Keener

I honestly can't believe that anyone would choose to live in Myanmar over Canada knowing the human rights violations that are currently and continuing to take place there. Obviously they're there because money talks, but it's disappointing that Dave & Irina so willing to turn a blind eye to it. Meanwhile, we have Anthony & James who use the TAR platform to draw attention to the human rights abuses against First Nations people in Canada. It's such a stark contrast and makes it way easier to root for the latter over the former.

Then definitely follow the same regulations, however the problem with those two is that the roadblock penalties they've taken have been on tasks that Irina was meant to do. So I guess it's considered that she's accomplished them? But she definitely bails on doing everything lately.

(Dr.) James was the one who lived in Nanaimo. Anthony was smart and on their way to the cave task, started to pull apart the Dora backpack to see what was inside that might give them insight into the task. One they started the task they couldn't work together and their strength is very much in working together. Anthony itemized that they had carrots and the white board with 11 dashes and surmised that the location will be 11 letters. Recognizing that there was carrots in the bag (which didn't fit with the spelunking gear) James suggested it might be the Goats on Roof location. I suspect it's probably a famous location in Nanaimo, or at least recognizable to locals. I really really thought it was so upstanding for Aarthy to insist they stay back and help Anthony and James. Doing so really helped them out in the end since James & Anthony returned the favour with the Goats location. Irina and Dave are really working to be the villains of this season. For me they are playing a TAR:US Rob & Amber game. Taking penalties and forcing the hands of those behind them and guaranteeing their success because if others take penalties, then they're still ahead of them. Penalties didn't start off as uniform 2 hours. In the past, it was meant to equal the length of time it would take racers to complete a task. So if it would take the average racer 4 hours to complete, then the penalty would be 4 hours. Considering the oysters seemed to take an enormous amount of time, their penalty should've definitely been longer. They're acting ridiculous and I hate that they're so single minded about placing first on legs. My pick to win is James and Anthony. They are so much fun to watch and I love that they use their platform to bring attention to First Nations causes. I need more backstory from them. The snippets they give isn't enough! What I love about TAR:Can is its diversity. TAR:US has grown tired and always picks the same "characters" to create drama. It's exhausting and difficult to root for anyone on that show. I love seeing the different groups of people. You'd never see the same type of representation on TAR:US that you see on TAR:Can and I think that's what makes it unique. I was moved to tears seeing James & Anthony wearing skirts and headbands drawing attention to Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women. You'd *never* see that on TAR:US.

In the first episode this season Spender told Scully where or at the least, WHO her child was. If, as was shown, he did tell her, why was she completely clueless about location and name until she realized she'd recognized the house? I think that they both have their suspicions about William not being a Baby-Mulder. I think Scully would rather not think/discuss the option and Mulder just doesn't want to draw attention to the possibility. I do think that this show was tossing up the anvils to hint that maybe CSM isn't right and that maybe William is Mulder's. CSM can't possibly know when they consummated their relationship and where it fits into his rapey timeline. I think that Jackson's quirks were definitely Mulder-quirks. So I hope that show ends with that reveal.

Hilariously, when Jonah was standing there not sure of what to do, I was literally saying out loud "call Dina! Where's Dina?!" lol At least I was dead on with her being the right person to take on the robber.

[bringing this over from Workplace Bully thread] As a former employee/manager, that article was entirely accurate. Although we called our in store person "Mr. Brooks" (not his real name) and he was super obvious if you ask me. I remember specifically one time watching him pretend shop in the women's clothing racks. Somehow though, he would always manage to sneak up on a thief. It would make my night to see him ditch some item he was pretending to shop with at the cash next to the sliding doors and dash out after someone. And yes, *everyone* caught had the cops called on them. Back when I worked there it was the Pokemon card fad and kids were constantly caught trying to steal them. They'd call the cops to make a point of teaching them a lesson. But employee theft was by far the worst. We had a manager steal like $20k during cash pick ups. And another manager load a skid of Playstations on to a waiting vehicle via the McDonald's service exit. They were always the most brazen. And it made for the best gossip. Actually that would make for a good running gag. Like every episode you see a background employee stealing something while the main cast is talking and not noticing. Then a few episodes later he/she is caught by their theft prevention (is that Dina? lol)

Everyone dodging the buckets of water from the leaking room cracked me up. My Wal-Mart, which is a relatively a new Wal-Mart has this same thing going on after big rain storms in their frozen section. I always marvel at how many buckets there are that I have to dodge. I feel like one of the writers visited my Wal-Mart! lol

Things I've learned with a recent rewatch of S1: The Dothraki (women?) wear their hair in braids. Dany started to wear her hair in braids once she took on the costuming of the Dothraki. I think it was Jorah who commented about it to Viserys. Jorah suggests that the braids were her embracing of the Dothraki way of life to make herself appear to fit in more fully. The hair loose, the way that she had her hair styled before she was married to Drogo was supposedly the style of the Westerosi. It's possible that the style was pre-Robert's rebellion but that was why she wore it long and free. I think she continues to wear it in braids to show her continued allegiance/devotion to the Dothraki. Or you know, the directors were sick of her hair flying all over the place and getting in her face, so tight braids keeps her wig in line.

