JessDVD

I was expecting that it was going to come out that the wife was the abuser but that probably would have been too big a twist. I don't really understand these DAs that have no, as far as I can tell, actual motive for sticking it to the defendant. It was the same way a week or two ago. They did the whole thing with the DA being all, sometimes you can't tell who's the abuser and who's the abused and it never really went anywhere. She had no motive that I could tell for making up obviously false and easily refuted charges against the abused lady. A trial based on a situation like that should (and I surely hope in real life actually does) go something like, Prosecution: Look, we get why she did it but she still killed a guy in cold blood; Defense: She was an abused woman who was fearful for the life of her child and felt she had no other way out, and let the jury duke out which one has more merit. These jerky DAs that don't just try the accused because that's how our legal system works, but invent additional allegations for no other reason than but to be an extra level of jerk, don't make sense to me. Especially when it's a DA who's worked to put accusers away. If the writers were intending for her to prosecute based on the lady also being an abuser, they could have maybe shown anything other than the restraining order inquiry, which anyone at a half second would have identified as an abuser covering his tracks. The abusive asshole's sister played it well, or the actress did, that she never saw anything to make her doubt the character of her brother, and then when Benny began pointing out things that had happened, realized, wait they may actually have something here. I've never personally known (that I know of, anyway) anyone who is/was physically abusive, but I've always heard that they are such charmers elsewhere that nobody ever suspects it. The surprise (I use the word loosely) last minute witness basically added nothing other than another level of "he said she said" to the trial, but that's all it was based on anyway so I guess we'll go with it. That intro was hard to watch.

I apparently started typing this months ago and will go ahead and post it, in addition to what I actually came to post, which is below this paragraph: I didn't even know that Chandler and Monica ended up getting together before but I of course had heard about Ross and Rachel OTP 4eva!!! back when the show was airing. I feel like if the writers wanted us to view R & R as any kind of OTP, it might have served them well to write them as liking each other more than once or twice a season. I was similarly disappointed when I got to the end of S7/beginning of S8 and Rachel gets pregnant, that we didn't even really SEE it, other than the flashbacks in the one with the flashbacks. Anyway, what I actually came here to say is that I finally have picked back up finishing S10 after a horrid winter of sickness and general busyness during the time when I would normally watch a couple episodes each day. Today's included Thanksgiving and the ones where Chandler/Monica are applying for adoption and meeting with the social worker and then meeting the pregnant lady in Ohio. My observation is that "Mondler" is such a nicely written couple and I really can't believe that there's such a "R&R OTP" around when C&M are clearly, clearly the superior couple. Chandler is still awkward and Monica is still shrill but I think they both, especially Chandler, have matured a lot over the 10 seasons and I almost cried a little bit when Chandler was talking the pregnant lady into still choosing them. (I did cry a little bit when they got the call on Thanksgiving) I really like seeing a stable married couple, when it seems like so many TV shows that I've watched can't ever seem to have a stable, normal married (or even just 'together' not married) couple. In other news, I now know the canon behind the animated gif I've used of Joey saying "I'm not even sorry" after eating his date's dessert.

Well, I may have shed a few at the end of that, even though it's not the happiest of endings, those two still have a lot to work through. At the very least, they made some likable people this time around, which was an improvement from last week. They really should, at least with people like these who I actually care about, include a brief follow-up with them, like a 60 second scene where the couple tells Bull that they're in counseling and working through what is and isn't true, the DA decided to drop the charges for identity theft but he's been asked to pay back the stolen money, and his brother is in proceedings to get the murder charge dropped and his sentence reduced and it looks favorable. I will head "canon" this (for this one-shot set of characters that we'll never see again). That Bull's people are the only ones that can check alibis, scrutinize security footage, look up phone records, etc, makes me glad this show is fiction. I can kind of understand the guy using those names for the kids, but not telling his wife exactly why, just in the sense of, lies are tricky things and even if it wasn't exactly a needed lie, I can imagine when caught in a web of lies, that it's hard to both judge and keep track of what to say or not say. And if this were IRL, the guy probably wanted to tell her a million times but couldn't figure out how to do it. I guess I maybe wouldn't just give him a pass for it, but I wouldn't make it the hill I died on either.

