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JessDVD

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Everything posted by JessDVD

  1. I don't particularly care for the conceptual choice of ending the show with, heaven is a big party and when you get bored, you can go home. (It's like when my kids ask how long we're going to stay at something and I say, until we're not having fun anymore. It worked great until the time when we were at someone's house and it got to the point where it was socially necessary to leave, like they had invited us for lunch and it was getting close to dinner, so we announced we were leaving and the kids all loudly protested, but we're still having fun! Whoops) Anyway, but I could deal with that being the ending, if maybe we could have explored that concept for a few episodes instead of basically one episode with a long epilogue. Instead we had the never ending tale of Brent that went nowhere, and sped through this part, which actually could have been interesting. I find it disappointing that the show of twists and turns, 800 reboots in one episode and now off to a new unexpected thing, did basically exactly what I would have predicted. They introduced the door option, the characters all went though it. No twists, no nothing. Michael becoming a human was sweet but not a huge surprise either. If I remove the death and afterlife implications from the show (which is dumb, because that's the whole point), it is a nice ending. Everyone from the series comes back, everyone gets their resolutions, everyone reconciles, it's great. I thought during Donkey Doug's speech that it would be interesting to have your funeral before you did, so you can hear all the (hopefully) nice things your family and friends would say about you. I like the idea of a celebration of life send-off. All in all, my mixed feelings on the ending notwithstanding, watching this show has been a forking amazing experience, and that my phone's swipe/autocorrect still won't recognize forking as a word despite my daily use of it, is clearly evidence that we're in the Bad Place. It's been a great ride, y'all. Thanks for sharing in it.
  2. I've wondered for years who, exactly, is in all these focus groups or whatever, that just looooves the leads going "rogue" to "avenge" that which has wronged them. Normally I hate Sloane, but she was the only sane person here, rightly identifying that Bishop was having PTSD and needed to be off the case. Duuuuh. Also, they were going slightly off the rails for just some random jackhole. I mean, yeah, the guy was a complete and utter jackhole, but nobody important died, Torres became (implausibly) fine in about 8 seconds, there wasn't really "NOW it's personal" aspects to this. And again, yes, the guy was a total jackhole, but I did rather enjoy his not giving any effs while the team was trying to get him to talk. Could not have rolled my eyes harder at Bishop's "too late" to Gibbs telling her to not be like him. Could not possibly care less about whether or not Bishop and Torres are going to hook up but AT LEAST they seem to be a reasonably sane, balanced, functional relationship, as opposed to the hot mess that was Tony and Ziva.
  3. Right - but the school offered them a settlement that would have given them that - I don't think $500k is "never work again" in any part of the country but I'm fairly sure in most if not all parts, it would allow a family to take a couple years totally off of work, or pay off their house/other debt which could allow them to work fewer hours or have more monthly wiggle room. But they chose the litigation route. That's what I was wondering about. After litigating, they now have $5.3 MILLION, which is probably "never work again" in most parts of the country - and if New Jersey isn't, certainly gives them the ability to start over someplace where it is. So, was it worth it? Life of ease, never work again unless you want to, financial issues all solved - but only because your kid died. I'm ABSOLUTELY not making a judgment call on anyone who has done this IRL. It's just that in these TV shows, they always make it seem like the money they get from litigating, brings all the peace they need from the loved one's passing, and I wonder if that's really how it pans out in real life.
