Bastet

I know I’ve said this before, but watching it again tonight compels me to reiterate how much I love all the layers of Sharon and Jack’s relationship on display in “Rules of Engagement”. The sweetness of his enthusiastic gratitude when she offers him the shot at a court-appointed attorney gig and her reaction to his happiness is one aspect of their relationship that lingers, but her getting door-slamming angry at him and using what she knows about his weaknesses to regain the professional upper hand by getting him fired is the dynamic that carries the day. And then she comes home to a “Dear Sharon” letter that she’s read so many times before she just rips this one up unread. (Mary McDonnell plays it so well, I can readily imagine what those letters always say.) There’s such finality to it and, indeed, the next time we see him she’s ready to finally turn separation into divorce. I always enjoy watching Sharon as a mom, and in this one I adore how she handles Rusty’s faux illness; even distracted by her frustrating phone call, she quickly deduces he’s faking it, and why (and I love that Rusty asked, in front of Kris, to attend this dinner he now wants to get out of because he thought Sharon would say no). Jack’s facial expressions as Sharon lets Rusty know she has his number are very funny, and I love how he looks back to his laptop as soon as she looks in his direction – he knows she’ll be onto him, too, if he makes eye contact with her. I also enjoy Rusty and Jack’s relationship in this one, that Jack really does try to help him; even as angry and humiliated as he is by Sharon winning, he doesn’t lash out with “Just tell her you’re gay!” he comes up with an actual suggestion for how to get out of the Kris mess. Tom Berenger nails the forced joviality when Rusty says he’ll see him later (when Jack knows he's going to split on yet another kid). And I like what this reveals of Jack as a lawyer, which makes Sharon's reaction to his excitement at the opportunity all the better because she's painfully familiar with what’s possible and yet squandered (like so much of Jack’s potential, as a father and as a person in general in addition to as a lawyer) – he’s good, and could be great, but he repeatedly gets in his own way by looking too far ahead towards some big score he imagines; he's like a receiver who turns towards the end zone before securing the catch, thus inevitably fumbling what could have been a scoring run. He's always having to start over; lay a foundation, overstep, watch what he's built fall down, run away - lather, rinse, repeat. Sharon responding, “Of course not, he’s my husband” when Emma asks, “Are you sleeping with this man?” never fails to make me laugh out loud, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. It’s such a little thing, but another thing that tickles me whenever I see it is during the “How Stupid Do You Think I Am?” game – when Taylor offers to keep track of coincidences, Sharon hands him a pen. And she’s on the phone the whole time, only half paying attention, but she figures Taylor needs a pen to keep track of a handful of things. And, indeed, he keeps the tally on paper! Okay, I’ll stop repeating myself, right after I say I like the fundamental underpinning of the case: The cops initially fell for the staging of this killing as a gang drive-by, but it wasn’t actually one of “those guys” who disregarded the others at the gas station as collateral damage, it was an entitled white guy covering up the fact that when his fiancée dared break off their engagement, his response was to have her killed. Something I never noticed until tonight: At home, getting ready to head to work, Sharon has her badge and gun on. She rarely does that; they’re usually in her purse at home/in the office, and she just dons them when she’s going out in the field. And they never come into play, so there’s not a storyline reason for her to be wearing them when she normally isn't. And this is embarrassing, but until tonight I also never really thought about the reason Sharon chooses Julio as the one to join her in interrogating Speedy once they realize he’s admitted to Jack he killed Melissa and hid her body somewhere is that Julio is the other squad member as Catholic as she and Speedy are. Well played, Sharon. (My favorite part of the Jesus stuff remains Provenza’s disdain for all things religion, but Sharon has several moments throughout the series of using shared religion to manipulate, and I enjoy those, too; I just didn’t put together that this was as deliberate as some of my other favorites.)

Ah, an audio file, then. That wouldn't have helped me, either.

