Bastet

Yes, she added cornflakes to meatloaf -- "How else do you think we're going to turn two pounds of ground beef into 11 pounds of mouth-watering meat loaf?" ("And the leftovers stay crunchy in milk.")

Undoubtedly the fact they only had a dozen episodes, and don’t know for sure they’re getting more, had an effect on storyline trajectory, but Becky suddenly wanting Emilio doesn’t work for me any better than Darlene considering moving to Chicago with Ben. I guess they kept it pretty low key, though - she wasn't wanting to, oh, I don't know, move in with the guy, just open to seeing what happened. And I like that two of the few shows I’ve watched this season (this and Murphy Brown) tackled the effects of deportation. I’d love to see Darlene send both Ben and David packing, as I don’t like either relationship (or like either individual all that much). But as long as she’s not packing, whatever. I knew she wouldn’t move, but it’s still a relief; it’s not like good shows haven’t let me down before with women’s choices about men. Speaking of: David has the audacity to utter the words, “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be together," and the reason Darlene comes up with is Ben?! And the kids wanting to move back to Chicago so badly they have not a peep to say about it being by way of living with some guy they barely know? Come on, show. When I read a semi-spoilery article about filming of the finale, I really liked the notion of exploring how the absence of Roseanne’s usual input on Jackie’s relationships affects Jackie falling into and lingering in old patterns with Peter. Last week I was quite annoyed he was back around after she’d stood up for herself, but this week I feel it was worth it for the scene at The Lunch Box. (And I love what they did with the old Lunch Box space, combining the old and new fixtures/décor). And the kitchen scene with Jackie and Darlene. “I’ve got a life coach client in 20 minutes and I’ve got puke in my hair" and “Oh my god, it’s the ghost of children past” both made me laugh out loud. But, holy crap, was that tuna casserole cold?!

The NASDAQ TS was pretty surprising (even more surprising was someone thinking the NYSE was that young). Unsung was also a surprising TS; I figure that’s another one where they forgot the category, but unsung and hero go together well enough in the mind without the hint -- perhaps not knowing the reality show (nor did I) tripped them all up. I’m most surprised none of them came up with the No L thing; I’d never heard of A’phabet Day, but the language of the clue was enough of a roadmap to Dec. 25 I was sure one of them would get it. (And the Day is dumb, but it sure made me laugh.) As usual, I was irritated by most of the "identify the person in this photo" clues. I’m not much of a comics fan, so having to rely on the few I know and those picked up by cultural osmosis, I probably would have wagered conservatively on FJ. But just like how I’d have kicked myself for such wagering on the Broadway Musicals category that turned out to be the Jersey Boys instaget, I’d have done the same tonight. Calvin & Hobbes is one of the few I ever read (I think I even had a book).

I don't drink coffee, but whenever I see it done at the table at a Vietnamese restaurant, I think it's so interesting (and pretty). If you check the online reviews of where you're planning to go, I bet you'll see reference to whether they do it right or not.

It was actually, "I feel much safer knowing my daughter is going out with a defensive player" (after realizing Becky mixed up cornerback and quarterback). K is for the knobs that were missing from the washer and dryer the Conners were attempting to sell despite the dead man in their kitchen.

That was a horrible Columbo impression; Alex barely even tried (but did indeed try something, as that wasn’t his normal voice on the quote). And he switched it up with an “Oh boy” instead of “Hello” when John made it a true DD. The SSN answer in place of the draft was, to be kind, dumb. That must be a pretty embarrassing brain fart for the contestant. He made several ill-advised guesses that knocked him out of the game. The peso and bonds clues did not belong in DJ. Poetry is usually hit or miss on the show, but I can’t figure out if the Omar Khayyam TS surprised me – I’ve decided no, because I suspect it’s one where a whole lot more people could quote it than name the author. I’d have been hesitant in my FJ wagering because that’s a wildly hit and miss category for me, and then I’d have kicked myself when it was an instaget (I’ve never seen it, but the wording of the clue led me right to it). So I’m a bit surprised both missed it. Actually, let me rephrase that; if they’d not been able to come up with Jersey Boys, but one scribbled something about The Four Seasons or Frankie Valli, I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but for both to go with A Man For All Seasons did surprise me.