I've been rewatching S1 so this is relatively fresh in my mind. He tells Sam that he had a chance with a prostitute but chickened out because he was worried that he might father a child and he didn't want to risk bringing a child into the world who was a bastard like him. He said something to the effect that he didn't want to put that burden onto a child so he just abstained. I don't recall him saying he was afraid of getting with a relative but it's possible that may have also been mentioned. I specifically remember the part about fathering a bastard child though in part because I'd realized that in having sex with Ygritte, while he was certainly playing a part, he likely had genuine feelings for her and was satisfied that he if she did become with child they would raise the child together regardless. Mind you, his initial hesitancy might've been born out of being young kid who was just scared to check that box. We haven't really seen him around any potential female partners outside of Ygritte in a long, long time.

But he is a Stark, just not in the way he'd imagined it. Lyanna is every bit a Stark that Ned or Benjen or any of the Stark children are/were. As we saw in S1, Catelynn was reminding people of her Tully heritage and Sansa would remind Nan that she was "half Southerner" because of her mother. While there was some push back about Sansa being a Ramsay and no longer a Stark, I think the Westerosi get over their discrimination fast. It's the same logic as to why these Southern houses are following Cersei-- she's a Lannister in their minds (or at the very least seems to hold on to that more than saying she's a Baratheon. I've been rewatching S1 and it's been interesting to see the real comparisons and call backs this season has made. In particular the one that stood out for me was the discovery of the direwolf pups. Theon commented that there wasn't a pup for Jon and he replied "I'm not a Stark" and cue the whining of Ghost behind a tree. This plays out similarly to Jon telling Tyrion that he's not a Stark and the dragon flying over head as if on cue. He's as much a Stark as he is a Targaryan. While I've been suckered in to the Jon/Dany potential, Jon's loyalty has always been his "half-"siblings and pseudo family. Right from day one he was caring for them, loving them and asking after them. That's why the Sansa/Jon reunion hit so hard. Those two literally didn't even have a proper scene together and yet many of us still got weepy at their reunion. Jon always puts his family first. Blood relations (Starks) or not (Night's Watch/Sam). To me the reveal will only go one way-- solidifying his loyalty to his family(ies).

It's funny, I joked with my friend that I thought-- through no real indication from the show-- that the match for Sansa was going to be Podrick. While I realize he's just a squire at best, when the war is over will anyone truly care about titles? The thought came to me when I was thinking about his purpose on the whole. What's he really done to forward the story? And the continuous scenes of Brienne training him? What do those insignificant scenes demonstrate? The conclusion I came to was that perhaps Podrick will be meant to take on Brienne's vows to protect Sansa. That in some capacity he'll actually use his terrible sword skills to do something useful to help Sansa in the future. For Sansa, she needs a person of *her* choosing; someone she's fallen for naturally. Also she needs a person who will feel at home in Winterfell and will not attempt to challenge her role as Lady of Winterfell. A few of the other remaining male options are either related to her, far older than her, or have potentially nefarious goals in mind. Podrick is the right age (I think? It's hard to tell how old anyone is meant to be now) and he'd fit in the north and likely has no aspirations of grandeur. Also, he's kind to Sansa and he's not a terrible person. Considering he's been hanging out at Winterfell and is Stark loyal, I can't see any other real outcome for the character.

But do they not go to school? Darcy is going to be gone for 6 weeks! If they're 2 hours away from "home" how will they continue to attend school? You would think that the twin sister who lives with them would take care of them while Darcy is gone.

Same. Same. I thought it was just pop in the numbers into the formula provided and off you go. My head is spinning at that. Wow. No way I'd ever figure that out.

Karen and Bert using the express pass on the coffee task was a dumb move. You don't use the pass to get to first place, you use it to jump over a difficult task. The pottery/metal work was much harder than the coffee task by far (unless you're Korey/Ivana). I'm sad that the NFCousins went home. I really enjoyed them and was pulling for it to be a non-elimination leg. I wonder if the girls were more efficient than Give-rs but because they'd been eliminated they didn't qualify?

Today (in my province anyway) kids will definitely have spelling tests and "word walls". I personally recall doing spelling tests in grade 7 and that would've been in the 80s. So I'm sure it was common place across Canada in Anne's era. Additionally, she was being schooled in a one-room school house. Teachers who teach split grades can attest to this, there's no way to always do different lessons for the different grades. You do what is common for all and find differences in little ways. The one-room school teacher would've likely had spelling that went from the basic "cat", "dog" for the younger kids to the complex for the older kids. I got the impression that that was the premise behind the competition-- going more and more difficult until only the strongest and in some cases, oldest, remained.