I missed last night's game, so just checked the archive. Lots of audio/video components to first round clues, which I can't hear/see via the archive, but, thankfully, I didn't need them to get the Megan Rapinoe, Malibu, yodeling, and foghorn clues, but not being able to hear the fight song meant I had no shot (other than randomly guessing a Big Ten school and happening to pick the right one) -- I doubt I'd have been able to connect song to school even if I'd heard it; I would have only ever heard it because of sports, and I don't watch much Big Ten. The picture wouldn't have helped me with theremin, either, as I've never heard of it. I would have known woodpecker, though! In addition to those, I missed all but two of the TV Transports clues, so it was not a good first round for me. I did better in DJ, missing one Atlantis clue (when I thought I'd bomb the whole category) and two Nobel nominees clues. And I correctly guessed FJ. The Charles de Gaulle TS was surprising. Amour, too; maybe the second part of the clue made them think it was something different? The Strasberg TS surprised me a little, but I think I overestimated how common the knowledge that "pioneer of method acting" = Lee Strasberg is.

Bridget has the same taste in sriracha I do -- the Huy Fong most people use is very good, but the Kikkoman is better because it's spicier. (I generally use sambal oelek instead of sriracha, and for that I do use Huy Fong.) From Lisa's gadget segment, I gave my parents that Oxo salad dressing container for use in their motorhome, and they like it. I would have liked more information on how the pineapple slicer works.

Yes, and that exchange makes even better the later scene when Celeste reveals all about Lori's parentage - she got pregnant, and the show made her agree never to mention it, so she went back home and gave the baby to her mom to raise, making up a twin sister who died in a car wreck as the mother, while the show told everyone she had TB and sent the character to a sanitarium - and Rose mutters to herself, "Why can't I write shit like this?"

Of course it affected her. Had he chosen another group, it wouldn't have, as she'd have been on the bottom of her Kevin-less group, but he didn't; he chose that group, and made the worst dish among them, but because he had immunity, she - with the second-worst dish - was eligible for elimination. It wasn't some tragedy, nor would it have been even if she'd been the worst of the worst - not a scenario like Stephanie going home in her season for a good dish because that dickhead (Nick?) had immunity - which is why I said it "sort of" sucked; she still put out a bad dish. I know he said that after the fact, but I didn't see anything daring, inventive, or take a bold chance because if it doesn't come out like I want, I have immunity, so this is the time to try this experiment about his dish. It was ho-hum, just like hers, only it came out worse than hers. Those stupid carrot slices? WTF?

I watched Top Chef instead, so just checked the archive for tonight's game. The Philadelphia TS was pretty surprising. And the CB radio answer for the polygraph clue was oddly amusing. The Vietnam War category (at least based on the clues uncovered) belonged in the first round, not DJ. I didn't know Sagittarius, and was as stumped as the contestants by hobble skirt in the first round. In DJ, the Bible books category did not do me in as it generally would - I didn't know any of them, but I correctly guessed all but one. But I missed silver dollars, minoxidil, and Starship Troopers along with the contestants, and didn't know Predator (even being able to see the picture wouldn't have helped), so with just over half a dozen misses, not among my best games. But I finished by getting FJ; Spain and the year tentatively led me to the correct guess.

The opening scene between Stephanie, Karen, and Nini was a nice start. As was Ali complimenting Nini on her similar glasses; the mutual fangirling was fun. I hardly ever eat rice, so fried rice isn’t my jam, but some of the combinations looked like really good hangover food. I thought Karen’s was going to win, but, of course, I was not there to taste the top three. I go to a lot of events at the Getty, and seeing it now, when I feel like I’m never going to be back there (or anywhere) until next year, was bittersweet. It’s always interesting to me who gets inspired and how in these “create a dish inspired by …” challenges, who gets too caught up in their head, and who says “fuck it” and makes a dish then makes up a story to connect it to the challenge. I really wanted the Rococo group’s food, especially Melissa’s -- that was a gorgeous bowl of food. Malarkey’s was also impressive, but even without tasting the food, I was going to be pissed if Melissa didn’t win; she seemed a runaway winner of this challenge. Karen being on the chopping block because of Kevin’s immunity kind of sucked; it’s not like she had a good dish, but his was pretty damn bad. I took one look at it and said it screams “I have immunity”. I was pretty sure Jamie was going to get knifed (the face of the chef who responded to the lack of jus like Jamie had insulted his mother was hilarious), and I’m relieved; I don’t remember anything about him, so it’s not about him, just about me not wanting to lose any of the others yet.

Bordeaux, tennis, Swarovski, and thou were surprising TS. I was terrible in the Dream Boats category, but got the rest in the first round. I was also terrible in the Crusades category, and missed a couple of others in DJ, so only a so-so game for me. At least I knew FJ.