The agents on this show are terrible investigators because I instantly pegged Redhead as part of the bad guys when she was overly enthusiastic about seeing the book and they're just all, who is she hitting on. I had almost thought I was wrong but then the way she grabbed the paper saying she speaks French and of course the intercepted text (I'm sure that's totally real life technology).... Yep, I'll be here all day. Also, you trained investigators should really pay more attention to people's visual cues.

Also, I think the doctor lady might have been more compelling if she had looked more professional and/or more like a doctor. I kept forgetting she was a doctor until they mentioned it. I don't know why she didn't look the part to me - maybe it was that she looked really young and didn't dress super professionally? And, wouldn't someone who's routinely smuggling medical marijuana across three states perhaps have a better system in place for the moves so as to not be at such risk for being caught? Like bringing an adult with her and not having her son sleeping in the back of the van? I assume since nothing was said of the kid's dad that she was single so I get that she'd need to find someone to watch him, but she seemed to be a fairly successful doctor so it would stand to reason that she would have someone to keep him.

Yeah, not really feeling this one. She did something illegal, even if she did it for the right reasons, regardless of whether we all think it should be legal. I understand not wanting to abandon your patients, but I guess I don't have a lot of patience for people who can change their situation (move to New York), but don't, break the law, and then we're supposed to side with them? That combined with her not showing up to court (lady, you're no help to your kid from prison), although I totally expected her to run away with the kid, I just didn't really root for her. Also, maybe along with all the marijuana, she could have bought some orthodontia for that kid? His teeth were terrifying. And I hate long hair like that on boys, you can all judge me. And, really didn't get the prosecutor. If she sided with the lady, then why did she up the charges to felony, call CPS, etc? And boy, were they lucky that the oncologist (who I expected to turn on them, not sure why) turned out to be in favor of medical marijuana, since there are surely many out there who aren't.

I've watched a handful of this year's so far as background TV and to see the baskets and bits of the judges eating part, and I am NOT digging the Amanda "I have got to see what he's working on!" thing. It's one thing when they do that in a 6-hour cake decorating show when the contestants have 3 assistants - they're hard at work but you can't rush for 6 hours straight anyway. They have TWENTY minutes to make something, every second counts so shut up and stay at your table.

Cable is back? What a surprise! As if we couldn't have seen that Replacement Cable would need something only Cable v1.0 would be able to do because reasons.... they are so full of twists and turns on this show. Ahem. Anyway. I'm liking this Chunk/Anna thing because Chris Jackson, but I feel like it came out of nowhere and is shoehorned in for no reason that I've been able to determine. We went from "Wait, did he say that this girl is his kid?" to her calling him Dad and possibly moving to NYU pretty abruptly. The dialogue was good tonight. Best lines already mentioned. I know that a mistrial would not make good TV but one of these days they really should put one in for Benny's contempt of court flirtations. I'm sure that lawyers go as close to the edge as they can, since the trope of "The jury will disregard that" / "Yeah, but they still heard it" is probably pretty close to reality. Have we even seen much of a mirror jury other than Marissa saying "We're all red / green" while looking at the screen, in about the last 10 eps? I'm guessing their test panels didn't like it. I do think the show being more about 8 seconds of voir dire and Bull's team being the only ones who know how to investigate IMO, makes a more interesting TV show than a thousand reduxes of "I like chai tea lattes and watching snowboarding" "I like chai tea lattes and watching snowboarding" being passed as people who will give them an idea of how the jurors will go. But I also wonder how the original Dr. Phil as trial scientist actually went.

Yeah, I couldn't possibly care less about Jack's trauma past its ability to get John Ross to open up. I hope they bring him and the daughter back. I was 0 for 3 on this one as far as IDing the dead guy's brother and the wife as perp (I was predicting the loud guy at the wake) and getting that the PO girl was the daughter. I'll try again next week.

