Sandman

Or maybe they can’t. I think this tells me everything I need to know. Thanks!

Remember when Commissioner Grampa Mumbleteeth was only Chris Kositchek and he was a lot less prone to spouting passive-aggressive crapola that was supposed to pass for wisdom? Because I do, Ron; I DO.

Nope. I did NOT need that image in my head, thankyouverymuch. 😉

You’ve heard of method acting? RSW is the foremost practitioner of bangs acting.

Good point, @brisbydog. I find Kristen so genuinely horrifying I want to forget she exists. She may have begun as a complex, fully realized character, but she was awful long before Davidson left the role. Yeah, I said it. :: fight chin :: 😉

Or this one in particular? Nevertheless, aside from the supervillain-level strength part, this theory does make a certain sense. As someone with some investment in Leo’s happiness, Diana could have a motive to tick names off Leo’s list. (Of course, the sheer logic of it probably means the show’s not going to go there.)

Ouchie. Hee. Though if we're talking about lowering the standard of acting, Nathan Owens was always a prime offender there, for me -- Cameron was surely not the worst character, but Owens was arguably one of the three worst at reproducing recognizable human emotion. RSW and he appear to be proof (if more were needed) that models should not become actors. The worst character? That's easy: Darling Effin' Julie. A selfish, cruel busybody who's inexplicably treated by her family and the rest of the townsfolk as an example of compassion and goodness. Even RoboMar on her worst day can't match the Wicked Stepmothersister's bottomless well of self-righteous rage.

Ucch, would that mean twice the smarm from Rikaart? Hard pass. This show is already lousy with doppelgangers. Kristen and Susan; Hope and Gina; Adrienne and Bonnie; Marlena and Samantha and Hattie; Tony and André; Stefan and Jake -- no one has ever said of this show "You know what's missing? A twin storyline!" Double ucch.

#ICan'tWriteForBeans #TheyPAYMeToWriteThisMalarkey #EveryCharacterITouchIsRuined #ITakeKillAllYourDarlingsLiterally #LegacySchmegacy! At least Nicole marrying ShutUp!Rafe means two stupid people are miserable instead of four.

I just felt secondhand embarrassment at a (clearly) middle-aged man trying so desperately to sound hip. “It’s like she read my diary”? Seriously? No. Just — no.

Sorry — just to be clear, I didn’t mean “a full bar” in the sense of a well-stocked liquor cabinet. I meant the crew could stage a revival of Cheers in there. His quarters appear to be enormous — and look to me a little like a hotel bar. All that’s missing are the ferns.

I’m behind enough that when I thought I saw BOllie tell NuSonny “I love you,” I figured the show (or I) had gone completely insane. But are they putting RSW in glasses to make Alex look brainier than Salem’s Favourite Serial Killer? Because I’m not sure it’s working. Leo’s still an atrocious waste of my time, Stephanie seems like a whiny mess of a girl, and I cannot be made to care about Snorpheus and the Ex-ISA Silver-Haired Babysitters Club. Or British What’shernose (Gwen?), either. Please let Billy Flynn get away from that charisma-sink. ETA: I was not expecting to see Sonny get perforated! There: All caught up.

Not sure this is exactly the place to report this, but, aw, man: Nichelle Nichols has died.

I thought the use of the stinger from TOS was nice touch, too. I thought Peck’s lifted eyebrow was well deployed at that moment; Spock’s version of a “Well, shit!” face.

So, the Gorn are like the Xenomorphs, but more insectile? Grrrreat. This episode’s not gonna give me nightmares at all.

Because these people think clubwear is appropriate for funerals, christenings, board meetings, and scrubbing in for cranial surgery? Just guessing.

I’ve never seen Orpheus as particularly bright. He does, however, seem to have a knack for inhibiting the townsfolk’s access to the Salem Brain when he’s around. Just because he makes everyone else dumber than usual doesn’t make him a criminal mastermind.

That part I knew, but I was pretty sure Cumberbatch wasn't part of the Netflix series. Thanks for the confirmation. Agreed.