Last week I forgot it was on altogether, and then thankfully caught the rerun. This week, I thought it was on at 7:00 (oops, 6:30), and then thankfully caught the rerun. One of these weeks I'll be sober and wide awake when watching. Until then ... Despite having seen it in promos, the opening restaurant scene amused me: "You are making everyone uncomfortable" and "We have to order now to get Happy Hour price" were great, but I especially love Elena's face in response to everything that transpired; in a sea of more-prominent talent, the young actor nailed it via "acting is reacting". I would like to know what couch on Earth has enough vertical space for a person on a creeper to fit underneath, but Penelope's reaction to Schneider popping out from under it was worth it. And I want (Cheetos) Puffs so bad, but we can't leave the house other than for essential business; grrr, because I'm with Penelope on how fucking great it is to plop down on the couch with a bag of those delights. There were other seemingly simple but funny gags: "Would you like to open a store credit card?" "Does it have zero interest? Because I do." The visual illustration of raptor foot by Dr. B. "I don't know what [the pigeon] ate, but it didn't agree with him." One catastrophe away from being broke - and a ripoff not being a catastrophe (not just funny, but very real). The end scene, where Penny's tears wipe right off the fabric-protected couch as everyone starts fantasizing about purchases to supplement the couch.

J.R. was doing so well in the baseball category, I was pretty surprised when he didn't know "The Show". (And, yeah, apparently the other two had never seen Bull Durham, because that term is used throughout the film.) Extradition was a surprising TS, as was San Francisco. Mine and Grand Ole Opry a bit, too. J.R. was annoying me with how he'd answer the Add a Letter clues in the wrong order -- the clue would define word A, to which you add a letter to get word B, and he'd consistently answer with Word B and Word A instead of the other way around. (Ha - @theatremouse and I were complaining about this at the same time.) I ran the first round, but in DJ, despite all my time spent playing Monopoly as a kid, I didn't know the other purple property, and I also didn't know Malificent (no, I don't actually live under a rock). But those were the only two I missed (and I got FJ), so I redeemed myself after last night's poor performance.

I re-watched season one recently, and they must have changed the air order of some episodes around, because at the end of "Old Spouses Never Die", Mary Jo and J.D. finally sleep together (and exchange "I love you"s and tell their their exes they intend to build a life together), yet in the season finale, "Bachelor Suite", they haven't had sex yet, she's just meeting his kids, and they're at the "I really care about you and want to make this exclusive" stage. I'm not sure whether Spouses got moved up, Bachelor Suite got held back, or both, but they're out of order. I know they, as was typical with sitcoms, did that a fair bit - look at how Charlene's desk chair and/or the couch are new, then the old one(s) are back, then the new, etc. - but I never noticed that particular bit of discontinuity before. And it creates a particularly big gap; they air ten episodes apart from each other.

In my schools, Career Day never exclusively consisted of students' parents, they were just among the speakers. And the doors of TV elevators are voice activated -- if you want to step in the car to finish your long speech while the person you're haranguing stays outside it, there is no need to hold the doors open, because as long as you keep talking, they'll stay open. And as soon as you deliver your parting shot, they'll close.

I specifically like that, in doing so, he told her to grow up; Gabriel's squeamishness was funny, but Rios's was childish. I enjoyed how much Sharon couldn't stand her, and everyone else's negative reactions to her led to some entertaining moments. But she's a problematic character. Who they tried to redeem after realizing the audience hated her more than they intended in introducing this antagonist - although I don't know what the hell they expected - but it was too little too late. Season two is one of my favorites, despite her presence, so she's not a big problem for me, but I was so very glad when Andrea started handling all their cases. And I still want to know if Rios was James Duff's idea or a network "suggestion" because she's so out of step with the whole franchise. The average age of the characters is far older than is typical for TV, yet so refreshingly realistic; all these workplace-centered shows about people who are the best of the best at what they do, with one crusty old guy and a bunch of 30-year-olds, but this one reflected the reality that most of those selected for such jobs are people with the, you know, experience to do them. Then this young DDA is randomly given all the major crimes cases, including capital cases like Philip Stroh? Come on. And she's hardly the only beautiful woman on both shows, but she's the only one to be repeatedly ogled not just by other characters but by the camera itself. There were one or two okay, knock it off-inducing shots of Brenda, but those were rare (which is why they stood out). With Rios, it was the MO. And her wardrobe! Good gods. So unprofessional in how revealing her clothes were (which, again, is common on TV, but not on this franchise). So, she comes across like the typical network mandate - go young, go sexy - but this was under the original good, supportive, we're the ones who suggested this show in the first place leadership at TNT and I've never come across even a veiled statement from Duff and company in talking about the character's origins. So I don't know what to think.

