Aulty

The MTMs in the finale did very little for me as red carpet looks. I am very happy with the winner, even though I preferred Man Yee's pieces and her PC was my favourite. It was very tight between the 4. And Esme, the more we know about her, the cooler she gets.

I thought Lisa had it in the bag, but I am not mad about her being pipped by Yong-chin. For me, YC was better in the face off, but Lisa's creative challenge was the strongest of the 3 by a mile and a half. They wheel Rankin out on every competition show nowadays, he's gonna be on Bake Off next, shooting cakes.

Wee donkey, that face off challenge was brought to us by Julia Fox's thirst tour of early 2022.

The results were a bit underwhelming, but as a challenge I liked it because it was something that viewers can have a go at. That origami challenge ... haven't we had one of those before? Yes, Season 5, episode 7 - International week.

I was wondering that too. I hope they have at least some business related to selling food. Who buys overpriced basic Mac & Cheese at a food truck? In California? That's like going to the zoo to see the pigeons.

The show really has come into its own with the second season. I hope the women get on well behind the scenes because it looks like they have a lot of fun doing this; and that the show gets the chance to do 5-6 seasons. There was almost too much of Wicki and her robotic storytelling, but the lunch lord story was sweet. As was her singing BPE with Dawn and her husband. Gloria is a hoot, and when she gets a story with one of the other girls, she always amplifies their personality. Love Gloria! Bonus points for the dig on Disney adults. PS: It will forever bug me that the intro is all about that +1 joke - 5eva, 3gether, high 6 etc. - but at the end it sais cre8ted by instead of cre9ted by.

Finally an update on the shooting schedule. If they film over the summer it might be back to a January release date? Fingers crossed.

I wasn't mad keen on any of the rave inspired looks, they all felt pretty save. The expert judge was great though - not that I know who he is, but the Rhianna looks were damn good, and he came over as really knowledgeable and pleasant. The creative briefs are like Skin Wars challenges. How many of those bark, moss and plant looks have we had this season? At least one every week. I think I would get rid of the Face Off and have a weekly masterclass instead, maybe with a technical challenge - teach them those tricky techniques that they can use in their professional assignments and give the audience a chance to take away a tip or two.

There is something about a super cool granny and a posh gentlemen talking and handling lingerie on telly. The gusset inspector and her lacy sidekick.

I don't know what kind of larder they were given for the pepper challenge, but the balls girls and pasta crew introducing their food truck themes but then going with something completely off-signature for the challenge was a bit odd. The two queens are melting my head already. But there are a few trucks with interesting dishes - they didn't get much air time so far though. The girls that had to find a store with a proper spice selection: good on them for not compromising on their spices. Their food sounds tasty. This show needs an overhaul.

I am not that good at nor that invested in make up, but the bright eyeliner and mascara trend is something that I really love - yellow and green are my colours. The first challenge was right up my street and I might even check out that brand's products. Even I knew Lisa was in trouble before the judges said it out loud - girl, why didn't you just put two seperate lines of eyeliner instead of mixing it. I am probably in the minority, but the 'tell us your story' creative briefs are starting to bore me.

I just bought a Liam Gallagher style parka, so I was happy to learn more about the origin. It was a bit close to the athleisure challenge. Marni would've aced that. The TC was proudly sponsored by the embelishment lobby. How did Brogan come second? Man-Yee's was the best of the bunch, not every country artist plays guitar. I loved the Bowie challenge, a chance for Esme to break out her Nottig Hill story again. It steers them more towards a more design-focussed, Project Runway territory. Man Yee got away with not practising her jacket. Christian's looked great from the front. Sarah, who I generally like, was quite underwhelming, and a bit annoying, this week. In a throwback to last week's children's week, wee Prince Louis sporting a sailor suit at Trooping today.

Right, glad we got children's week out of the way. Or costume week. Sure, there really wasn't much difference between the two. The critiques of the MTM were heavy on the "design" part and not focused on the sewing techniques. I liked the fuzzy spider.

I'm not questioning Gill getting garment of the week, but the judges either not mentioning or the editors editing out any mention of the pattern not aligning in the front really stood out. Every dress in the made to measure challenge looked better irl than in the sketch. And what a variety of duvet covers! I am not sure I own a set that'd look good as a dress, or are not instantly recognisable as such. I swear, once you notice Brogan's voice in the background when she is not on camera, you can't stop hearing it. The quilting challenge was quite nice even though I wasn't keen on most of the girly and twee fabrics.

The fifth episode was one of their best yet, I'd say. It was well crafted, some good puns, and came together nicely at the end with the song. I'm still cuckling over Wickie's riff rolodex everytime she starts yodeling

I did and didn't love it. There was some great stuff, poignant scenes, funny lines - but as an episode it wasn't as good as the sum of its parts. The most annoying thing was that Claire was sidelined again. This should've been a final episode with all 5 of them and I'll never forgive Bridgerton for running over their shooting schedule multiple times. Michelle did mention a brother in season 1, but I'd rather not do the maths on that. Deidre would be ~39 in May 1998. Music-wise there ws a lot. We even got 4 bars of Ash, and Bronagh Gallagher starring as herself! The scene with Joe and Erin, and that whole montage at the polling station were great though, and emotional. It is so poignant to see all this with whats going on in NI and UK politics at the moment. The way things are going, they're going to f*ck this up big time. I don't think there will be a spin-off, and I'd rather they left it as it is. But it'll be interesting what Lisa McGee does next and for whom.