  4. I feel like the concept of "Coach pushes kids to keep weight down to stay in lower weight class" is used here like "I don't know anything about wrestling or human development or really much of anything but I remember once or twice my high school BFF's boyfriend not eating much lunch because he needed to drop a pound before weigh-in that day". Pushing the entire high school wrestling team to be what I'd guess is effectively malnourished (growing FIVE INCHES and not gaining any weight?!), does not seem like the path for young men to be able to wrestle at their peak capacity. I'm SURE that sometimes tactics like what was shown in the show are used in actual wrestling teams, to get the actual # down enough for weigh-in (sorta like how I, on a program similar to Weight Watchers, only weigh in first thing in the morning, after working out and using the bathroom, before eating, taking out all jewelry, etc), but I don't think they thought through the logic about that whole thing about all the boys on the team getting taller but not gaining any weight. I assume they were intending that to draw suspicion on the coach pushing the kids to stay in a weight class, but they missed the mark there. (I know, unprecedented activity for this show) Apparently not-Cable went to some sort of extra fancy prep school where German I-III classes included vocabulary in medical terminology, including such oft-used phrases as juvenile mitral valve murmur, conveniently so that not-Cable (I know she has a name but it took me two seasons to learn Danny and Cable so here I am) would be able to read through Fancy Doctor's reports. Hopefully she also got hazard pay for translating all that German that never ended up being used. Normally I look at these cases of parents suing or litigating after a child died and thinking, I understand where they're coming from (at least in theory) but I'm not sure if it'll get them the peace they're looking for. In this case (didn't I see another kid in their living room?) they can provide a significantly improved life for their other kid, but is it worth it?? I won't presume to conclude how other people would feel in a situation I've never experienced, but my gut level reaction is that I would feel horribly guilty, living a life of ease only given to me on the back of my child's death. It's one thing if the litigation is to pay medical bills or cover funeral expenses, but as far as I could tell in this one, that didn't appear to be part of it. So while I'm glad for these fictional characters who appeared once in a TV show and will now disappear into the writers' room Bermuda Triangle... I wonder if $5 million is really worth it.
  5. The Janet(s) episode was absolutely top three of the whole series. SO great. And that takes us up to this week last year, when the s3 break was over. Marginally interesting generally related mostly self-indulgent anecdote: my husband and I (Americans) were in Costa Rica this week last year and he (a tech guy) performed some interesting technology feats to allow us to access our cable at home so we could watch the next episode live. We tried to explain the concept of the show to our hosts (also Americans, but have lived FT in CR for the last 13ish years), and ended up landing on, they're actually finally IN the good place and we don't want to wait until we get home to see what happens.
  6. I'm willing to give Josie (and other fundies) a pass on the *first* baby that happens quickly because realistically speaking, I don't think anyone knows for sure how quickly they will or won't get pregnant once actively engaging as well as not preventing. Not everyone is Fertile Myrtle and gets pregnant within one or two cycles. It's when they've had 2 or 3 kids and still act all surprised when yet again, somewhere around the current baby's 6th or 7th month, biology prevails (I'm looking at you, Erin). I still maintain that we'll really see how dedicated to the cause all the Bates adult children are, once they get into their 30s. Plenty of people have 3-4 kids close in age while in their 20s, but not plenty of people go on to have 5, 6, 7, 15, 20 babies while in their 30s and 40s. I'm willing to bet at least one Bates (my money's on Erin and Tori) will go on to have 8-10 or more, but my expectation is that at least some of them have or will have googled "ways to not get pregnant without artificial birth control" by the time they're 30ish and are older and more tired and ready to slow or stop the train (my money here is on Josie, Alyssa, and maybe Carlin). They all have smartphones and high speed internet and no excuses, IMO, to not learn how these things work now that they're adults, if they weren't educated properly as kids.
  7. I feel like I should be shouting NIKE! at all that thigh (I mean, completely normal for normal humans but never seen before on a Bates or Duggar). Actually I want to know where she got it because while the print isn't really my jam, I'd love to have a high-necked style like that.
  8. Just want to add here that I appreciate these reviews and enjoy reading them each day as we endure the soul-crushingly long wait through the holidays until the show starts up again!
  9. A short, related to the TV show anecdote that hopefully you will enjoy: I've been cross-stitching a lot the last couple years and this is my current project. My kids (ages 10, 9, 6, 4) are always interested in whatever cross-stitching I'm doing so they've been asking about each segment of this and what moment of Friends that it refers to. The first one I did was "pivot", so I showed them youtube clips of that bit (at least THAT one was appropriate for elementary age kids). A week or two later, my 9 year old and I were moving a bookcase from one bedroom to another and as we went around the doorways, she did it... said "PIVOT! PIVOT!". I think my husband died a little inside but it was a high point of my parenting career.
