dubbel zout

I don't know about this; she has enough money that it might not matter. It would be humiliating for her if the news got out, but I also think that level of society is more forgiving of certain actions that one might expect. I also think the deal with her wouldn't have gone through anyway, because it wasn't Joe's deal, it was John's. Joe seems intent on handling every aspect of the project himself. Look how annoyed he was when John showed up at the club when Joe was meeting Cardiff. There's a definite pissing contest between John and Joe, and so far, I think John has the edge. Joe knows it. They're all outliers! There are more important things than sleep and basic hygiene!

Jon's Lindsay Graham impression might have surpassed his "wrak wark!" Dick Cheney for me. "My wicked tongue...I'm so baaad.' I died. Same here. Are certain courses and/or majors off-limits because they might conflict with what Starbucks is about? I wish Jon had followed up the Seattle minimum-wage issue a bit more. If the $15/hour passes there, what does that mean for areas with a lower minimum wage? Will Starbucks increase everyone's rates?

He's kind of the series's Chekov's gun at the moment, isn't he? I thought he was trouble the first time we saw him in court. He oozed "no good." But I hope he's more than just a cockblock for Branch, too. Vic was really a bull in a china shop at the pageant. I thought her comments about the talent competition were a bit OOC, especially since she's been around long enough to have gained some understanding and respect for the Native American community. And barging through the dancers to find Walt also seemed OOC; was it really so hard to go around? But as long as those two don't hook up, I'll deal with her boorishness. I hope that becomes something of a running joke. First Cady hugs him, then the nurse, next it's...?

Yes, it's unthinkable that the man who made Scott and Heather Franco's parents (as well as rewriting Franco's history) could make someone already on the canvas Duke and Anna's baby. Bitch, please.

I'm pretty sure Lauren will stay Ava's. There's no reason to change her parentage yet again, and she's settled in her bubble. Making her Duke and Anna's doesn't add a thing. If Levi is Duke and Anna's, what a pointless development for everyone.

It wasn't even a casket, it was a cardboard gift box lol! At least there isn't a gigantic picture of Gabriel in Sabrina's arms. I liked that Nathan taunted Levi. Levi is a douche whose smugness about his own superiority needs to be pointed out as often as possible. I totally get why Duke is still furious, but I'd think that now he's been back in the real world for a while, he'd want to put that energy to something more positive and useful than hating Julian. Especially since Julian really couldn't care less, and nothing is going to be enough for Duke. I liked Sam's hair today. Yeah, unrequited love sucks, Rafe. Get over it.

It's because if anyone is going to kill Ric, it's going to be Sonny. IRL, Ron Hale retired.

Thank you for the advance warning. I'll be sure to have my finger on the FF button.

Ugh. The misogyny of this is staggering. It's basically Molly's fault for not wanting to be more than friends with this bozo. FWIW, I didn't think Cole and Starr worked, except on paper as Todd's daughter falls in love with Marty's son. So I'm not surprised Ron can't write a story that works for Molly and Rafe. I don't think Molly and TJ are exactly setting the world on fire, but the writing for them and the acting is marginally better.

It's all in service of Ron's greatest creation, Sabrina. *gag*

This is sweet, actually.

That was ADORABLE. I laughed so hard at the end. The cheeriness made the entire message work.

Rafe automatically is on my hate list for continuing to call Sam's son "Danny Boy."

At least that would end the Liz/Nik disaster. Talk about something needing to be killed with fire.

When Cameron stopped by later for some sex, I thought, "Joe is having a busy night." Same here, with Gordon a close third. Joe is plain annoying to me, and Cameron is an underdeveloped cliché, if that isn't an oxymoron. Hee. But the Gremlin was a better car than the Pacer. Seriously. But Joe throws a tantrum next week when Kathy's at the office, so I'm sure he'll cut off his nose to spite his face and not let her be involved. He's such a baby when things don't go exactly the way he wants them to. I hope that changes, because it's no fun to watch. I want to slap him and tell him to grow up. Except for everything Cameron-related, I liked this episode the best of the three so far. Jean Smart always makes everything better. I kind of wish we'd seen her tell John that the deal was off, because she's awesome in scenes like that. Poor John, though. He was living at the office, right? That's one reason why he told Cameron she couldn't?

