Dancing Queen

I liked the movie very much, but I won't ever watch it again. It was hectic and exhausting and so very sad. Howard's gambling addiction was well-portrayed, and his ending felt inevitable. He couldn't just quit while he was ahead (or just breaking even, like at the almost-end when he had the money he owed in hand). It was all about the thrill, the rush, for him, and he wanted so desperately to win BIG that he couldn't read the room. It was completely obvious to the audience (not from bad writing, just simple cause and effect) that the blond guy was just biding his time in the cage, but Howard never anticipated how it would end. I loved how Arno was so impressed with Howard winning the impossible bet.

Can I just say how much I love Raymond Holt? Even if he does think E.T. was a monster.

So, once Owen finally achieved fatherhood, he must have passed the Gotta Have Kids torch to Alex . . . who threw away his current marriage rather than become one of millions of dads who co-parent with the ex-wife . . . and thinks that he and Izzie, who have both abandoned a spouse, can live together forever and provide a stable household for two children? Um, no.

I'm becoming increasingly tired of Home Dre (Work Dre is usually fine with me), and was incredibly annoyed that he threw the game remote at the wall like a toddler having a tantrum, then went on that self-righteous "How dare you damage the wall?" vendetta. His throwing the remote at the wall would likely have chipped the paint or dented the drywall (if there hadn't already been a hole there) and/or broken the expensive remote. He would have just paid money to fix any damage (without changing his tantrum-y ways), but he wants the boys to Learn a Lesson. Ugh. 🙄

For me, the most frustrating thing about the "we were on a break" saga is that Ross and Rachel never finished the argument that caused the break - that Ross belittled Rachel's work and didn't trust her to stay faithful because she worked with cute guys. The writers treated "We were on a break!" as a punchline, but Ross always used it to deflect from his crappy behavior, reducing their breakup to a technicality about whether sleeping with the Copy Girl was cheating instead of acknowledging that he had consistently disrespected Rachel's work and autonomy to the point that Rachel wanted a break in the first place. In fact, this is why I don't believe Ross and Rachel's relationship survived more than a few days/weeks/months past the finale - Ross was always more concerned about proving he was "right" than respecting Rachel as a real person with agency and feelings and a life outside of their relationship.

Toward the very end of Command's speech, they seemed to be slowly reducing the computer voice modulation until it actually sounded like Ryan Reynolds' voice. It would be a huge (and fun) twist for RR's character to be Command, especially after all his ridiculous fanboying over Hobbs.

I've never disliked Maggie, but she's NOT a strong enough character to hold my interest for an entire episode. I usually* like Jackson because he is pretty consistent about setting boundaries, which are sorely needed on this show. His "I'm talking . . . to someone else" was a perfect example. *Except during this breakup. There's a lot of manufactured anger on both sides. She's single, so he shouldn't be jealous. He's with someone new, so he should be happy. Maggie's decided her true love is surgery, so she should also be un-jealous and happy. I just don't understand how such a tepid relationship could produce so much animosity in the aftermath, especially since they've both moved on.

Is Greer retiring, or will he be willing to work a desk job? The actor/character is a big part of why I enjoy the show, so I hope he'll stay on, even in a limited capacity.

It's a bottle episode with five of the friends hanging out like they always do while the sixth is thisclose to having a panic attack, and it really doesn't work for me. I always yell at Ross to take a cab and tell everyone to meet him there, but he never does. 😉 Sitcom characters rarely set reasonable boundaries with each other, but the whole episode just stresses me out - I can't enjoy the friends hanging out because Ross is so upset, and I don't get the satisfaction of watching Ross take a reasonable step to solve his problem like a grown-up.