Tooch

Dylan immediately drinking and no one batting a single eyelash = one of fifty sharks the show jumped, but for ME, the biggest. I think that was the moment as a sophomore in college, that I knew I just couldn't with this fucking show I had grown up with. How did they expect me to continue to be loyal when all the pre-teen emotional turmoil 12 year old me went through watching Dylan's alcoholism, that sad scene of him hugging his inner child after not giving in to drinking after Jack's funeral, the amazingness of him swigging wine straight from the bottle at Felice's fancy parter when he fell off the wagon--all of that rendered meaningless when they trot him back out in season 9 and decide he's not really an alcoholic anymore. As Sarah might say, EAT BEES, SHOW!

Yep. Everything changes with a baby, and you DO need to make mom friends. Preferably neighborhood mom friends but online groups can be wonderful too (I've been in one for 5 years and we even plan get togethers in person sometimes, those ladies know shit about me I've never told anyone). ESPECIALLY if you're the only one in your friend group to have a baby (or even be married! It's amazing she's hung in there this long). No one has done anything wrong, but people become different when they move into different life phases. That scene in the car gutted me. I cackled at seeing Chad, and then boom LAWRENCE. He's still hot. But Nathan is hotter, that ferris wheel scene was so hot I didn't even get mad that they didn't use protection.

True but I was truly maddened by the timeline on Gossip Girl. When the show starts Serena is returning after being gone for ALL of sophomore year at some boarding school. Which means all the flashbacks to her "wild party days" happened when she was like 13 and 14 years old. I know it's Manhattan but COME ON. Slumber Party is my all-time favorite episode, to be honest. I loved it. Truly the only time on the whole show (with the possible exception of sneaking into the hotel looking for Color Me Badd) that "the gang" actually acted like teenagers. Plus early years "troubled, kind of bitchy" Kelly is the best Kelly. "Sainted, Judgmental Shrew" Kelly is the utter worst.

Yes! Dylan's very first scene back on the show where he became famous for being a relapsing alcoholic struggling with sobriety was him gulping champagne with the gang at Thanksgiving like it was no big deal.

My thoughts exactly. This show does really short seasons and I feel like we've been trodding the same "Issa is unhappy at work and needs to find a more creative profession" ground for all three seasons. Enough already, it's a bummer. If she's not in a new job by the end of the season I will be fed up. And more Kelli, she's the only funny one on the show!

The Walsh House was retconned more times than Valerie's Dead Dad. Per my recollection, at the end of season 1 when they were going to move back to Minneapolis, it was mentioned that Jim's COMPANY owned the house, it was like, leased by his firm for them for some reason. Then when they moved to Hong Kong, it was retconned that they owned the house and were going to sell, and the gang threw a huge party to trash the joint because the seller planned to tear it down. But that fell through. Then the gang just lived there for the rest of college, which at least makes a small amount of sense. Post-college everyone just sort of rotated in an out of living there and it eventually became Janet and Steve's house with the baby? Did they buy it from the Walshes? Did they pay rent? WHO KNOWS!? And don't get me started on everyone's finances. HOW did Kelly and Donna just start up a boutique at age 23 with no money or business experience whatsoever? How did Kelly's fucking psych degree prepare her for this? Or for her future career in "public relations" (in quotes because it has as much to do with actual PR as Samantha on S&TC)? I feel like the retcons only get worse from here on out. Don't forget Dylan comes back as a heroin junkie, which everyone is so concerned about they forget all about his alcoholism, which was the dominant storyline of his first 5 seasons on the show. I remember scenes of him just hanging out drinking casual beers with Steve and David and wanting to scream at the TV.

Oh man, I'm so excited about the return of Dylan now, I can't wait to hear Tara and Sarah discuss how no one in the gang says a word about him casually drinking. As if the sight of Dylan with a beer wasn't enough to send everyone into a tailspin just a few years ago. Retcons, how I love you.

Returning to my point about the horribleness of the Valerie retcon. When David's mom attempted suicide (and not even with a gun!) she had nightmares for a week and woke up screaming and crying in Brandon's arms and it was actually kind of moving (and pretty much the only time Brandon was even a half-decent friend to her, though I do remember him acting put-out by her tears). Now, another friend's dad blows his brains out and no one even says "Hey Val, remember you had a mini breakdown over David's mom....you okay?" It's the same suicide method, same parent. It's just fucking ridiculous. She's not having PTSD flashbacks again because...reasons? The Sophie story is so dumb. When does Steve finally get together with Janet so we can end our nightmare of him being the "victim" of all these pretty ladies who would rather bang his insufferable friends?