I'm going to come unglued if no one has an um, why would you move you and your kids in with some guy you've barely been dating? style reaction to Darlene's news. While I think Becky's pregnancy is a bummer, I had no trouble imagining that only Dan and Darlene would express any concern/doubt, that overall her news would be met with happiness. But everyone thinking this stupid moving in together idea is hunky dory would not ring true to me, so I'm curious to see how that's handled. Fundamentally, I just hope Darlene decides not to because of her, not because of David. And it's a good point about the effect Roseanne not being here has on Jackie continuing to date the moocher. Roseanne would have seen and heard more about the relationship than the other characters are, and she'd have told Jackie she's falling back into old patterns and deserves better. It sounds like we'll get another great scene between Jackie and Darlene out of this.

I love ear floof!

If he'd calm his damn self, he might not be so annoying. It's nice that he's invigorated by good play, because I want those calling the game to both love it and know their shit, but his starting position is hyperactive, so his excitement winds up being meaningless at best and punchworthy at worst. Plus, he's Tony Romo, so, yeah.

Fuck the Patriots with a chainsaw. Way to ruin my Rams victory buzz, Chiefs. And shut up, Romo.

If I didn't hate the Patriots so damn much, I'd find it exciting that both conference championship games came down to OT. But I do, so fuck all, I need a Xanax.

They scored too damn quickly; the ending pretty much writes itself. If the Kansas City defense pulls this off, I will be shocked (and filled with glee).

Roughing the passer? Really? Oh, but I forgot; touching Tom Brady automatically equals roughing the passer.

Because she had an apartment. Most American adults don't want to live with their parents if they can afford to live on their own. (Especially if they have a series of casual sexual relationships; I think it would be pretty awkward to bring a one-nighter home when Mom and Dad are hanging out on the couch.)

G is for Good People, the Conners' religion (but they're non-practicing)

YES!!! That wasn't the game I expected, but I am damn happy right now. L.A. isn't a big football town, but I heard hooting and hollering from several other nearby homes when the kick was good, so that was fun. Now, come on Chiefs!

Oh, I love how often they reused common names on this franchise; just one of the many realistic touches. So even if someone had remembered there had been a victim named Emily, there wouldn't have been a "well, then we can't use that as Sharon's daughter's name" objection, and I appreciate that. They even had two Sharons (actually, three, counting one of Provenza's many ex-wives, but she was only referred to once IIRC). They used Perry as a last name often enough I feel like it must be an homage to someone, but I haven't noticed a Perry in the credits, so it's either a friend/relative of one of the writers or someone just really likes it. They also used the last name Chaidez twice, and that's not a common name, so I wonder about that one's significance, too.

Okay, great, you took in your aunt’s dog when the rest of the family wanted to dump her at the shelter, but then you let her not only get pregnant but whelp a litter? Better than people who make a living by deliberate breeding, but, damn, I get angry with these people and wish I was watching Dr. Jeff’s show, so I’d know this was the last litter. Yee haw, seven more puppies in a country in which two or three million dogs are euthanized in shelters each year simply because there are more of them than there are homes. No “oh, they’re so cute!” celebrating from me. I missed who died that Princess’s owner wound up with her (there was a loud noise outside at the time), but that cat needed an ultrasound – how does a vet practice with Pol’s volume need to jump right from x-ray to exploratory surgery? I hope that was just skipped over, because the point was once they got in there it was clearly cancer and her quality of life had already decreased to where euthanasia was the most humane choice, but it’s an odd thing not to mention. I like Dr. Emily’s “No!” about rolling the pregnant cow, but that made the “tack the stomach in place” procedure even crazier for the poor cow. I’m glad it all worked out. That cow had the cutest brown spots. Probie had an adorable face in general, and such a “Yep, I ate my doghouse. And?” expression in particular. Bleu the calf was so adorably sad (emphasis on adorable), and I love the owner’s dedication. Not to mention Dr. Emily kissing him. “We have our own homes, our own stuff” – gee, then how about not registering for a gift grab? You don’t have to be tacky twits just because you’re getting married. But I liked Charles and Beth’s wedding and their apparently not giving a shit that the weather sucked – they had their core group of people with them, and just celebrated the occasion. (I also wondered why they got married somewhere other than where they live [but not a traditional "destination wedding" location], and it's not like they did the old-school bride's hometown thing, because they apparently grew up together.)