What a heart breaking twist. Didn't see that coming at all. The Praise you cover really got me. And when Jenny reached out to Claire when they left the church. Shout out to Tommy Tiernan for translating that to screen. I just saw him in Conversations with Friends where he has the small part of Frances' dad, and he was spot on in that too. When he got the phone call I wasn't really sure what was going on, because the whole Quinn household plus the girls were accounted for. The one complaint that I had with regards to Claire until this episode, was that they never explored her being gay much further. Glad they finally went there and it was pretty cute. Oh Sarah, she goes through life swerving every obstacle; and poor Ciaran (that he left the house through the back door will forever bug me). Sure, the business with the guy at the ticket show and Michelle on UTV was a bit cringe. Somehow, this season, I've always been a bit underwhelmed during the first half, but the episodes then really came into their own after the commercials.

I won't comment on every single episode. For me, this is a binge-show that you can't watch a single episode at a time. And I can't remember what happened in which episode. Back when I read the book, I read about 2/3 and then just skipped through the rest. I liked the TV adaptation a lot more, even though, like the book, it struggles in the second half. They left out some bits, like Frances and Nick's email exchanges (if Rooney's third book gets adapted, those long emails exchanges will be a challenge to bring to screen) and during WhatsApp exchanges the viewer has to wait for a shot of the actual message each time, which slows the flow down even more. I know the critics complained about the casting but apart from some accent issues (which you get 9 times out of 10 if you don't hire an Irish actor, but I doubt the gros of the international audience will mind) I have no issues. Rooney's books, in my opinion, rely a lot on the reader identifying with one of the characters and they will always interpret the others, especially Nick and Bobby, through that lense. In that sense I also think Normal People is more relatable than Conversation with Friends. Anyway, Jemima Kirke did a really good job and I liked Alison Oliver. Tommy Tiernan was amazing as Frances' Dad and Justine Mitchell, who plays her mom, was spot on too. I didn't mind Joe Alwyn, and Sasha Lane, who I've enjoyed on other shows, has the disadvantages of playing my least favourite character. The show will have its audience, but won't get Normal People level love.

I enjoyed Dawn's story, but the purity thing with Summer was 100% predictable. Gloria had the best lines.

I wish the dermatologist was given the chance to explain in a couple of sentences how to correctly apply make up to the gym. Purple haired girl had a really good week and she seems a really good sport all around. Was it Ryan who asked about his model's pronouns? And someone else inquiring about allergies or sensitive skin or something like that. Good catch by Val that the lass with the peeled off skin missed an eye on a piece of her lose skin. Why did Charly not do the face off challenge? I'm not sure if he didn't know what to do, or if he had planned to do this all along? I don't know if his message is what people will take away from this.

Esme really is a tiny premium bundle of surprises, isn't she? So she made the shirts for Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo and Juliet? I've never been a LdC fan myself but I remember that we got dragged to the cinema in school and some girls going completely mental over him. Following that nugget of information I checked out her IMDB and she worked on another DiCaprio movie, The Beach. Every time they showed Richy he had this look of impending doom on his face. Can't disagree with him being sent home, I am afraid, even though someone else had a complete disaster in the pattern challenge. Again, a lot of very nice Made to Measure pieces. Probably wasn't your favourite episode @GaT with so much focus on Brogan 😉. She isn't my cup of tea either, but she's a decent sewer, no arguing about that, and had a great week. It probably helps that she has a very modelly model for the MtMs.

btw. did any of yous catch the pilot for the loyalist version of Derry Girls, William of Orangedale? I thought it was a bit of a cliche fest and I only remember one good line - when the lass sais to William that her father worked abroad for the past 2 years ... and then 1 year of probation.

So much to love in this episode. Finally a musical cameo: Foy Vance was the singer. Loved when he announced our national anthem and played Teenage Kicks. Such a great tune. And when he gave the lads a shout out about the Dunns suits. Of course Deidre was the punk - the strictest mothers were rebels in their youth. Finally we saw her out of her nursing uniform and it was worth it. Great that they brought Claire's Da back and the conversation between cousin Rob and Claire's parents about their gay child was rather sweet. Geraldine saying 'she isn't fully qualified' was hilarious. Also that Rob kissing the surgeon was a surprise but not a scandal. The younger versions of the Mas were spot on. I didn't even question Sarah being at the disco until Mary mentioned that she had to bring her younger sister. Hard to believe they managed to hide the tatoos for so long. Especially Jeanette, who has hers on her shoulder. The 'if our girls knew they'd want one too' attitude was spot on.

WOAH! Didn't see this coming: Doctor Who: Ncuti Gatwa to replace Jodie Whittaker, BBC announces Sex Ed season 4 was scheduled to film sometime between April and November. I hope that is still on. Dr. Who is a lot of work.

Finally! I feel the second seasons got back into the grove right away. Kev was an ar*ehole and I am glad Summer is getting the divorce. The juxtaposition between Summer and Dawn's relationship with their children is quite jarring. Gloria will probably get her heart broken big time. Ashley hasn't been mentioned yet, but my money is on her making an appearance in the season finale.