What pisses me off the most about Val's retcon is that it un-does what was so sweet in the first place about her and David's original romance, which was that she was re-traumatized by his mom's suicide attempt because of her dad and was able to be the one to help him. It makes no sense whatsoever now. That whole episode when she was having nightmares about finding her dad's body? Makes no sense whatsoever now. Sigh.

UGH, another foreboding comment from someone who has seen the finale, on Twitter: There's also another awards show forum with someone who has seen it, and when a user say something like "no way June will forget Serena's role in the rape" the person who has seen the last ep replies "She might" with spoiler tags. My depressing theory: the "controversy" is that June decides to give Holly to Serena to raise so she can escape with Nick. BUT the post above that mentions yet another "soft reset" as well as Fred's continued infatuation with June makes me think the controversy might be June giving Holly to SERENA to escape to Hawaii, while she's somehow fucking stuck in Gilead still with Fred. Ew.

This is more speculation than spoiler, but I think that June ends up escaping, which is why they're setting up Emily with a "mysterious" new commander so we can maintain a link back to Gilead/Aunt Lydia/Janine/etc next season while June is either on the run or in Canada. I bet they also have a storyline planned for the fertile young commander. Frankly, if they send June back and give Holly (I am convinced that episode title is a reference to the baby's name as well as June's mom) to the Waterfords or another hideous couple I might just have to be out. After today's episode, I cannot accept that June will just be sent to another post. ETA: The promo shows June packing emergency supplies and I think the car she's in is actually at the meet house, and she tries to ram it through the door. It seems she's unsuccessful, which is why she fires the gun for help after making a go of it on foot? My fantasy outcome is that she encounters the Female Railroad in this way--from the book her story is from one of their safehouses in Maine, yes? If she was over an hour from Boston then the house they were at could have been in Maine, and it would fit the rural setting--even southern Maine is pretty woodsy.

Oh totally, it wasn't subtle at all. I did actually like Kevin's conversation with Kate about the knee though, because when she said "you have to watch it" or "be careful" or whatever she said I thought she was just showing concern for his injury, but now I think with the heavy-handed episode-ending pill popping that what she meant was that he could get hooked on his meds, as if it's happened before.

Yep, I mentioned this in the visual aids thread. It's completely absurd to me that Kelly gets up on her high horse about what Val chooses to do with her own goddamn Christmas vacation. She even says right in front of Kelly that she just couldn't deal with going home just yet -- with the implied BECAUSE OF THE MEMORY OF FINDING MY DEAD DAD IN A POOL OF HIS OWN BRAINS. And Kelly is still just eager to snot away. She gives me face flames, she is so terrible. Remember fun season 2 Kelly? Le sigh. Jesse and his legal career make me snort. I can't wait for the "5 year reunion" episode where Andrea and Jesse are about to break up because he's taking it out on her that he didn't make partner. At that point he'd have been out of law school what, a year or two? (Though his hairline clearly had at least 40 years' experience.)

I'd like to thank this thread for reminding me that "Ed" exists. That show was such a treasure, and also featured a fat actress in addition to the teen boy who had weight loss surgery. I always try to support shows that represent that humans actually do come in multiple sizes, ha. As for Chrissy's weight loss contract, I think she's an adult and is probably pumped. I used to weigh over 300 pounds. I am not in any way speaking for others, but for me personally, being that weight sucked even though I'm a major supporter of the body-positive movement. If she feels the same way and wants to use this character she's creating as a vehicle towards dropping some weight, I think that's interesting, and I am actually pretty excited to watch a weight loss journey that doesn't come from The Biggest Loser, which is a horrific program that should not exist.

OMG Kelly's anti-Val crusade is so maddening. Reminder: At this point in the story, it's been only a few months since Val's father blew his own brains out. What does Kelly know about Val, besides that fact? That she strung Steve along and kept it a secret that she was hooking up with Dylan. That is literally IT. At this point none of the other "bad girl Val" stuff has come out. She hasn't done a single thing to anyone but Steve, and Steve is over it. So maybe not being such a toxic bitch to a 19/20 year old girl who suffered a huge tragedy only a few months ago isn't out of order? For Fuck's Sake Kelly You Are The Worst! However, my defense of Val on these grounds is reminding me of the atrocious ret-conning they do with the story of her father in future seasons. It explained Val's personality even more, true, but it negated the whole lovely sequence of events leading to her sweet relationship with David. Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Absolutely. It's a fine line for the writers to walk though, because they probably don't want to put the lovely actress through the wringer of having to act out things that have likely happened to her in real life. Though really, the life of a fat woman of her size is rich with story possibilities. It's one thing to be a bit overweight but when you reach Kate's size there is a lot that's just legitimately so difficult, and dealing with society's treatment is one of them.

