WearyTraveler

Ok, but a regular guy can use two or three fingers if he chooses (sorry to get graphic), so, if there's nothing particularly special about the lobster boy, I'd guess it was the fetish aspect combined with the housewives feeling neglected and/or that their husbands weren't paying attention to their particular needs. The only other thing I can imagine is that given the separation between his digits, lobster boy can manage to stimulate the women vaginally and anally at the same time (again, sorry for getting graphic). But, once again, a regular guy can manage that using both his hands, so, unless someones has knowledge of something special that this boy can do that a regular guy can't, I'll take the above mentioned explanation.

Yes, he murdered his daughter's fiancee right before the wedding. Apparently, he was found guilty in a court of law, but he got a sentence of 15 years of probation because the Department of Corrections didn't have any facilities capable of addressing the needs of his disability (whatever that means, does anyone know what kind of provisions would have to be in place for a prisoner with this condition?)

I see that this episode is already out there on the web, did it air in the US already or is this a leaked epi?

Ok, so, at the risk of appearing ignorant, what is it that the lobster boy character can do with his hands that a regular guy can't do? In answer to someone's question above: the real lobster boy was murdered by another performer, the wife was convicted of manslaughter for asking the other performer to kill her husband. Lobster boy's son has recently given interviews where he does say his father was abusive and a drunk (his words)

Apparently, they only had 3 weeks to make their collections, so, I'm not surprised that they came out looking more "meh" than "wow"

It has been asked on this thread why so called Reality TV shows are so eager to manufacture drama (or highlight the dramatic behavior of some contestants, or cast volatile people), as we saw on this episode and others before it. I'm afraid we, the viewers, are the answer to that question. Just take a look at the number of replies/views each episode thread gets, and you'll see this episode already has 100+ more replies than the last episode. And that's only on this forum, which is better than most. Sadly, I think that the average viewer absolutely loves stupid shit like this. Others have complained about reality shows not focusing enough on the process, may I suggest you give Face Off a try? It's surprisingly drama free, as far as Reality TV competitions go. I try to give most reality show contestants the benefit of the doubt, because we know a lot about producer manipulation, but, Korina did take the rope she was given and proceeded to thoroughly hang herself with it. I have a hard time believing any of these people have never watched the show or don't know what to expect. I do think Korina is a better designer than Char, and I do like her leather jackets. I wouldn't mind having a couple of them in my closet. That said, I don't think she's the future of fashion, or even an influential participant in the fashion world. And if she doesn't adjust her volatile personality, she can expect to never advance at all in the industry. My favorite look this episode was Kini's soccer ball dress and Amanda's Yeti, second. I didn't like their third look at all, but it was a whimsical collection. I like that Amanda, whatever her faults, seems to work well in any team she is assigned. We didn't see any drama from her team this episode, and even in the one where she was paired with Korina and they had that tense situation going on, the team functioned well.

In this order: 1.- Jon Snow 2.- Arya 3.- The Others 4. - Dany 5.- Bran 6.- Lady Stonehart 7.- Davos 8.- Tyrion 9.- Brienne 10.- Cersei 11.- Jaimie

Yes, sometimes producer credits are given a s a way to bump salaries, but not always. Bob Weinstein has been EP since 2004, Heidi has been EP since 2004, and Tim has been a producer since 2011. Heidi even has writing credits from 2006-2013. One of the reasons actors (and hosts) fight for producer or executive producer credits is also to have some control over major decisions. I doubt super model, Heidi, once married to Seal, had any particular need for extra money. Tim, maybe. In any case, my point was that some people write as if poor Tim and Heidi are just producer tools and as if they are innocent of everything negative, and it's just these "evil" producers behind the scenes manipulating circumstances. As producers, even if it's just in title, they are told everything that goes on, the planning, where the show is gong, scheduling, blah, blah, blah... They are not being manipulated or misrepresented in any way, unless they themselves want to be. But Char's garment wasn't unfinished or poorly constructed. The zipper didn't break due to either one of those things. It was an ugly outfit, to be sure, but not unfinished or poorly constructed. As for being too revealing, a few things: 1) The judges did say it was way too short for the model, so, Char was not given a pass here. The model said Char got stuck on the "rock" idea because of her husband and that implied Char didn't particularly pay any attention to what the model herself wanted, and that was taken into consideration in judging. 2) It's one thing when an outfit is too revealing because the designer intended it to be so (see Hernán and Casanova for examples of this) or because the designer cut a hem too short, and it's quite another when the outfit is too revealing because something broke through no fault of the designer or the model. 3) It's different when it's a professional model versus just a regular person who volunteered to be on the show. A professional model probably doesn't care if she's exposed, a regular person (and kindergarten teacher too boot) might care. She signed up to get a makeover and a new outfit, not to expose her flesh on national TV. And while they did show some of it on camera when the zipper broke, that's not the same as making her walk the runway like that. I'm not a Char fan, and as I've said before, "her girl" is probably the hoochie mamma type, but the way I look at this is that even if she'd had no trouble at all with the zipper, Alexander would have been eliminated anyway, because his outfit was way worse than hers. So, the whole thing with the zipper doesn't bother me at all. Had that been the professional model, and had she been required to walk the runway with a busted zipper and half her ass hanging out, Alexander's outfit would have sent him home, anyway, IMO.