You know Abby from NCIS would have been able to ID the perp from DNA, 9 years ago. Come on, rape-related, skin cells under her fingernails, saliva since there were bite marks. Would it really have looked that bad for Bull's client to ask for a lawyer when he was being questioned? I feel like don't care how innocent or not I am, if I'm being questioned about anything, I want a lawyer there so that I have an expert there for support, knowledge, and defense if necessary. And I could be unnecessarily cynical, but as soon as the investigator guy (who honestly I was suspecting was the perp until they were getting in touch with the friends) started goading him about how it would look, to me would have made me even more certain I needed a lawyer.

I don't want this show for its tightly crafted and well-edited storylines, but they sure have been off the rails for the last few episodes.

Not that I'll turn up any chance to hear Chris Jackson sing but what the heck was that all about?! I cannot believe that investigators actually can go as far as to literally lie and forge accusation notes. I'm accustomed to the tv trope of, every agency other than the one featured on the show is completely incompetent but this took it to a new level. I'm sure real life investigators are tempted to and likely succumb to stretching evidence to fit the conclusion they want it to, but not even looking at other possibilities, really? There was a distinct lack of Cable's replacement and Danny being underwhelmed, unless that was supposed to be a misdirect on the 3 seconds where Danny said "This is Cable's territory" and Bull said "We're working on a replacement". Of course I called that it was the guy's friend from the moment the other friend was mentioned to be indicted. Smarmy corner office guy profiting off of his friend taking the fall. Gee, couldn't possibly have occurred to anyone 9 years prior, that perhaps that guy had motive to set up the other guy?

I'm not a huge fan of dark shows/episodes but I've usually been OK with the occasional ones that NCIS throws in because they're usually pretty well-written (Meat Puzzle, that one with the psychopath daughter, the one with the wife and her eyes suddenly turning dark - all leap to mind). But this one was all sorts of idiotic dumbing down of our heroes. I could have rolled with the ineptitude of McGee if leading up to it, there had been some episodes showing him clearly being exhausted and not quite "with it" and Gibbs telling him, you can take some leave, it's fine, and McGee insisting he's OK, leading up to this episode of him acting like an idiot several times, and then Vance saying "I'm putting you on 4 weeks' paid leave" or something. The only ONLY way I would have agreed to having that guy in my home is if there were at least one and preferably two other agents with me and McGee letting Reeves go, completely dumb. The cage was unlocked? Really? I just can't even. And they never addressed if it actually had been or not. I know that in real life, law enforcement/investigators are people who, on occasion, make legitimate mistakes because they're fallible humans. This seems like an egregious error that could not ever have happened because about 6 people should have checked the security on the cage. And how was he supposed to go to the bathroom, anyway? Or sleep?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/13/commonwealth-begins-planning-succession-secret/ - is helpful. tl;dr Charles automatically becomes king upon the queen's passing, but head of the commonwealth is not a hereditary position that automatically passes to him.

I watched live (which I hate doing but anyway) for both NCIS and Bull and there was no preview for mothership in that time (8 PM - 10 PM EST). They did show a preview for the next Bull.

I thought Cable's reaction was realistic, I just couldn't figure out if the writers wanted us to feel bad for her or not. I think it might have been better for Bull to have the taxi drop her off at her place, tell her to get a good night's sleep, and then come to his office in the morning to talk about what's next. I assume like all good TV dramas, they will all somehow figure out how to get her back onto the TAC staff. What I really don't understand about all of this is that this is a new show, these writers by no means have plumbed the depths of crime plotlines, and yet here they are writing these thinly cobbled together plots with holes large enough to drive a train through. Like it never once occurred to any of the writers or editors that surely the FBI has a smidgen more security on their evidence than what could be erased by a virus on a flash drive?