I think there were some legal wranglings with Norton and Marvel, and I don't think they could officially get Ruffalo until that had been worked out, so maybe it came down to the wire for Ruffalo to go ComicCon. Same here. That's why I don't find those sorts of stories amusing.

So Carly and/or Sonny will be bankrolling this? And will Michael be dividing his time between being CEO of ELQ and fixing up the brownstone? I guess it's good that it gives Lauren and Morgan something to do other than butt into peoples' lives and whine, respectively.

Grace of Monaco is such a bomb that she's probably not doing any publicity for it. It totally tanked at Cannes (the terrible reviews are hilarious to read), and the Grimaldis have expressed Extreme Displeasure with the movie. Amanda Holden sort of looks like Kidman, so they tried. Heh. Michael Sheen was delightful. The Poppy and Georgie bit was excruciating.

Those scenes would not have worked with actors of lesser talent—ES was spectacular keeping Viki's rage controlled instead of going into scenery-chewing hysteria, like many actors would have done—and as much as I hated Echo, Kim Zimmer is a powerhouse. But I thought Echo was pointless, and I hated how she called Charlie "Chuckles." I also hated how weak Charlie became. He was never superconfident to begin with, and that was a nice contrast to the men Viki had been with, but Echo arrives in town and he becomes a doormat. That's never a character I can get behind. But yeah, he was kind of redeemed. At least he got that.

I don't care that Levi believes that—I don't care what Levi believes in general—but I do care that he's belittling Maxie's feelings just because they aren't in line with his. I hope that's the start of the major wake-up call Maxie needs regarding Levi. And they really need to get moving on his other story, assuming that's still in the works. Otherwise, let him scuttle off the show. I don't need any explanations or story about that. He can just leave and never be heard from again.

I assume the "truth" is that Rafe is responsible for the car accident that led to Gabriel's death? LOL that Silas can't deal, since we haven't seen him dealing with Rafe much in the first place. (I keep typing Rage, which is apt. Hee.) We don't need either of these characters back. Though it would bring back a Lucky who looks his age.

Adoption has fallen by the wayside lately, but at least the adopted kids on the show aren't being treated as second-class citizens. If anything, Michael is loved by Sonny more than Morgan, his biological son. And Kristina was always treated a bit dismissively because she was a girlchild, not because Alexis instead of Carly was her mother. I also like that all of Sonny's kids consider themselves full siblings; they don't usually use "half" unless describing the family tree. Yesterday Maxie said she and Robin were more like sisters than cousins, and I appreciated that especially in light of Levi's ultra-douchy comment to Mac that he wasn't Maxie's bio dad. How I wish Maxie had heard that. So even though there are more bio kids lately, they aren't being presented as a "better" option. Except maybe by Lulu, but she's nuttier than Sabrina these days.

I don't think the writers want us to sympathize with Sonny. I mean, we're seriously supposed to feel sorry for him that he can't kill Ava because she's pregnant with his or Morgan's baby? That he can't tell Michael the truth about AJ because Sonny will go to jail? I have a hard time believing I'm supposed to side with Sonny on any of this, despite Duke's feeble enabling. If they wanted us to believe this crap, I think Carly would be Sonny's sounding board, not Duke. Duke is there because he needs Sonny to keep going after Julian (as ineffectual as Sonny as been on that front). I don't think Duke really gives a rat's ass about Sonny's problems.

That's nice to see, though it sucks that Alexis won't let Molly work through her feelings on her own time. But at least Sonny isn't involved; if he were, Molly probably wouldn't even be allowed to cry about Ric. Gee, I wonder what she decides. Please let it reawaken Franco's serial-killerness, please let it reawaken Franco's serial-killerness, please let it reawaken Franco's serial-killerness, please let it reawaken Franco's serial-killerness. Then why did he bring him back? I'll never understand Ron.

I was reading an older copy of People today before getting my hair cut, and that reviewer called Eoin Macken's character "McDreamy caught in the wrong stage of REM," which I thought was hilariously apt.