I think you might have actually missed two. There was the episode where Char got eliminated and Tim sent her to the workroom to pack her stuff, and then the episode following that had Tim saying he was going to use his save on Char and bringing her back in the competition. I don't particularly like Char, I think she's pretty immature for her age, and her designs are either horrible or dated, IMO (I mean, Joan Collins, THE Queen of peplum, wouldn't be caught dead in one of Char's outfits, I'm sure), but, as the daughter of a seamstress who made all my party dresses since I was born, I can attest to the fact sometimes zippers break through no fault of the designer or the seamstress. New zippers even more so than old ones. I have had to drive my mother to the store countless times because a faulty zipper on a dress she was fixing or making for someone, broke, and the dress wasn't even on a person or a dress form. The ones they use for gowns and the so called invisible zippers are particularly flimsy. And my mom is an awesome seamstress. When I was younger I used to flip through Vogue and other fashion magazines and ask my mom to make me the designer dresses on their pages, with a few tweaks to tone down the runway drama. And they always came out perfect. Even though I have a less than perfect body (big boobs, big hips, a bit of a high waist). I remember one time on the show, during fashion week, when one of the designers was talking about all the stuff they had packed to take to the runway show and they mentioned extra zippers, buttons, thread, needles, scissors, an iron... Anything can happen backstage and the designers usually know this, so, they try to be as prepared as they can. Models can get sick or injured or simply don't show, and the garments have to be fitted to the replacement models, heels can rip a hem, etc. I think all designers (famous and otherwise) have had emergencies on runway day, no matter how much time they had or how much planning they did beforehand. The challenge was to modernize fashion icons and Knight got Pam Grier (they had to race each other to pick the picture of the icon they wanted), and he did make hot pants that were all the rage with the judges. It's been said on these boards before, but I guess it bears repeating, Tim Gunn is a producer on the show (as is Heidi), which gives him editing authority. So, he didn't piss anybody off. If he wanted something cut from the show, he has enough authority to get it off the show. See above. Tim is a producer. Also, I think if they had told the designers it was a decision made without consulting them, there would have been even more bitching. I teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at a private language academy. My students run the gamut from 4 to 40, but the bulk is children ages 4-14. It's not that teachers of small children don't want to get their freak on, but it's a tricky thing. I'm very conscious of the fact that some students look up to me and want to imitate what I do, particularly the youngest ones and then there are the parents... ummh, the parents (apologies to all the parents out there)!. Some don't seem to even take an interest on their children's education, they just drop them off and pick them up, and don't even want to stay and discuss their child's progress when we hand out grades; others are way too involved and want to know everything that goes on in class, they show up 15 minutes earlier and peek inside your classroom, they monopolize you (or try to) and ask you how the child is doing every single day of class. And so on. There are all kinds. And they complain to management about the smallest things you can imagine. I had two children (5 years old) who were always joking with each other in class, playing games, laughing, etc. Then one day one of the moms came in to ask that we don't allow them to sit together because her child said the other little boy bothered him. They judge you inside and outside the classroom. I take the train and walk through the town from the train station to get to work and I'm always conscious of what I wear and how I talk to people because some are gossipy and love to complain and criticize. I know it's wrong of them, and that I should be able to wear what I want, as long as it's not, you know, totally indecent, but sometimes you just don't want to make waves for silly stuff like clothing. I like to pick my battles according to my priorities, and fashion is low on the list. The model was wearing shorts in the park when Char asked her to participate, but they were not as tight or as short as the ones Char designed. I think Char's aesthetic is too much on hoochie side for my liking or the judges. I agree; in spite of her faults, Amanda seems to behave like the most adult person in there. I'm sure it wasn't a full three day commitment. They measured them and talked to them in the park. Add to that producers taking them through the paperwork and explaining the requirements of the challenge and you get probably two hours, three tops for day one. On day two they showed up for the fitting, so, perhaps another 2-3 hours. On day three they had the show, which was probably very time consuming, so, let's say 6 hours. In between days one and two, and two and three, they could have changed appointments, and reorganized their schedules. To take out from the seams would have taken longer than 10 minutes, and it would have shown on the clothes on close inspection. Sawing the seam is five seconds but undoing the sawing machine's work on an existing seam? Time consuming, delicate work. That's why seamstress and designers fit you before they do the machine work.

