be going to the fancier restaurants with internationally-trained chefs featured on the show. Or American tourists.

Among the many podcasts on the show is the one by Slate Money where they have on some business journalists who've written about these huge mega mergers. They said it wouldn't be the CEO just winging it as depicted on the show. They'd be flanked by lawyers and bankers and they'd constantly consult the data crunched by the bankers. They don't just come up with some general bottom line numbers on instinct. It's all driven by financial analysis. The board and the shareholders would sue if they find out they're not using due diligence. Even Logan did it this way, he was sizing up his counterparts and took pride in being able to read people. But he wanted to win, get a better deal and have his counterparts know that he got the better of them. So the brothers also personalize this negotiation. Kendall says lets bleed the Swede and Roman supposedly is simpatico or thinks he is based on his initial interactions with Mattson in season 3. But most of all they want to "win" which is how Logan measured the value of deals. Look at how they negotiated with Pierce, they just kept pulling higher and higher numbers, didn't care if the deal made financial sense, just that they "won" by outbidding their father. Mattson also approaches it the same way, he wants to win a war of wills. Thing is, he's got software engineering chops and should be more data-driven, not mixing into this emotional contest and one upsmanship -- he probably got the best zinger by calling Kendall and Roman a tribute band.

My speculation is that Carl, who is giddy about the deal, has a lot of stock, more than other senior execs an more than the younger guys who were on the Norway trip, guys who may have appeared before but seem more like red shirts rather than recurring characters.

I don't know, Hank becoming heavy is quite a turn from what his character has been most of the season. But he has to protect his sand empire so Barry's got to be got? And he brushes off his fellow Chenchens? I can see Hank getting serious when he had to save Cristobal and himself at the end of last season but has he lost his happy-go-lucky personality? So Barry gets out of prison rather easily and he has many potential targets, Hank, Cousineau, maybe Fuches again. Sally better be careful too when he shows up.

Filming locations for the episode. https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/succession-filming-locations-norway-2123020/ Hmm, Norway is already expensive but they've filmed at a luxury hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Renewed for season 2. https://deadline.com/2023/04/eugene-levy-the-reluctant-traveler-renewed-season-2-apple-tv-1235334659/

Shiv last week seemed like fuck it, let them have it. Maybe the pregnancy played into it at the moment, she seemed resigned and exhausted at the prospect of again fighting with her brothers. But in this episode, she realized, from her background with political campaigns, that Kendall was like behind the smear campaign against Logan. She didn't ask him outright but she brought it up to let him know she's on to him. The other thing that energized her was finding that ATN had gotten real cozy with Mencken, letting him sit in on ATN meetings for how they were going to message the remainder of the campaign. She wanted Cyd gone or better yet, wanted the toxic asset that ATN had become in her eyes to be jettisoned. Then she saw right away another Kendall gambit, leaking stories about the negotiations going badly. So that probably made her determined to stop whatever Kendall was up to. Very telling that Kendall and Roman didn't tell him the higher-priced offer Mattson made for all of Waystar with ATN included for $187 a share. They just said he wanted to include ATN, not how much more Lukas was willing to pay. Ken didn't even want ATN. He was going to get Pierce. But as soon as Lukas said he wanted it, the boys were like "what are we missing, maybe we shouldn't give it up so fast." So first they were going to do The Hundred, then Pierce, then sell Roystar but keep ATN after Logan died. Now they want that thing too. Ken's original plan was to be such a PITA that Lukas would walk away. But Roman gave up the game -- "we aren't selling to you!" Shiv, it's not clear if she had a particular preference for how the deal would be done but she wanted to deny and prevent whatever Ken wanted. I guess she does a lot more than hang out with Lukas, pretend to do coke with him and give him advice about his sexual harassment problems. She may have gotten down to selling price, what price would force Ken and Logan's hands as well as negotiating the Kill List. All this off camera apparently. Lukas may have more of a clue than Ken and Roy but he may ended up having bad instincts as well. Doesn't sound like he has great plans for ATN either. He may be the typical tech bro who thinks he can be successful in any industry just because he had success with Gojo so he's acquiring Waystar without any great idea of its assets. Greg with the Arctic Foxes and the Quad Squad schtick. The Roy children aren't particularly nice people but they tolerate Greg a lot. I thought they didn't grow up together. They knew of Greg the Egg but doesn't seem like he hung out a lot with the Roys, who are all of different generations has him?

