Bastet

Having seen it again, I, too, remain in that camp. I remembered the shot at the grave site, but couldn't remember if there was more - a memorial service or other gathering with dialogue. If the latter, I agree Doug and Carol's appearance could have been distracting, if we had them chatting with people about their new jobs, the kids, etc. But a quick shot of them standing/sitting there, just like the others who returned? Not distracting. Them NOT being there is what's distracting.

Other than the Trojans remembering how to play again and winning after letting the Wildcats tie the score, thus controlling their division destiny, my favorite part of the USC/Arizona game came from the announcers discussing the rash of QB injuries in the NFL and one of them (I can't remember who) saying that, nevertheless, the strangest NFL QB story was that Colin Kaepernick doesn't have a job. Testify. And good on all those who continue to say it.

All I know about Red Robin is it tends to appear in malls, making it the one place in those structures you can get drinks made with liquor. The food is totally generic American chain restaurant - edible, certainly, and in some cases even good, but not at all something to seek out.

Shareef assassination Hoynes affairs Character disappearances (I actually don't have a problem with this one, since that's just how the world works and I don't remember anyone other than Mandy being a major character and then disappearing without a word of explanation, but I don't think it's something that should be rated higher than some of this stuff, so I'm going to start voting for it)

C.J. is stalked Shuttle leak California 47th

I know I've complained about this one before, but: snoring. Jeez! I know she can't help it, but I am considering smothering my best friend with a pillow. I am down the hall and have my door closed, even though that means her cat can't sleep with me, because my friend sleeps with her door open so her dogs can access the doggy door in the guest bathroom, and I can still hear her snoring. I was really dumb not to bring headphones, but it's been so long since I've spent the night with her I forgot how she snores. And she goes to bed hours before I do, so it's not like I can try to fall asleep before she starts snoring. Grrr ...

C.J. is stalked, but only to set up some horrible victim falls for her protector storyline Sam sleeps with a prostitute and then won't leave the poor woman alone Donna's Gaza injuries

I'm peeved that my car decided to develop an intermittent problem the day before I leave to go on a weekend trip. I think I know what the problem is, but I don't have time to tinker with it to confirm, let alone fix it. And I can't take the risk the intermittent problem would opt to become a permanent one while I'm out of town. Thankfully, my parents can easily get by with one car, so I dropped mine off at my parents' house (where, if I luck out, perhaps my dad will go ahead and do the diagnosing so I don't have to deal with it when I get back) and borrowed my mom's car -- which, as the same make/model but many years newer, is fancier than mine and gets better gas mileage, so, despite the peeve, this all worked out rather well for me. Plus, my car is 19 years old and I've done very little to it beyond routine maintenance (this is why I'll probably never own anything other than a Honda or Toyota/Lexus; I am all about longevity, and they've come through), so I just shouldn't complain in general. But, still - the timing irks. Riley is peeved that the unexpected time out of my day meant I didn't finish laundry by the time she wanted to eat dinner, and her bowl is next to her mortal enemy, the washing machine. (Thus, we have a deal that I do laundry during her day-long nap.) It was the last wash load (she's okay with the dryer) and delayed her by not even 20 minutes, but it was a scene.

Elizabeth's reaction to Kerry bursting into tears is so her, and so me. Love it.

I loved watching Tonya Harding skate, to an extent that hasn't been replicated before or since in my lifetime. I couldn't stand Nancy Kerrigan. (She didn't deserve to have her knee clubbed, if that needs to be stated.) Tonya's fucked-up family situation, such that marrying someone like Jeff Gillooly was a given, is an interesting story. Tonya's "red-headed stepchild" status within the skating world, despite her talent, is an interesting story. I'd watch Allison Janney read the phone book. So, yeah, I am all over this.

I read on the ER Wiki (as part of unsuccessfully looking for info on an originally-scripted VO for Mark's funeral, per a post above) that baby Ella was played by Alex Kingston's daughter, but I haven't confirmed if that's true.

Helicopter 1, Romano 0 That shot when he looks over and sees his severed arm is quite memorable. I love when he comes to and groans, "Oh, I'm at County." Poor Mr. Hirsch.

Jester came to the funeral! I cried through this whole episode, and by the time we got to his dying dream montage I was trembling with those tears. I like that Mark and Rachel having a nice day together, talking about his childhood and surfing, isn’t some instant cure-all; she’s still sneaking around to drink and snatch his pills. Hearing him say he’d take back every bad moment he had with his father if he could, but he can’t, doesn’t magically transform her from petulant teen to dutiful daughter. But she’s seen that Mark remembers how it feels to be the adolescent in the equation, and that you can wish it could be erased without being crippled by regret. Everything isn’t made okay in his final days, but the foundation is there for her to grow up and learn how to cope with it all. Nicely done.