It took me a second to realize that "Fan sold separately as part of Kit’s Party Treats" meant the object in the doll's hand and not an actual person. LOL!

Yes, those were the rules.

Yes, but their creations can still be scary without being bloody and gory. It's more challenging that way, off course, but think of the amazing make-ups we could get!

What I don't understand is why in 99% of cases scary = blood and gore to the contestants. I've come to the conclusion that it must be a cultural thing, because most "horror" movies go that route in North America. The most scared I've ever been by a movie was The Entity. And I don't think there even was a single drop of blood on that one. When that thing pulled the sheets off of a sleeping Barbara Hershey in order to rape her, I almost peed my pants I was so scared. Blood and gore are disgusting to me, not scary. Evil people, people who are cruel and commit unspeakable acts just because they can, or because they enjoy it are scary to me. Blood, guts, gunshot wounds, not so much. Maybe because my dad spent very many years in and out of hospitals and ERs with assorted maladies and I've seen quite a lot of the stuff, I don't find it scary at all. Blood and gore may be, in some cases, the result of acts performed by evil people (or entities), but it's much more scary to me to see a study of the monsters themselves than the whole messy, gruesome result. That said, I wasn't bothered by having a horror challenge since it seemed the producers have heard the fans complaints and this season has been very monster light (as compared to other seasons). I also agreed with the winner and was happy to see that while the judges still seem to hold the paradigm that blood and guts are scary, they appreciated restraint and chose one of the least bloody make-ups out there. As for the save, I also think it could have been used if one of the designers that have been consistently on the top had an off week, but I think in this show the "save" is kind of moot. We've seen in the past how, when faced with two equally bad make-ups, the judges have considered body of work to make their decision, so, I don't think any of the ones that would eventually become top three are in danger of never becoming top three or needing the save. If that makes sense.

As much as I would love for that to be true, it's an impossibility because this episode was filmed months ago, and I only started the petition a few days ago :( So, keep spreading the word!!!! Agreed, if you'd like to do something about this, you might want to start by signing my petition to have longer challenges again! You should watch it, anyway, it's quite a good show, and the guest is in a supporting role (if that counts for anything). All the actors on it, including her are pretty phenomenal (although they had a 3 or 4 episode recurring role for Sara Silverman which I did not like, but it's the only one in two seasons, so, not bad) I thought you could vote for anyone for fan favorite, no matter their status in the competition. I think, if I'm not mistaken, that, in the past, someone who was not top three even won this thing. _________________________ I liked the top two this week and agreed with the judges' tie decision. I also agree that Fäde has more potential than Char, so, I wish Tim had not used his save on Char and that he could use it now. That said, I don't think Fäde would have made top three, and I think Char won't either, so, I guess the point is moot. Except I'd rather see more of Fäde than of Char. I also agreed with the judges' bottom three, but I would have sent Emily home on the ugly factor alone. I think I would have put Sandhya in the middle and would have put Amanda's in the top three. I get that it wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but it was colorful, and I could see the hieroglyphic quality of the eyes. The one thing I liked about Sandhya's was the pattern on the top, in the front of the dress. The rest was awful. Maybe if she had made that same pattern on the back, and just have it be a vest and not floor length, it would have worked better. I also think that having the color lines from top to bottom was too much. Perhaps is she had given her model a red, flowing skirt covered in the same material Sean used to line his dress, it would have worked much better. In any case, I thought Char and Alexander's were middle of the pack and Sandhya had a lot of editing issues, so I thought Amanda's was superior to Sandhya's. The thing that bugged me about Sandhya's comment was that it was like rubbing it in the faces of the other contestants: "the judges have never called me derivative of other designers like they just called you derivative of Steve McQueen....nah, nah, nah, nah. nah. nah!". Maybe she didn't intend it as such but man, she needs to lear some tact and to consider how her words would make others feel. Particularly since she expects others to be considerate of her feelings. Quid pro quo, tit for tat, do onto others.... etc. etc.