The manufactured drama part of the engine problems was that they'd even take on a charter in the first place with the engine out. Guests would demand a cancellation and refund. Nobody's paying thousands to be stuck at port. That is why them gathering money for the tip was also ridiculous. Nobody carries thousands in USD to Europe. They use credit cards or debit cards to withdraw from ATM. When's the last time anyone bothered to get traveler's cheques? Hello, the '80s called. Again, the tips are fiction. So many Karens dissatisfied with the charter. Like I said, IRL, people would be demanding refunds, not doubling down and giving a big generous tip for a trip which should have been cancelled. Yeah after the first season of BDSY, hot tub parties became a thing. The cast must be required to suck face and play tonsil hockey for the cameras to be on the show. That must include Daisy apparently, though maybe they don't have to twist her arms too much if she gets to stick her tongue down the throats of guys whom she considers to be cute. I wonder if the blood on the sheets is real or more BD drama. OK, maybe women can empathize but if I was in that situation, I'd try to hide any kind of accidents rather than let the housekeeping staff discover it and have to deal with it. As for Gary repeatedly testing positive, I think it means he didn't clear the virus and the tests are detecting the virus in his nasal swabs, even if he feels well, not having any obvious symptoms.

No window AC any more. Now they retro fit the mini splits, which don't require ducts like central air. Instead they tend to be mounted high near the ceiling and are operated with remote control. They also have heat modes. Those mini-split units are now becoming popular in the US as well.

I've stayed in a lot of vacation apartments in Europe over the years. I do look for places with dryers and that's something you can filter for in Airbnb and also on booking.com, you can easily see if they have them. General rule is that in Southern Europe, they may have a washing machine but they're likely to have a drying rack rather than one of those all-in-one units which wash and dry. Northern Europe, those combo units are more common. Probably an issue of cost and hang dry also works really well, at least for the typical summer wear I've washed. As for Valencia, looks like they had no issues installing the mini-split air conditioning, which is easier to retrofit in older buildings than say central air. They've renovated a lot of older buildings, often to rent them as holiday apartments, so I think they can upgrade the electrical and they get creative with lighting, such as recessed lights in floors to light up a wall, for instance.

Well not much suspense for second seAson of the show then. first season made the club so popular that the media were following them and giving them a lot of coverage. might make it more difficult for them to plot the second season. They did a lot of the fan human interest type episodes lready too.

Why didn't they test at least the sick people if not the whole house. One case of covid could have knocked off several people. Maybe the show would have given people a week to recover from covid or maybe they were going to send people home as fast as they could to save on production costs. Certainly delays for a shooting schedule could cost people if they committed to have the production and filming crews be available on specific dates. The one who got the IVs, I was thinking the other sick people should be offered that option. Then they might not have sent the first one, Kaycee's partner home right away. Bad luck on the trivia contest for Benja and Jodi and also language differences didn't help in the elimination. Oh well. But Jodi is always going to struggle to make alliances with those much younger than her and this is her first time competing against contestants who've been in more recent seasons.

OK, I get that Pete and Perry are more than former colleagues, that they're friends and all. But why does Pete owe Perry loyalty? The DA was the one paying his bills so why should he feel guilty about getting the gun or even feel compelled to help Perry track down the plot and stow away on the ship? I don't get Della and Paul's reactions when they find out it was Pete who broke into the safe. Pete needs work from the DA's office, unless they're wiling to give Pete a retainer, some of that Sunny supermarket money. Then Perry takes pictures on the ship and they swim back to shore. Did they have such great waterproof cameras back then? Pete threw away his cigarettes when they reached the beach so I'm curious to see what photos Perry is going to show from his adventure. OK, now we can see the motivations behind the whole thing. How did Della come to know Camilla though? Or how did Ham know Camilla? I guess just a society of rich people, even if Camilla was engaged in a possibly traitorous business deal? I get greed but she has a LOT to lose if she's caught. Not just Brooks' murder but treason. But apparently they want a character already seen to be the mastermind or main perpetrator of the whole case. They are going to lean on Phipps to testify but why wouldn't Lydell drop a dime? Not to mention, those pictures from Perry's magical camera should be the smoking gun.

Starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, almost 2 hours, PG-13. It's getting roasted 31% Top Critics on RT. The leads have no chemistry so watch for the pretty action sequences in high tech 4K HDR.

Very few reviews so far, doesn't seem to be a big high-profile series for Apple TV +. NPR Fresh Air gave it a very positive review so will try to get to it.