Well, so much for Wanda's character arc -- this movie makes WandaVision feel entirely pointless. How many times is Marvel going to back to the "redhead gets drunk on her own power, wrecks everything for everyone" well? Jesus. Enough! Olsen is never less than mesmerizing, but I hated that Wanda is so completely without self-awareness for nine tenths of the movie. Visually, the movie is arresting, and it was nice to see Christine again; I always like McAdams, and she and Cumberbatch have nice chemistry, but it's hard to feel much sympathy for Wanda. Crazy Bitch Wanda is ... not that interesting, sadly. And I don't buy the whole retcon of the Scarlet Witch being some prophesied* bringer of universal doom. (I also don't buy Wanda as more powerful than absolutely everyone. Charles Xavier, in particular, is the most powerful telepath on the planet. Wanda should not have been able to trounce him that easily, Darkhold or no. Now, Reed Richards, on the other hand, has the dumbest power in any universe. I have no trouble imagining that Wanda could best a guy made of gum. Please stop assassinating your female heroes, Marvel. Other Wanda tells her "Know that they're loved." I've seen references to the first iteration of Strange we see (the one with the ponytail, pre-Zombie) as "Defender Strange." Does Strange ever make an appearance on the Netflix Defenders series? (*And, no, Waldron, "prophesized" isn't a word, no matter what Dylan told you. Just, no.)

Hee! Guess so. I think Peck was having a ball, as were the others. The costumes, especially Gooding's glittery fingernails of eeevil, and Mount's butt-part hair, were peak Eighties. The production style seemed more Dungeons & Dragons (the movie) or Labyrinth than The Princess Bride to me. (The Princess Bride seems more of a loving take on the material than a strictly camp treatment would allow for. But then I'm usually in the anti-camp... er, camp.) I thought the episode was unlike TOS to the extent that there was little focus on breaking the crew out of their delusion -- which I think would have been the way the plot would have run on Kirk's Enterprise. I think the episode stayed on the right side of the line; a more flagrantly camp approach would not have worked for me. I think it would have run the risk of draining all of the emotional resonance out of the scenes for Dr. M'Benga and Rukiya. I actually liked the way he played those scenes. The doctor isn't a particularly demonstrative guy. Yes, he's reserved, but I definitely felt the wrench of it. Maybe bringing Rukiya back after an instantaneous lifetime of adventuring foreshortened the doctor's path of grief and doubt, but I thought all three actors were moving and convincing. (I was thinking that this was how the Traveller could have worked on TNG -- without Wesley Crusher's purported (and yet somehow never perceptible) awesomeness. "Hilarious until it was heartbreaking" is a great way to put it. I agree that I was expecting the Rukiya plot thread to run a bit longer. Somehow the idea that so few people on Enterprise knew about Rukiya, and now no one else knows what happened at all, makes the doctor's situation worse, rather than less wrenching, to me. Lonelier, I think. Agreed about Picard. I can't help thinking that the second season wasted a lot of potential. Yep -- this was my reaction, too. (Also, I wish I'd come up with "Deb the Neb"; that's nice.)

I liked the fact that the aliens’ empathy was presented (their affect and behaviour shifted to match whoever else was in the room), but wasn’t hammered home or the primary plot point it might have been.

My favourite moment in that exchange was that even Spock’s expression implied “Busted, dude,” (or at very least “Such demurral is unsupported by available evidence, Captain.”) “Logic, logic — I’m sick to death of logic! And also the forty-leven various kinds of assorted shit you guys come up with on the regular!” Also, I thought Ethan Peck did a really nice job with Spock’s nonplussed moment of sip-of-wine-down-the-wrong-pipe “… wut??” I laughed out loud at that.

Huh. I guess I remembered this movie even less than I thought; I was sure there was something in it about Spock's not being the first Vulcan-human hybrid (which would have been in a change to TOS canon -- which is why (I thought) I remembered it).

Una is becoming my favourite character. This line and “Our mutiny is still in progress” were certainly my favourite moments in the episode. I don’t disagree that the pirates had far too easy a time taking over the Enterprise. (I would have thought Starfleet had standard training on how to repel boarders.) Even so, I found the episode entertaining. Maybe I’m easy, too. I barely remember Star Trek V. I seem to recall it as both preposterous and dull. Mostly what stands out is how thoroughly wretched Laurence Luckinbill’s performance was; just mind-bogglingly awful. That, and the fact that Spock’s half-brother was also half-human — a troublesome canon wrinkle which the episode took some pains to iron out. Not looking forward to the Sybok character here, in any case. I was hoping to see Spock’s friendship with Chapel develop without verging into angsty unrequited Feelings with a capital Feck. Ah, well…

Naming his son with Jan that? Aw, hell, no! [/random outburst mode]