Great thread idea! Oh Kate, girl I feel you. One thing that strikes me as an adult fat woman almost the same age as Kate (just turned 37) is how I also never really gave much thought to my weight until kids started picking on me. It was around that age too, 8/9 when it started. I never got it too badly, thank god, even in high school when I got even fatter. I focused on being smart and funny as a shield (doesn't work for everyone). I wasn't "cool" but I wasn't tormented and always had friends. I also can't wait to see how the show deals with Kate as a teen/college student. I hope they show it, because those years were the toughest for me. Not necessarily bullied, just feeling totally "other" compared all my slim pretty friends and struggling with the crippling insecurity. I wanted to rush a sorority when I got to college but I didn't because I figured (probably correctly, knowing the culture at my school) that they wouldn't take a fat girl. I also never had boyfriends until well into my twenties. When you go that long without all the usual "normal" relationship milestones, suddenly dealing with a guy who seems to like and want you can make you feel very weird. I 100% relate to this character. Heck, I remember side-eyeing the photo of my husband's prom date I saw at his parents' house because she was thin, and she wasn't even his girlfriend! Us fatties can have issues, heh.

I liked it. I seriously hope that Kate's story goes on to more than just Mike & Molly 2: Electric Boogaloo. I am a fat person who is in the middle of losing weight and we DO talk about other things sometimes. I am also 37, just had a birthday couple weeks ago. I was born in 79 and was also in second grade for Challenger (and in NH no less, where McAuliffe was from, so it was a very big deal there) so the math also bothered me enormously. Glad it's not just me.

OMG KELLY. Really, why are these people so lame that they give a shit if someone smokes a little pot? Her father committed SUICIDE like 3 months ago and maybe it calms her nerves? Maybe she is troubled, but if that's the case she doesn't need your goddamn cat-butt judgment. Kelly sucks so much, and does indeed have terrible hair. I forgot how bad it was, but especially in comparison to Val's gloriously beautiful bob (and face, and boobs, and everything)...Just ugh.

Why don't I remember this!? Was it when she broke up with Steve/Aladdin? This is a good point - I always loved that they had Dylan living with Brenda in London off-screen after he leaves the show, and how Kelly was so torn up about it. I was like "HAAAAAAA biiiitch." Man, I just hated her throughout. One thing I noticed was Sarah and Tara questioning the "I know how that song goes" "You should you taught it to me" exchange - I think he was referring to her dumping him in his hideous new Porsche early on when she was all about John Sears. Funny he turned around and dumped her in the car too. By the way, what happened to his classic Porsche not being an "everyday" car and needing something he could drive around in? That stupid classic Porsche even gets unearthed when he comes back to the show miraculously cured of his alcoholism, which no one even questions even after five straight seasons of "Dylan's an alkaholic!" dramz.

Everyone berating Brenda not to "overreact" to the fact that all her best friends and TWIN BROTHER believed and even helped to spread the rumor that she fucked a creepy director to get the part was fucking mind boggling. I'd forgotten how bad it was. Brandon is so horrific.

Not only that, but since the only reason they were on the train was Carrie's 9/11 induced flying fears, VALIUM! Sam has always been my favorite character, even in her more cartoonish moments she was the best.

Hahah yessss! Obnoxious actress Brenda is the best Brenda. I'm going to be so sad when she's gone. Not that Val isn't fun, but it's not the same. Thought of something else--in reality no way would the competition be watching each other audition right? Or do I just not know enough about the theatre? I figured Brenda would have been in a waiting area.

I'm actually shocked that Sarah and Tara are on Team Kelly in this! I know she's a glorious bitch but for once it feels justified--I'd be SO pissed if I were Brenda. Kelly should have talked to her about it immediately and made a case for why she wanted to go out for it and if Brenda was still a bitch then maybe I'd be on Team Kelly. And the fact that Kelly immediately believes the "she slept with Randolph" theory is just icing on the cake. Maybe I'm just still angry about Summer of Deception? Ha!

I've been waiting for this! Truth: The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof storyline is my absolutely favorite arc in all of 90210. I know it's completely ridiculous and the accents are all gawd-awful, but damn, I love it. Laura should have joined the cast full time along with bringing in Valerie, they could have teamed up to be a Kimberly From Melrose Villainy Squad. Brenda can be insufferable, but I remain completely outraged at Kelly's behavior in the next couple episodes, 22 years after first watching them. She is such a goddamn bitch I can't even believe it was Brenda who had a newsletter devoted to hating her. Also, I actually like her hair and smoky makeup for this arc as well.