Was Mr. Angeltoes dropped on his head as a child or something? Of course it's sexist. (Yes, I know, the answer is no, that it's unexamined privilege, not brain injury, that led to his answer. But come on; even if you don't initially get it, kick your brain into gear once it's pointed out and acknowledge reality.) This is likely something staffed out, but the CEO should still be aware (signing the invoices if nothing else) and put the kibosh on a gender-based division in who gets what. A better gift of this kind would be a pre-loaded Visa/Mastercard gift card that can be used anywhere, but if going with a store gift card, Target is the better of the two because of the variety of items carried, but Home Depot is still okay because the various departments still allow the average person to find something to her or his liking. Perpetuating some tired "Home Depot = Tools = Men" stereotype by giving the male employees a different gift card is not okay.

I am seriously disturbed by how many people - some of them women - I've had this argument with over the years. That scene is fucking gross.

Yeah, I think Amira's grandma is a fairly typical representation of a woman who wound up raising her kid's kid for whatever reasons, and is keeping her safe in a bad neighborhood, but isn't a stellar guardian. Because of that, it's kind of nice that there's no attention drawn to the late nights and lack of supervision; it's there for the audience to notice, but not harped on. Shifting gears, I’m not sure how much it matters now that all the original discussion is vaulted and we’re in a new thread, but I’ll try to confine my comments to specifics not brought up in the old threads the last couple of times these season one episodes popped up in syndication. Citizen’s Arrest: I find it quite telling that Mrs. Barlow volunteers at a battered women’s shelter, since her husband exhibits several hallmarks of emotional abuse. This is a high-stress situation, yes, but the asshole monitors his wife’s time in the bathroom and rails against the idea of her talking to someone after he’d ordered her not to. The most they do is label him a “control freak,” but dude is on the abuse spectrum. They missed comedic potential – and no, this is very much not a lighthearted episode, but a single moment would not have been out of place; it’s in fact common to the franchise – when Sharon gives Mrs. Barlow her phone and borrows Provenza’s phone to communicate with her. When Mrs. Barlow calls that phone, which registers it as “Captain Raydor” calling, he should have had Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead as his ringtone, a snarky nickname as her screen name instead, or something like that, and Sharon would have just raised an eyebrow, had the necessary conversation with Mrs. Barlow, and then made some delicious comment. I can only write that off as Provenza not being tech savvy enough to bother customizing, because it’s a seriously missed opportunity. I find it very disturbing that Andrea is down with, since Sharon isn’t there, the idea of letting Julio beat cooperation out of Gerald Hall, and I’m glad that characterization of her was dropped as the show went on. Also that they dropped the stupidity of a lawyer saying she’s not sure a biological father who apparently never knew he had a kid, never mind didn’t terminate his parental rights, has any legal standing. I know I mentioned this before, but I must reiterate how much I like this episode as the beginning of Provenza’s thaw towards both Sharon and Amy – he not just knows but outright says that Sharon is right and Andy is wrong about not telling the Barlows their son is dead, and he suggests Amy taking point on a couple of aspects of the investigation because of her SIS experience. I also like that Provenza is already the lone hold-out just five episodes into season one; they all learned their lesson underestimating Brenda and being so resistant to change, so they’re generally going with the flow at this point, and it’s just Provenza’s personal frustration about having that brief glimpse of a command position taken away from him still causing any significant friction – much better than dragging out the squad-wide tension. Out of Bounds: This nicely follows on from the last, in terms of changing attitudes toward Sharon and Amy. I don’t like that Amy has to take a beating to be accepted (and, jeez, watching it is painful, as is watching Scary Sanchez kicking Lamar), but putting her physical self on the line is mirrored by Sharon putting her job on the line (when Taylor says if her Plan B doesn’t work - if Lamar isn’t persuaded by Julio - it’s her job, not Julio’s, she just doubles down), and I do like the respect for both those things – Amy may be an eager beaver, but she has a particular set of skills and every bit as much dedication as anyone else, and Sharon may be new to “regular” homicide investigations (as opposed to determining whether a use of force that resulted in death was a homicide), but she is good at strategy, particularly as it involves putting full faith in each squad member’s particular strengths, and stands behind it and them. Similarly, I like that Rusty volunteers to go with Sharon to check on Amy rather than being dropped off at home; the previous episode showed him starting to understand the difficulty of the squad’s work, so it’s nice that in this one he’s affected when Buzz tells him Amy got hurt and then wants to go to the hospital. I know it’s just that they don’t want the scene interrupted with Sharon having to grab shoes and a blazer, but it’s distracting that as she and Rusty are cleaning up after dinner she’s still fully dressed so that she can just walk out the door upon being called to a crime scene. But I love that Rusty acts like she’s going out clubbing every night or something now that he’s no longer under emergency care, she shuts his nonsense down, and the next morning he’s all solicitous, making her breakfast and offering to do it every morning. His back-and-forth attitude towards her and his situation in general at this point is quite well done. I love them at the end, with him saying if she doesn’t mind him hanging around, he’s happy where he is and doesn’t want to know about his biological dad. I like the continuity of Mike mentioning his son Kevin is new behind the wheel, when we saw in season seven of The Closer that Mike finally relented and let him try for his driver’s license. We don’t need to know that – he’s just commenting on how the combination of teenage drivers and LA’s particular brand of rain-induced hysteria among drivers could lead to road rage – but for those who do, it adds a nice layer of familiarity.