The Mississippi TS was a bit surprising. The Robert Kennedy TS was shocking (and depressing). Yikes, I had a terrible first round; I missed several each in the golf and art categories, two in the Fours category, and one of the birds. Thankfully, I did better in DJ; I didn't know two of the TV Before and After clues as I don't know anything about any of the four shows, and had never heard of the Fyre Festival, but I got everything else. And I got FJ; all I could initially come up with was "that 'take a bite out of crime' dog in a trench coat", but his name eventually came to me. I, of course, enjoyed saying Aaron Burr as if I had a mouth full of peanut butter.

In the middle of a serious scene in a serious episode, I always get a little laugh out of Kris saying the last guy she dated turned out to be gay. Girl has the world's worst gaydar. Granted, Rusty's sexual orientation is not outwardly obvious. My biggest laugh on that front is when Rusty says T.J. is not out to his family - with whom he both lives and works. Now those folks have the world's worst gaydar. If they really don't know, that is. We only know he hasn't come out to them; they could be jackasses in denial, or just letting him tell them in his own time, like Sharon did with Rusty.

Remember the brilliant videos some seriously-dedicated fan with a lot of time on her hands made using her M&S action figures to give six-second recaps of each episode? I recently re-watched all her recaps of the original series (which still cause a friend and I to randomly declare "It's aliums, Scully" in the middle of a conversation): Okay, I don't know why every time I paste that link, it comes up as the season one, rather than all seasons, video; you can just click through on her channel, but this link will take you directly to the all seasons video that is supposed to be embedded. And then I went looking for season 10: And 11: Which I only vaguely remembered. "What if the last episode was just a crazy mess?" Indeed.

I absolutely love his song "Bigger Than the Beatles".

You forgot in a small town.

I ordered in a lot this past week to support some of my favorite local restaurants who have lost all their dine-in business, and when I cooked I made comfort food, so I'm giving myself one more night of that and then I need to get back to reasonably healthy eating with occasional indulgences, because this is a marathon, not a sprint. Last night I made a very basic mixed greens salad (because I'm running low on produce but limiting my grocery shopping to once every 10 days), grilled pork chops, kale sautéed with red onion, and half a box of Kraft mac & cheese. Because, oh my stars, do I love that packet of neon orange chemicals. And it wasn't even the whole grain version like I normally buy (I couldn't get that when I last shopped), so I wasn't quite as deliriously happy as I normally am, but I still savored it. (I prefer whole wheat pasta for taste, with the health benefits merely a bonus, and the "whole grain" version of mac & cheese is already just a middle ground, so the regular version was quite a departure from my norm.) Today I'm eating leftover pizza (wheat crust, white sauce, with grilled chicken, roasted peppers, avocado, and mixed greens as the toppings, with a chipotle mayo sauce drizzled over the top, so it's not that unhealthy for a pizza). Tonight will be another basic side salad, roasted Brussels sprouts, grilled ribeye steak, and the other half of the mac & cheese.

I'm laughing at all the jokes about cats annoyed their humans are home and ruining their routine, but all the cats I actually know are the opposite -- maybe we all have weird cats, but my, my parents', and my friends' cats are all digging the extra attention. When I called my parents last week to get their Netflix password (I finally set it up so I can watch at home instead of only watching when I'm kittysitting at their house), no one answered, which meant my dad was on the other line (he never uses call waiting), so I called my mom's cell phone (because, clearly, this was an urgent matter 🙂 ). Bandit - who is a quite vocal cat and has no inside voice - was hollering in the background more strenuously than he normally does even for food. He sounded like a cat should never sound unless trying to notify her/his sleeping owners the house is on fire. When I asked her what his problem was, she said it was that she'd had to get up to find the cell phone, and he wanted her to return her lap to the chair post haste.