Regarding that particular Lost answer, I think it's not a matter of the answer not being given, but a matter of people not liking what the answer was or thinking the answer was not explained in enough detail. From Lost episode 6.05: BOY IN BLACK: What's down there? MOTHER: Light. The warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt. And we must make sure that no one ever finds it. BOY IN BLACK: It's beautiful... MOTHER: Yes it is. And that's why they want it. Because a little bit of this very same light is inside of every man. But they always want more. JACOB: Can they take it? MOTHER: No. But they would try. And if they tried they could put it out. And if the light goes out here... it goes out everywhere. I think that bit of dialog explained, in a very straightforward way, what the secret of the island was. That light could be harnessed for good or evil, as we saw many characters do (or try to do) throughout the show. When the Boy in Black became the Man in Black he stated several times he wanted to destroy the island, ergo, the light would go out everywhere and that meant the world, as we know it, would end. Now, one can say that in one's opinion that explanation is stupid. One can say "so, it was all "magic", after all...LAME!". One can say that's not enough of an explanation, and that one wants to know exactly how this light business works (if it's particles that one can inhale or if it's purely an electromagnetic concentration, etc.). But one can NOT say that the secret of the island was never revealed, because it was. To bring it back to The Leftovers, there's one fundamental difference. When we met the Lost characters they had just established contact with the mysterious island and of course THEY were looking for explanations, so, we, as viewers wanted those explanations too. When we meet the Leftover characters, three years have passed since the Departure took place; they are no longer looking for answers, they are dealing with the fact that there may never be an answer (amongst other things). The first few minutes we saw people reacting to disappearances but none of those people were our main characters, we saw Matt, but he wasn't even aware that people had disappeared, all he knew was that he had been in a horrible accident and his wife was badly hurt. It's only much later that we see where our characters were in the immediate hours before the Departure and their reactions to it. That is a very clear narrative choice that shows what the creators think is important and what story they are choosing to tell. It's not a show focused on explaining the mystery of the disappearances, it's a show focused on how we deal with loss, faith and uncertainty. By making this narrative choice, the creators are very specifically saying what type of story they intend to tell. I loved Lost, but I could understand how some people were frustrated because the mysteries were present and prominent throughout the show's entire run, and in the end, more weight was given to the emotional journeys. In the Leftovers, I don't think there's any room for confusion as to the writers' intent. It's definitely not about the mystery, people have started accepting no explanation is forthcoming, they have stopped asking questions; this show is most definitely tilted toward the emotional arcs. If that were not my cup of tea, I'd bail out now, because I don't think this show will ever be about anything else. Well, reasonably is also a matter of taste, I'd say. I can connect and have connected with the characters, so it is reasonable for some. As for the explanation of the departure, the source material, written by Perrota, not Lindelof, does not ever explain it. I haven't read the book, but this has been mentioned by several articles about the show already; before it came out and in reviews of the finale, so, it's not a big secret. Obviously, then, Perrota's intent was to explore the human psyche in very messed up circumstances, not to explain the circumstances themselves. So, once again, the show is not about the departure, it's about how the human race reacts to an unexplainable event of major personal consequences. I see it this way, I have about 400 Facebook friends, and that puts me in the lower bracket of Facebook users, but if an event like the one that happened on the show happened to us now, that would mean 8 people I know would completely disappear off the face of the Earth. EIGHT! I can't even begin to imagine how that would make me feel; and if one of those people were a close relative or friend, well..... all bets are off. What did these characters do? well, many joined a cult, others are going crazy, others are founding cults, others are consumed by depression.... and so on. We could say we want to see how, step by step, they ended up where they are when we meet them, three years after the event but that's not the story these writers chose to tell, and they have not been coy or shy about it, so we can say: "well, I'm not interested in watching a story like that", or "I don't like that narrative choice", but we can't say we were fooled into believing this story was about explaining the Departure and then became something else. Or that they don't have a plan, or that they are choosing the "easy way out". They have been extremely clear about their intent. I know all the Lost music by heart. I bought Giacchino's music while the show was on. He's an Oscar winner composer (for the movie Up), and this is not his work. The Leftover music is composed by Max Richter. Spielberg has lost his touch, if you ask me, he's moved well into cheese; while I don't think The Leftovers has crossed that line yet.

