beeble

Characters are broad and overwritten, many elements in the plot are borrowed from other stories, and the antagonist (thus far) is a creepy mortician who exploits undocumented thugs behind his blue screen-shooting eyes. But it has Filch/Walder Frey who despite keeping the vampirized heart of a loved one in a jar, is a crazy bad-ass who can magically move to the front of any airport line so I am ALL IN. BTW, Zombie girl deserves an award for being able to keep her eyes open for so long while being examined as a corpse on the plane. All the other corpses got to have their eyes shut.

Was anyone else uncomfortable by the premise in the Jourdan/Marcquet interrogation dance? All I could think was, "Well, this is another tribute to Argentina, albeit an extremely awkward one…"

Is there anyone out there of the pre-cell phone generation that used to actually dance with a phone cord (to a mounted phone, of course)? Just me? I don't believe it. Harrumph. I'm still grouchy.

Boo to Marlena being off the show. No dancing for their lives? I suppose we had to see Cat throwing a crappy pitch and some bizarre group tap number instead. Brooklyn was good tonight but she was awful last week. On the contrary, Marlena was wonderful last week and hampered by poor choreography this week. I thought she was very good in her performance. YMMV but she was a sexy 60's woman whereas any other female performer would have looked either really odd or a little girl playing dress up in that role. Enough with the strained soccer metaphors! Nick + Marlena = Brazil? Seriously? They didn't embarrass themselves and their country only to watch their most despised rival make it to the championship round. No Nigel. Their "failure" was actually the result of a rather arbitrary decision on the part of you and…who? Who made this decision? I'm grouchy.

Are four people going home next week or just two? I hate the clearing house weeks. Four people when we have barely gotten to know them? WTF? I may be wrong, of course... I would love it if the show did some sort of "catching up" with previous dancers to see who is working where.

I wish they had done a recap at the end - some editing of tonight's show would have helped that awkward filler bit at the end. Anyhoo, I loved all of the contemporary routines, the hip-hop, and the final cha-cha. Nick is such a lovable dork. I think first ballroom girl is toast. Is Bridget the girl with the sad dead father story that we heard over and over and over during auditions? I wonder if that ballet routine was fair. It looked very difficult, and there was really no way for either dancer to stand out. I enjoy ballet but I'm just a civilian - I have no way of evaluating technique. It looked fine to me but I'm not sure how to evaluate it. (I did like that both dancers were spazzy during the 8 seconds and both admitted to being coffee junkies. I think one of the girls said she graduated pre-med. Impressive!)

The collective Molly derision is completely well founded. The writers seemed to want to portray American idealism/naivete through her and possibly her son, but it is clearly ringing untrue for most viewers. She marries this guy from an exotic country - oh Fake-istan? Sure, I've heard of it. Oh, your dad is the leader? How exciting! Wait - I think I saw something about him on the news…something about being a tyrannical dictator. Our daughter just came home from her Amnesty International meeting and said her grandfather is on every possible list of human rights abuses, outdone only by that crazy North Korean guy…oh yeah, and we're also on a few no-fly lists AND the FBI seems to want to question us about everything because we have ties to an extremist dictatorship in a region WHERE OUR COUNTRY STARTED A WAR 9 YEARS AGO. And you seem really antsy now that you're here with them. I don't know you anymore! What do you mean we are escaping with our lives? We have to talk about our relationship because everything is about me! I'd like to think that there are Americans out there in writers' imaginations who aren't self-obsessed fools living in an affluent bubble. Add this to the fact that the kids have no sense of who their grandfather is PLUS zero sense of what it means to be Arab. I know kids in blended families (Arab/Anglo) and while their parents lament the violence in their homeland, these kids have a strong idea of what their cultural heritage is, not to mention more than a few strong opinions about Israel.

So Nigel tweeted that there may not be a season 12…anyone know why? This show gets strong ratings, as far as I can tell, and gets nominated for or wins Emmys, thereby increasing some of Fox's artistic cred, and who wouldn't want to watch Cat Deeley in the summer?? She's my summer time BFF! Add me to the list of grumpies who can't figure out why Tara Lipinski got to be an important decision making judge. I'll never forgive her for stealing Michelle Kwan's gold medal back in '98 so she has a lot of explaining to do.

I'm surprised and bummed about Jaja but my theory is this: she is sooo good at what she does but sooo mediocre at the other styles that they really want her to hone those skills so that when she comes back she'll be able to move further along in the competition than she probably would this year. She was my favorite coming in and now I feel lost without one. I guess Ricky will have to suffice... Oh hell yeah. I wondered the same thing. I'm sad that our adorable foster child from the first episode of auditions didn't make it. Did anyone from the choreography group of OneLove make it?