Even as time passes - and thus overall societal understanding of gender identity increases - between airings, every time I watch "Boys Will Be Boys" I am blown away by its presentation of the issues faced by transgender youth. It's a wonderful episode, and I'm a little baffled it wasn't granted a GLAAD award that year. There is only one significant gap in the various conversations about gender dysphoria, and that is the lack of anyone countering the mother's list of potential problems with undergoing hormone therapy at such an early age with that of those resulting from a child going through the wrong puberty (and I think the dangers of the latter significantly outweigh the former, so it does bother me - and maybe GLAAD? - they didn't have the father, in talking about how he'd withdrawn money to pay for it, talk about why he agreed with Michelle's request for hormone therapy). Other than that, though, they weave in all the important points organically, without ever making it seem like a character is giving an unnatural speech; everyone's reaction is in character. Right down to who does and does not use the right name/pronoun, and the subtle presentation of the differing motivations (some are just thoughtless and some are willfully ignorant or even malicious) and impact of those who misgender Michelle. I love Morales’s “And then buried herself?” when Rios suggests suicide. Yet, as much as I hate Rios, she's written well here - she initially says "he", but she easily falls in line when Sharon corrects her, and her hesitance in prosecuting the mother (when it seems she did it) is frustrating, but it's realistic in her concerns about the jury's "gender bender" confusion overriding the facts. Provenza is a wonderful stand-in for the significant segment of the audience who is compassionate yet confused. "Boys who think they're girls" is offensive on its face, but in context - of his overall treatment of her (he otherwise always refers to Michelle as her/she) and of that scene in particular; he's saying, yeah, many jurors will be at sea in understanding being transgender, as he is, but he knows when a kid has had their head bashed in, and so will jurors, so prosecute, and go down fighting if that's how it ends - it's not. (And three cheers for character growth in long-running shows, because can you even imagine the reaction of Provenza, Andy, and Julio during at least the first half of The Closer?!) I'm also blown away every time by the performance of the actor playing Michelle's father; when he realizes what his son did, and that his wife tried to cover it up, his horrified reaction is pitch perfect. He's equally terrific in the conversation with the squad after he sees Michelle's body; the way he gets lost in thought and says time is progressing normally for them but has come to a complete stop for him is also a stellar representation of that stage of grief. Yet the character is never unrealistically written as a saint; he shared his wife's bewilderment and denial - and attempts to "fix" things - back when Michelle first articulated her identity. The case being solved because of a realization of generational differences in communication could so easily have been clunky, but it works here -- Sharon noticing the brother's calls, as different from his history of texts, is a perfectly natural observation that she might well have missed if not for the unexpected teenager in her life ("Kids don't call, they text; the only person Rusty calls is me, Kris he texts"). Jack is wonderfully sympathetic to how hard this case is for Sharon, and his heart is in the right place with using it as a teaching moment for Rusty about the danger of suppressing your fundamental identity; he's perhaps at his most complex in this episode. Yet Sharon still has his number; she appreciates the support, but she waves him off about Rusty (literally, with a fork, and I'll never be able to properly articulate why I love that moment so, but I do) and counters his "just like old times" with "Yeah, really old - Elizabethan, I think." I also love the "Who only eats one pancake?" exchange, because it's this seemingly inconsequential thing, but it actually reveals a lot about Sharon and Jack's relationship - he still knows her well in many ways, but he hasn't been part of her daily life since back when she had the metabolism to eat a stack of pancakes and look like she does. Sharon wiping her eyes at the end, when she sees Jack and the kids approaching, is a lovely moment - another indication of how this case has affected her, and another illustration of the "I don't cry in front of other people" shared trait with Rusty established early on. One little moment, overshadowed in such an influential episode, is how well this scene plays: Rusty: [Introduces Kris to Emma, accusing the latter of ruining his life.] Emma: You were doing a good job of that before I came along. Jack: Rusty ... Rusty: Jack. Provenza: Emma ... And off they all go. It's such a little, but terrific, thing.

Psst: It's Saturday and you're watching a re-run from last season.

I'm impressed with all that went into testing cutting boards! When I renovate my kitchen, I'm going to treat myself to a big, thick board like that (right now, I have to mind the space available next to my stove). I looked up the website for the brand they recommended, and, wow, there are some pretty boards.

Unlike with the original series, this time around I don't think there is a single executive producer, and maybe not even anyone in the writers room, who has ever been working class. It shows.