  10. I'm going to choose to believe that everyone already knew about Erin's pregnancy and the "announcement" was staged for TV, because that's more pleasant than the alternative. I had just found out I was pg again after having miscarried a few months prior, a week and a half before my sister's wedding. Not saying anything just about killed me but darn it all I didn't say anything! ... until after it was all over and we were all back at my parents' house and I whispered it to my parents. As far as Erin and Chad and the projects, I would assume that anything on the show is somehow financially softened for them. If it's just shown on her Instagram posts, I'd be less sure of financial kickback. It's very possible they're all being idiots about this sort of thing, but I do think that we're only given a snapshot of what it's really like there.
  11. I pretty much agree with all of what you've said, but I am still enjoying this season (minus last week's episode) and I think it's because despite the aforementioned issues, the writers are still really good and write some literally LOL lines. Still, I am very glad that the experiment is over and we're likely to not spend much time with Simone, Brent, and John henceforth. Ha! That's hilarious. Thanks for the enlightenment there because it makes it even more funny than I already found it!
  12. Is that maternity? The way the skirt is sewn makes it look like it's supposed to be worn over a baby bump. Or it's just crooked....
  13. I said in my post at the top here that Brent looked like he was showing remorse but now I'm thinking that might be a misdirect, that we're supposed to think that but it'll go a different direction. I'd like for them to show that he was capable of some self-awareness, but this is the show that hates him so, who knows.
  14. Eleanor and Michael evil laugh was the best moment of this entire show quite possibly since Michael's back in season one. I actually laughed at a Brent line! I never liked Simone much but I really don't like her now. John's lines to her by the sinkhole were all mine. But then, they had John go with Simone, interested to see how that'll turn out. I think that since Brent clearly felt remorse before the clock ran out, that shows he can improve. Tahani wondering if Jason was a demon in a Jason suit was actually exactly what I was wondering. And all her stuff about black tie style is everything I love about Tahani Is it next week yet??
  15. I heard condescending bench from Brent and I have to say, that is one other line that I laughed at because as much as Brent is awful, I personally find Simone a little one-note also, just not that level of irritating. I don't think I'd have gone as far as bench in my analysis of how she was acting, but condescending isn't unfair IMO. I find Simone to be a shade of Mary Sue - as much as Brent is being written as nothing more than a caricature of white male privilege and this is clearly written to be a bad thing (not that his behavior isn't bad, just that the show isn't trying to spin it otherwise), I feel like Simone tends to be written as, always the one in the right and thus the show wants us to find her to be superior, with not much more dimension than that. It's just not as forceful or irritating as Brent. Really though, the fact that we're still even having all this conversation about Brent, John, and Simone is indication that the show needs to move us along. We're all still here primarily because of the original 4, Michael and Janet, and I don't want any more episodes where most of it is evaluating Brent's merits or lack thereof. I did kind of feel this way last year with the stuff in Australia, although I hate the writer's hand of Brent more, and I liked the Australia stuff more on a full season 3 re-watch so maybe (PLEASE) with the context of the rest of the season it'll work.
  16. This was the absolute peak of that episode BY FAR.
  17. That was excruciating, which is a word I never thought I'd use to describe this show. I did laugh more than necessary at the b-b-bad to the bone lines. But it went downhill after that. I don't get where they're going with Brent. Everyone else has redeeming qualities that make them sympathetic but Brent is just every negative stereotype of older white man that the writers can possibly think of with no nuance. I find it so lame that the show that made me root for Eleanor despite her being an absolutely horrible person, is writing a character so one-dimensional. I will continue to hold onto hope that they're going somewhere with it. At least last week's was really good.