It's entirely possible last night was only the second time I've ever watched Schizogeny. I remembered nothing from that episode other than Mulder's "boyish agility" line and Mulder sticking his head through a broken window, throat up, despite two pointed shards that could have come loose and stabbed him. This means that when the actor who played Bobby went on to do a fabulous job in an episode of L&O: SVU (and semi-recently, another great job in an episode of Major Crimes), I didn't say, as I normally do when someone first came to my attention in an XF episode, "Hey, it's that guy from The X-Files!" Instead, last night I said, "Hey, it's that guy from SVU and Major Crimes; I had no idea he'd been on XF." The episode is rather dumb. Karin Matthews is a weird character, but not in any interesting way. First, I really don't like the way the actor speaks, so she bugs me from jump, and she's also obviously up to no good from the beginning, but it's neither subtle nor obvious yet intriguing. So, no suspense whatsoever. And, seriously - killer trees? No wonder I never re-watched it. When Mulder says people call Bobby "dorkweed," it looks for all the world like he actually said "dickweed" and they had to loop his dialogue later to change it. It seems odd that Standards & Practices wouldn't have made them change it from the beginning, but I swear when they filmed it he said "dickweed."

I utterly adore both relationships, but I'll pick Jed and Leo for the win because it's purely a friendship.

City shelter, and shit like that and far worse is why it was shut down about six months later. There were some good people there, but they didn't have the power to overcome the horrible leadership.

In my experience, Halloween events are always held on Halloween, no matter what day of the week it falls on. The "Carnaval" in West Hollywood draws a huge crowd (several hundred thousand is not unusual) every year, even on a weeknight.

The shelter from which I adopted Maddie and Baxter did not disclose anything was wrong with Maddie, never mind that she was literally wasting away from an untreated infection. (If they had, it would only have made it even more certain that I'd be adopting her.) When I notified them as an FYI, they offered to let me "exchange" her for a different cat. As if she was a sweater that didn't fit. Yeah, really, I'll give you this sick cat, whom you'll euthanize, and take another one, because I don't want to be inconvenienced. Fuck that; it was some intensive care those first few weeks, but my vet and I got her through it and she went on to be the picture of health until the illness that killed her at 16+ (her age at adoption was unknown, but she was an adult, and I had her 15 years, so she lived at least 16 years). To me, it's worse when a rescue does something like this. Best wishes to Piper!

For me, it worked because they let it stand on its own; they didn't have Carter say, "You know, I got sick on my first day, and Dr. Greene told me ..." They just started with the same shot, had Carter say the same things, and relied on the audience to pick up that we'd heard this before.

This kind of thing is hard to pull off well, but they nailed Carter coming outside to give Gallant the same talk Mark had given him.

Damn, damn, damn. I was just minutes too late to see that, and I can't find it online. But Carter reading the letter is available. The look on his face when he reads Elizabeth's addendum, and the look on Susan's when she - still watching him, while everyone else has started chatting - realizes what he's reading -- great stuff!

Toby and Josh. Jeez, this would have been out several rounds ago if I ruled the world; I'm obviously missing something others appreciate. Tie-breaker: I caaan't. [/whine] I have a dead heat tie between Leo and Jed and C.J. and Toby as my favorite friendship. I'll force myself to choose if we wind up needing a tie-breaker, but for now I can't.

I hate them both. I have to laugh when sweet potatoes are offered to me as a substitute for potatoes, as if I want the potatoes the hell away from me for health reasons. No, it's the taste, and sweet potatoes don't taste any better.

That reminds me - I liked when Abby told Carter his mom was there at the ER (when she came in with the little boy) and said something like, "She seems much nicer today." I also liked Susan's compassion for Eleanor, not knowing her -- she reacted to Carter's stories like the average person would hearing about a stranger in a story, and those responses (to learning about the divorce, to hearing about her getting sick on wine and pills, etc.) gave Carter a little food for thought, without it being a situation where she dismissed his experiences. It just made him think, "Oh, yeah - your husband leaving you after 30 years has to be upsetting, regardless of circumstances," "Puking your guts out in front of your son because you lost control would be embarrassing," etc. I had a shit ton to do today (and do for the rest of the week, but I need to make sure I watch Mark die -- does anyone know when that will air?), plus was distracted by indictment coverage, so I didn't even have the second and third episodes on in the background. I knew that meant I was missing the sexual harassment seminar shenanigans, and was none too sad about it. Assholes.

At all the grocery stores in my area, there is a spot for emptied hand-held baskets to be stacked. It's on the customer side of the check-out counter, so people unload their basket just as they would their cart, and then put the empty basket in that stack. Employees come along periodically and take the baskets back to the entrances for people to grab as they come in. At my local Smart & Final, they are really bad about that latter step, so I often have to go grab one from a check-out line. I don't think I've ever seen someone just plop the filled basket down, but if they did, the clerk would have to hand the empty basket back to them to put away.