Just in case there is a room full of Paul clones who were all passed over in favor of Mark clones, I have plenty of room in my home. Got that show people? I can store as many unused Paul clones as possible.

Because Mark wasn't creepy enough…I wonder if the boy clones are the biological brothers to the gal clone club. More dance parties are in order either way. I wonder if Mark himself is the original or an actual clone. If he is a clone then he is probably sterile, and that makes more sense that Gracie is impregnated with her father's child…and I can't believe I just typed that. I look forward to Rachel's eyepatch embossed with a Kate Spade symbol on it. Pebbled leather, of course. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Delphine but it was so obvious that she was getting played. She might be put on "the plane?" Is that code for killed a la Leekie? Considering that they didn't actually kill him and in fact have zero idea as to where he is, that's not the strongest euphemism out there. Why is Helena everyone's pawn? After Kira, Helena just gets shuffled around. No wonder she's batshit. But if anyone could take out the boy clones (all in American military garb, complete with the US flag, by the way - this is no evil Canadian operation) I suppose it is Helena. Admiral Cain is perfectly cast because she gives me the heebie jeebies. Not enough Art. Not enough Donnie. And definitely not enough Alison - she needs to host a twerk party in her garage.

Good God that was awesome! The start was hilarious, with Donnie and Alison putting the ice cream back in the fridge with Leekie (well you wouldn't want it to melt, would you?) and continued with Donnie manning up. He can bury Angie any day, but keep Vic and his face-planting antics. But thank God for crazy Ukrainians and their creepy-subplot-ending ways. I did NOT want to see this story come to fruition. (Ewww - "fruition" - I just grossed myself out) Just ram a needle in its ass and burn it to the ground. Oh yeah, and once again, Kira is gone. But this time it's real so it's scary. Except that once Helena finds out I wouldn't want to be Rachel.

I did not need to see wedgie guy and CA's response by wedgie dancing (and of course Nigel had to get in on the fun). I did want to see "you're the best dancer we've seen here!" much more than cute kid or anyone's sob story. I feel badly for dead dad/brothers girl because that is an awful thing to go through at any age. But the story doesn't need to be exploited, or even told, frankly. I hate this time-wasting manipulation. It's the same at the Olympics. Let's not watch any athlete from countries not called the United States so we can talk about somebody's long line at the airport. At least in the Olympics, the results have nothing to do with how sad a story the person has. With this, it seems that there is a great deal of manipulation in order to gain momentum for certain favorites.

Maraleia - thank you for that post. We are all on different learning curves when it comes to knowing appropriate terminology.

I say have Tony spend a few hours with Alison and all of our hair complaints will be gone. Of course, he'll be wearing a polo shirt but the trade off might be worth it. What exactly did Cosima and Delphine get "wasted" on, helium? That scene with the groovy-cam reminded me of the Simpsons when Marge went into an LSD-like trip simply by seeing Joe Namath's shaggy hair. I like the Donnie-Alison bond strengthening. For the first time I saw why she got so cranky with him. We heard a little bit about Alison's mother (nobody likes her) and Tony's mother (something went wrong with the IVF). I really want to know more about the people who raised our clones. Having a trans-clone didn't bother me. I liked the idea that our DNA isn't our destiny, but that others get completely caught up in the idea that it is. What I didn't like about Tony was that he was an ass doing all sorts of "freakin' this/that." I'm very pleased that the show passed a bunch of Bechdel tests this week BUT it wouldn't have hurt anyone to have Cal on for a bit. Or even Paul (he doesn't need to say anything).

I think they would have brought me to tears if the screen hadn't been cutting away from the dancers to show us the judges' reactions - if a dancer is good, I don't need to see the judges smiling/crying/bopping their heads to tell me that. I think Mary doomed the "sexy girl" as soon as she said that she could win the whole competition. Gosh there were a lot of contemporary dancers doing twisty arm extensions while looking soulful. Do the show's producers think we'll be bored if we see good ballroom dancers? And…cue sad music. I admit I defended Megan last week after her sad tale of being a foster child. This week, however, I draw the line at the eating disorder story. I found Megan to show a really lovely resilience (as well as solid skill) to counter her rough backstory whereas I just didn't feel it with this new girl. I didn't think her skill was all that strong - YMMV - and therefore it was only her sad story that got her into the spotlight. It was exploitive, IMHO. Jaja for the win! (I wonder if she had family involved in Prague Spring back in '68? Would that get her any more votes? )

Holy crap! Creepy Leekie was Tarantinoed! I never thought Donnie was going to become much of anything other than a boring one-note character. Cal is still a doll. Love him. Please don't hurt him. This show was thoroughly enjoyable, and a big part of that was the absence of the creepy religious cult. They make my skin crawl. I did miss Art, though. So what should be done for Cosima? Can't Sarah just FedEx some of Kira's baby teeth to her? She doesn't have to physically take Kira into DYAD, does she? Paul has been keeping his clothes on. Not sure that I like that.