That storyline had potential but the execution was lacking. Needs another episode. They should have stretched out everything before Cable being handcuffed and then next week, done part two where they figure out the Janet stuff, as well as show the new trial and Cable confronting the roommate and confirm that the guy actually did it. When we got to the ten minutes, I felt like there was way too much to wrap up in ten minutes, which was true, it was not suitably wrapped up in ten minutes. I also think Cable is way too smart than to put a flash drive she's never looked at before, into a computer at the freaking FBI. If FBI guy was just going to arrest Cable, it might have been polite to tell Danny that he couldn't do her that favor, since he was the one who flipping asked her what she needed. Are we supposed to feel bad for Cable when Bull tells her he has to fire her for a load of completely legitimate reasons and she storms off?

Mine was timed perfectly. I was pretty proud.

Lawyer gets in car. Me: Expect her to die in 3.... 2..... 1... Car: (explodes) Me: I'll be here all night.

That was a load of swill on several different levels; NCIS - I expect better from you. I'm sure the family of the dead Marine will be thrilled to hear that the 15yo gets to stay with her kidnapping caregivers and thus escapes all consequences to the events leading to their loved one's death. I can't stand sanctimonious lawyers, especially when they know their daughter/person they're defending is guilty. It couldn't have been more obvious that Vance's daughter was taking the fall for her friend and while that was nice of Vance's daughter, it's really, really dumb to take the fall for your friend who obviously has a habit and is more than likely going to do it again before college. Also, any storyline with Vance's family just reminds me of the utter idiocy it was to kill Jackie and so I remain unable to muster up any feels. The whole thing with the bio dad would have been a lot more compelling if the bio dad had gotten out of prison and been able to turn his life around and was a decent guy who had always wondered what happened to his daughter but hadn't been able to find her. Maybe have him married with a couple more kids, definitely him being stable and able to support said daughter. Then we could have had an interesting premise about whether she should stay with the only parents she's ever known, or the one who legally has the right for custody. And more than likely it would be the predictable conclusion, where he relinquishes custody to the kidnapping parents but is allowed a relationship, but at least it would be interesting. I can understand having grown attached to the baby, but can also think of 100 ways that might have been a better way to go about it, starting with offering the bio dad money (he's not really in a position to negotiate), and like others said, accepting that a healthy white infant will be placed in a good home VERY quickly.

I would be more surprised if Charles, William, and George rule under a regnal name, than if they kept their own names. I think that with Elizabeth having reigned so long with her given name that the vast majority of the public may not even realize that regnal names are a thing, or if they do only as sort of a "thing that they once did", being that over 1/2 of the people alive, have been born since her coronation. Charles has been Charles in public for a very long time also and I have a hard time seeing him change that once (if he ever does) he becomes king.

Eleanor: Chidi Anna... Kendrick. I did miss the four but it looks like we'll get at least two back together in the fall.

Well, boo. I like her way more than I like Gregorio and this is a bummer.

I feel like hiring a hit man to kill one's own self could majorly backfire. For starters, one would not act all surprised when one is confronted with one's hit man, and rather, one's sense of self preservation might kick in. Also, if that guy thought things through enough to hire a freaking hit man, he might have looked for one that covered his tracks better. I'm glad that I most likely don't live in a universe where I can be freaking tried for murder based on a detective's "hunch". You investigate based on a hunch. You go to trial with some actual evidence. The whole premise of the widow being a forking bench and the jury thusly hating her would have been more effective if she'd actually been portrayed as a jerk. As it was, I more felt sorry for her that she was married to the gambling idiot. I felt half a feel for her when she was testifying about how her husband seemed to love her more when it was forbidden.

I haven't watched Chopped much other than background TV in the last year or two but I happened upon the gold medal one over the weekend, and I actually found myself enjoying it. Normally I hate the 5-round ones (and I agree with posters upthread that the $50k price for first and everyone else gets nothing so you might win but get nothing, is crap), but the premises they've put on all the rounds so far were interesting additions. The clock shortening one was a little on the unfair side but that one guy still finished entree with time to spare! I liked all 4 in the baking round and wanting to try all their dishes, even the ones with ingredients that I don't like. The judges acting like this is the most important meal they will ever eat in their lives and saying things like "Leaving the pureed lima beans off of your duck tongue appetizer was unforgivable", continues to be the most annoying part of this show.