Great ideas! We should troll, then!

The doctor stayed

Well, I think if we get enough signatures, we can send the petition link to their twitter, but not before, because if they see a petition with 10 signatures, they'll just laugh. For now, I think sharing within your own social circles will help send the word out. I've written to Tom and Lorenzo and to EW telling them about it and asking them to mention the petition in one of their recaps, we'll see if they do it. You could write to them too (look for contact info on heir pages). If they get several requests, they might pay attention. I would write to E! but I just hate them so much I can't. So, if someone wants to write to them with the petition link, that'd be awesome! Thanks, guys!

I'll give you Laurie (partially) and Tom, but I can't give you Kevin. Kevin explained in Episode 9 exactly how he was feeling before the departure, and we saw that he was so dissatisfied with his life that he decided to go boink an almost random stranger. He wondered out loud to his father: "why isn't it enough?". We saw his midlife crisis very clearly. We saw how Laurie was feeling about her husband. She hadn't even told him she was pregnant. We saw her struggle with the state of their relationship. We saw her struggle with being pregnant. I believe we saw her lose her baby (the show laid all the groundwork for the baby to have been a departure, not an abortion, given the context of the episode and the fact that we were seeing reactions to disappearances right at that moment, I don't think there's any traction to the theory the baby was aborted). These are all good starters for her motivation to join the GR. Tom, we don't know, I agree. We haven't been told much about him. I suspect that his relationship with his bio dad will have something to do with it, since the show chose to introduce that character and show us his interaction with Tom, but I'll concede that's speculative at this point.

Fair enough, so answer me my original questions about the details that were being requested by the posters here, namely: 1) How does it advance the plot to know that the citizens are complaining to the police, the mayor, the prosecutor? We saw it once with the town hall meeting. What do we gain by seeing it again and again? 2) As for the evolution of the Memorial Day Mayhem, why do we need to see that, exactly? Wouldn't that be gratuitous violence? In order to show the evolution of the day, we'd need to cut out some other scene, what would you sacrifice so you can see completely immaterial, non-plot advancing details? What do we gain by seeing this?

Lindelof, you just missed a d. :) He's not the only showrunner. Tom Perrota, the book's author, is also a showrunner and producer, so, I think he might be the one looking after character development and overall story. The book is his baby, these are the people he created. If anyone knows what they are supposed to do, or where they will end up, it would be Mr. Perrota. As for having a plan, a few observations: 1) One show is not enough, IMO, to attribute a flaw to somebody. Let's say, for instance, that you quit your job, should we all now call you a quitter? 2) I disagree with the notion that the Lost showrunners didn't have a plan. I think they had their general story outline, and that they stuck to it, but that some points in between were organic and were developed along the way. As much criticism as they got after the Lost finale, they still maintain they did the ending they always wanted to do. I believe that because it was an ending I saw coming (Jack died saving the world, I predicted that after the pilot episode). 3) Network TV is a very different animal from Cable TV. For starters, the whole season is usually in the can before the first episode airs. I think that's awesome. One of the biggest mistakes I think the Lost creators made was to listen to the fans so much. The love triangle, arguably the worst part of Lost, was kept alive because of how vocal the shippers were. As bad as it was, it was one of the most discussed, popular, and passion generating storylines. I think the network pushed for it to be kept ambiguous and used it as much as they could in their clips and promotions. Another example is the introduction of Niki and Paolo, which came to the scene because the fans were clamoring to know what the non-main cast characters were thinking. The showrunners have said they regretted that decision. 4) The Leftovers is not a story that requires a detailed plan, IMO. You have two possible final outcomes: either humanity finds a way to move on and recover or we head towards complete emotional extinction. Neither scenario requires a detailed plan, IMO. This is definitely a very different story from what other TV shows are. Game of Thrones is a show that requires strict planning, The Leftovers, not so much.

It's one of those songs that's always being played in TVs and movies. I remembered it from the movie Sleepwalkers, based on a Stephen King novel

He's alive! No aneurysm, then? ;)

Also from Time's magazine recap: Also from the Entertainment Weekly recap: I think the finale was extremely well received in the media.

You've never watched TV Land or Nick at Nite?! :-O ;-)