  18. Forgot to mention Marisa and Chunk. Marisa: What the fork was the point of even having her GET married when she's just going to get divorced a season later for the dumbest reason ever. Just have them all have off-screen relationships, occasionally mentioned in the office, and that can be enough. Chunk: If we're going to do this plotline, can we just do it and have it be over instead of having 30 seconds of screen time from each episode interrupt the case, to give us the next paragraph in the book? I only slightly care to start out with and getting it an excruciating inch at a time, is not working. That said, I did appreciate that they had Chunk hold onto his convictions, that he would continue to say that it's wrong, but still support his daughter.
  19. I'd bet the farm that while the True Believers don't use condoms or the pill, many, MANY of them are familiar with basic biology and make sure their fellowship avoids certain days of the month.
  20. I can only conclude that the relationship must look different on the inside than what we get an outside view of. Any spouse later than about Whitney or Chad has NO excuse to not know what marriage to a Bates kid will look like. It's not like the Duggars and Bateses haven't been on TV espousing their lifestyle for, oh, the last FIFTEEN years. I can give the early ones a pass because the families themselves didn't spend as much time "in" the world, but the later editions, they have full access to the interwebs and cannot possibly not know. I also personally suspect that as the kids age through their 20s and into their 30s, the baby trains may slow down. "Conservative" circles are more likely to spend the 20s bearing children, but slow down and/or stop once in the 30s. Who knows, maybe they'll all continue annual pregnancies well into their 30s (my uterus is hurting just thinking about it), but just based on how much more tired I was with my 4th pregnancy at age 30, than my first at age 24, I can see at least a few of them having 5-6 kids by age 32 or so, and then deciding that some judicious use of NFP is in order. Maybe I'm just projecting myself here... but the annual pregnancies doesn't super surprise me now, and I do think we'll see some slowing, especially as the families approach the 5-6 kids. I think you've really got to love kids (or have mental issues, like Michelle), to intentionally continue to have babies past 5-6 into the mid-late 30s.
  21. Oh good, another case that should have been wrapped up by the local PD in 12 seconds if they had done any ACTUAL investigating. Thank goodness we have the legal team of Dr. Jason Bull, who does the investigating on their behalf once the case has gone to trial without any actual investigating. This show continues to make me very, very afraid for the people of America (or NYC and surrounding) that get inaccurately charged with anything, unless they can afford the Bull Team of Actually Competent Investigators. Anyway, the lady at the end saying "I can't wait to get home and tell (husband's name)", actually made me sadder than I expected. Aging sucks, even when it's just an actress portraying the aging of a fictional character.
  22. I thought they were intending to communicate that the demons thought it was all the entertainment for Demon Con. I felt like this season started slowly also but I laughed out loud several times last night, with a good amount of anticipation. Shaun commenting on Jason's cheekbones, definitely. Totes thought that Eleanor and Tahani were going to lay one on each other at the end, the way they were looking at each other in the last scene with that scenic background behind them. Also missed that Chidi and Simone are together in this season? Impressive growth in Tahani and Jason. This being the last season makes me sad.
  23. Writer's room, about 11 PM. Much alcohol consumed. Writer #1: I've GOT it! We'll have Chunk go to a church and ask to talk to someone and the guy there will give him the sage advice we have written out and Chunk will say "Thank you, pastor" and leave and THEN .... we'll reveal that it's really the janitor giving him advice! Writer #2: YES! This is literally the most brilliant scene ever written, never done before approximately 12304987234 times! Writer #3: (holds up beer for a toast) We really are blazing new trails, settling new territory, writing unprecedented TV. --- Otherwise, I thought this episode was generally forgettable and full of the traditional plotholes we've come to know and love. The whole first scene was weird, with not-Cable (I still can't remember her name but it took me the entire first season to remember Cable, so I've still got time) being all emotional and Bull being all I don't care. I don't understand why pastry shop lady's testimony would mean squat as far as asshole mogul being tried for THIS incident.
  24. Maybe Chunk's daughter's kid is the one with Bull's kid at the end of the first episode of this season?
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