She has been without her family, and even though there may have been people officially taking care of her, i.e. a foster-care system, she has been emotionally on her own, and probably financially as well. Kids who are separated from their families consider themselves "on their own". They develop serious trust issues and learn coping mechanisms to survive. So no, she was not "roaming the streets" (and there are those who do) but she actually was on her own. I'm not going to call out a girl who has been through hell in a trailer park. And they are expected to tell their stories when on TV. What is she supposed to do? Lie? This is her story. She can't help how Cat reacts. The "pretty" comment was odd, but I realized she'd probably heard it from her mom's creepy boyfriends, and then later on when people used it as a compliment it wigged her out. But she's able to tell he story and remain poised and not fall apart.

Was Rachel a clone or was she the original? What happened to Helena's "boyfriend"? Was he arrested or did he run? Helena's bar fight was pretty awesome. Paul - just tell everyone what you did. You'll do time, and then write a book. Just get out from under the thumb of DYAD because you are clearly so "meh" about being their bitch. I sort of missed Rachel and her crazy heels and haircut. But at least we got some Alison.

Claudia would have rocked that boy's world and then some.

The stakes suddenly soared! They have no choice. I'm guessing that Paige has been observed for a few years. She easily could have been a wild child (ok, not that easily) or at least a goofball like Henry. Anyway, it is going to be a hard sell. Paige was more moved by the nonviolent element. She loves the idea of sacrificing oneself for an ideal but in a very 14-year-old's way. I doubt she'll be too keen on having sex with Defense department nerds or getting whipped by an ambassador, let alone killing anyone.

1. I really found this episode contrived. A better, more powerful ending would have been Adelind doing her roar-thing upon learning the baby had been taken away. That was a strong scene, and we would have known that Adelind was determined to revert to her mean self to get the baby back. I actually felt sympathy for her at that point, something I never, ever feel. 2. Truble( Trubel? Trouble?) could have handed Nick the vial with a little more grace and still have been in character. Or the scene could have been directed a bit better to make it less clumsy. 3. But what really got me irked was that Adelind calls Juliette. Then Sean calls her. Juliette is only irritated by the phone calls, and instead of saying, "hey - Adelind called and said you were obsessed so stay away," Sean would have known about Adelind much sooner. I couldn't see Juliette not putting two and two together like that. 4. Why didn't Sean leave Nick a message on his phone? Voice mail or text anyone? U have Grimm prob. See/call me ASAP.

Grace is totally going to church it up even more now that Zach has hit the road. Alicia won't run - too much scrutiny for her marriage which only now exists on paper. And she'd have to report to Peter. Not anything she'd want. Anyone can do whatever they want with whomever they want as long as Eli is there as the puppet master. Love that man. I hope his Cabaret job doesn't spill over into next season.

Oh Paul, there must be a better way to escape your sordid past of whatever it was you did in Afghanistan. The look on this poor lad's face when Rachel began her seduction said it all, "I'm just a call girl with a gun." I appreciated Sarah's shrug upon seeing him ridden like a show pony by Rachel. She's got real loved ones to protect. Cal has certainly taken to fatherhood. He seems to have no qualms about being called "Daddy." Now what exactly are Kira's special powers? Does Cal know anything at all about these? He's sexy and mysterious enough to have ties to the Big Bad Creepy People of Canada and Elsewhere.

Elizabeth: If Paige and Henry were left on their own they'd be dead in an hour! Philip: Paige is too smart of that. She'd have bad guys begging for mercy. And Henry - well, at least we'd still have Paige. I'm thinking it's time for Phillip to use his Young Pioneer training and take Henry out on a few "survivalist" trips. I agree with those who have said that Paige is more concerned that one or both of her parents are having an affair. They've been really hard on her lately (as opposed to Henry, Mr. Breaking-and-Entering) and she probably senses that something is not right. And if the FBI lets it leak to the media that the murdered family were KGB spies, Paige will have all sorts of red flags showing up. Having said that, I don't believe at all that the FBI would let that info leak. It would have to come from a Double-Special-Super-Duper-Top Secret file that somebody carelessly left on a shelf somewhere. If only Clark were a real dude with a real job that actually checked on stuff like this. Those FBI guys would get the talking-to they deserve. Why is Larrick chasing Jared? He went after Kate because he traced her to the people who killed his soldiers at the camp. But how did he learn about Jared? And why does he give a hoot about a kid who knows nothing about his spy parents who had nothing to do with him?