M2 did a great job taking charge of that hoarder situation, figuring out the logistics, giving instructions, and offering encouragement/praise to the parolees who were quite new to rescue. She also wasn’t an asshole about the conditions. (I loved her her face at “I call ‘em ugly dogs,” though.) She’s quite an asset to the rescue. And, wow, that rescue; that’s a lot of dogs, period, but for most of them to need a lot of socialization, yikes. I’m glad they were able to work with rescue partners to spread out the burden. Spencer’s parole violation arrest being so disappointing to them, but not cause for anger, was quite poignant; it happens so often, that the guys really working hard to turn it around make one lapse in judgment about hanging with some of their old crew, and next thing you know, boom, it’s all gone. I like Earl making sure to check in with Hoolie in the aftermath. I can’t imagine anyone better to manage the parolees. Julio’s floppy ears, full-body wiggle, and roadkill style cuddle position were adorable, but he’d be too much energy for me, too. Dino was more my style, and theirs, but as soon as I saw Timberlake, I rooted for him. That smile! I always root for the special needs animals to find a good home, and from the questions they asked I thought they’d put in the work, so I loved that when they called to say they’d picked him, indeed they had done a bunch of research. And he’s a good student, so they’ll be good together.

But it should still be "she" or "he" (instead of the singular they) sending that poop emoji, because the grammar offender's gender is not unknown to the joke teller; it's a specific "someone" being spoken of. (Unless that someone's gender identity means they prefer the nonbinary pronoun in referring to them, but I suppose that takes us well into overthinking the joke territory.)

Almost - it's the lid to a charcoal grill. That's Snitch, the season four episode where she's determined to protect the young witness. Mike tells her since he and Julio have fired their weapons recently, it's her turn to shoot someone if it comes to that. In season two, Cooper said the reason she left SIS is she'd have shot too many people to make the top brass if she'd stayed. When she, positioned in the backyard, learns the suspect is heading her way, she grabs the lid, and uses it to take him out at the knees when he runs out the back door. Speaking of that episode, I have some issues with the grandma's parenting. That girl is only eleven, and first she's left alone late at night (when Amy finds the gun, it is after enough time has passed for the party to break up, the victims to be shot, and Major Crimes to be on scene) - and not because Grandma is working a second job, mind you; she's at some church thing - and then in the end scene, when Amy texts her, it's around 11:30 on a school night and she's up doing her homework, so either Grandma left her alone again or is home but doesn't enforce a reasonable bedtime. Methinks Amira kind of raises herself; I hope she holds onto Amy's number.

They did, for a time, but it was a very long process and they did not remotely retcon the rape at any point, but in fact dealt with it head-on numerous times along the way, most memorably during the episodes set in Acapulco. They even dealt with the fact that Ross, a beloved nice-guy character and Ed's best friend by the time Holly returned to town, had been Roger's slimy defense attorney who challenged the law itself (that removed the spousal exemption from the jurisdiction's rape statute; the original '79 marital rape story was based on real-life law and was really quite astounding to see on TV, let alone daytime TV). It wasn't flawless, certainly, but infinitely better than any storyline between a victim and her rapist I've ever seen on a soap (or anywhere, probably). The actors were adamant about several things along the way, and the head writer for a good chunk of their '90s storyline was equally committed to doing it justice, so it came off far better than I ever would have thought had you told my '89 Holly-is-my-favorite-character self what was going to happen. Lest GL get too much credit, though, that 20-year storyline is only praise-worthy in a vacuum; upon bringing Roger back from the dead (as soaps do), they did completely ignore the fact he'd raped Rita, too, something the actors and I think a couple of the writers pitched quite a fit about, but the executive producer just refused to deal with it.