Traveller519

So do we think the wardrobe department meticulously put together the full linen ensembe that Odin was wearing in Norway? Or was that just what Anthony Hopkins rolled up in, and they decided to run with it? "Uhhhh... Here's a tweed eye patch. That kind of goes with what you're wearing"

Marvel went 3 for 3 this year in crafting excellent movies that function in their own space, and tell a complete story, without worrying so much about the greater "universe" (to be fair DC nailed this with Wonder Woman as well). In fact, Ragnarok also served to make the previous two films in the Thor trilogy better retrospectively, a rare feat for a 3rd Super Hero film. The first Thor, when released, felt like nothing but two hours of exposition. The Dark World was at least a whole story, but carried a bit of burden of finding it's footing post Avengers. With the third film we finally have a complete evolution of Thor in his stand alone films. In the first film he's a young, almost adolescent, warrior, cocksure and proud. He has no mind for the history of Asgard, looking to forge his own path. In the Dark World, he's matured; he feels the responsibility not only of being Asgardian royalty, but also his experiences as a guardian of Earth, though still a little serious and emotional. Come Ragnarok he's self aware. He's relaxed his personality while still being aware of his responsibility to Asgard and Earth. He knows to protect earth is to find stability in the 9 realms, and while aware of his power, he's no longer motivated by his own legacy or emotion, but sense of duty. I'm impressed that not only were we treated to the best Thor movie, but a movie that elevated the whole trilogy. Probably not something you'd expect to say about a franchise started by Kenneth Branagh and closed (pdresumably) by Taika Waititi, but in retrospect, those were the perfect directors for their respective films.

Sooooo, Barry's falling for a girl who could be a dead ringer for his own sister, who provides him with guidance? This could be bad

How is it that Bob Newhart can deliver the same Sheldon rags as anybody else, but he sells them 40 times better? So simple and obvious and yet his delivery makes me laugh every time. I hope he can continue to pop in from time to time. I think Wil is going to come to Sheldon down the road as a technical consultant/producer for the show, utilizing both of their talents properly. Sheldon would be terrible on TV, and Wil may not be able to sell the science on his own. Amy's reactions to Sheldon's audition tape were some of my favourite elements of the show. They joy she was expressing while also providing for the critiques. "Would you say it seemed a touch...psychotic?"

"We're finishing each other's..." "Derek" Aww Derek already knows his A, B, Janets. Last year we were commenting on the hectic pace of the plot, and the first two episodes of the season seemed destined to put that pace to Shane. We've slowed down since to focus on the characters, and the show has managed the transition impeccably. Last year I was preoccupied with the mystery, this year I'm taking each week to learn some more about the interrelationships. Can't wait for the return.

You know what the past two weeks have really proved? How much better the show is when Lawrence Fishburne is present. Not only for his own absurdity but some of the deft wisdom Pops provides. The PPD episode was proof of that two. He's not a character of focus, but he really supports everyone else.

I did not get the Belly reference. So thank you, Internet! For a film that came out when I was 17, which made less than $10m, I'm not too worried that I missed out on it. I'm glad others did though. Ruby in the end tag was fantastic. "I just listened to that new Luther Vandros" "Blending in..."

This family may be the most openly supportive family unit of TV this side of the Tanners, but for some reason it doesn't feel too schmaltzy. It feels pretty organic and earnest. Both the "pitch" and the debrief were well handled. I do hope we get Alex out of the garage by the end of the initial episode order. The well for jokes to be mined there feels like it's starting to run its course.

I can't help but feel a little unfulfilled by the finale and the season. The closing montages summarized the new places many of our characters found themselves, and maybe it's a bit of that Vicky Christina Barcelona, "we've been through all of this and still feel the same" but it didn't have that climax, even if ultimately less than what we wanted. I found that surprising since a second season wasn't guaranteed, but it's obvious that's how they wanted it to play out.

I loved the whole My Dinner with Andre vibe with Michael and Janet acting solely off one another for such a large part of the episode. Janet expressing so many thoughts through her cheery framework and Michael showing genuine concern were really touching. Not many shows would be willing to have a supporting cast centred episode. Was that Alison Becker with Sean in the administrative opening?

Congrats on the 100th Episode Goldbergs! I remember back in the fall of 2013 falling in love with the show and doing everything I could to promote it. Glad to see everyone's hard work has paid off. Fun to have Lea Thompson directing and get the Back to the Future costumes in the episode. But I have to confess, if Geoff hadn't specifically called out Erica's costume as being Young Lorraine I never would have picked up on that. And I say that as a big BTTF fan. She looked generically Sock Hop-ish. I liked the JTP not indulging Barry with the Ouija Board and Ghost Lainey issues. The addition of Matt to the group has really helped the rest of them find their identities and not cave to Barry's madness mindlessly. They're acting like real friends and not just crazy followers. I found that good and refreshing, as the show enters it's longer years. I also appreciated having a more dialed down Bev for a while. It's fun watching Murray play the comedy and have her be the straight-(wo)man for a change.

I loved watching Claire and Phil embrace their dorky child-like love of Halloween. That feels genuine. But this really was a filler episode in a full season run. Honestly, it felt like they had to milk the kitchen remodel story some more, and I agree the Dunphy kids need some sort of boost to get them out of their rut. If they were all to get a house together and work on fixing it up with Phil and Claire's help, I feel like that could be interesting. Phil providing the real estate know how and Claire working on the interior with them.

Tune into next week's episode when Jack & Diane make a Minecraft video! Pops and Ruby set the tone for the episode, especially with the flashbacks. I also enjoyed Meghan and her back and forth with the family. "I feel like we can trust her. You know she's good for it"

This show is like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day. It's like a hug inside of you. It kind of relaxes the stress a little on a weeknight. It does feel like a bit of a throwback family sitcom concept where we're just reflecting on normal people and the little internal struggles they sometimes go through, but without manufactured additional conflict. I particularly am impressed by the child actors. Young Abby is the weakest but she's also the youngest and definitely gets her character's message across. And the relationship between her and BobbyAlex is heart meltingly sweet. I'll keep tuning in as long as it runs.

I too got excited about the prospect of a bit of continuity. When Penny was first giving Sheldon the parenting book treatment, I was actually hoping the book was some reading that Beverly had suggested to her during all their chats last week (I had glazed over the fact Howard and Bernadette left a parenting book behind earlier in the show). I thought that would have been an interesting dynamic and really sent Leonard into a world of confusion. I also enjoyed the Howard and Amy friendship. It's nice to see genuine friendships without sexual undertones represented on television, especially during a time when it's worth being reminded that just because someone is nice to you, doesn't mean they immediately want to sleep with you.

Oops... of course. With everything else that happened in this episode I blanked on Leon shooting Reggie, which speaks to how full the show is. For what it's worth, I agree with you. I feel like "cold-blooded" gets tossed around too much these days to try and assault and murders sound especially heinous (they aren't already). I think we can all side with Leon's decision to shoot Reggie Love then and there. Things had gone from bad to worse with the girl (sorry name fails me here) when she showed up with the black eyes, and they looked to be finding their way to sub-worse in that moment. Plus Reggie love was disrespecting his special culinary creation. You don't do that to a man! To anyone watching (which appears to only be the audience) he was defending someone in critical danger. The the NYPD, I'm sure it will play out as black man with gun, and no witnesses, which is heartbreaking. Maybe there's some hope he gets a vigilante-inspired reduced sentence from a legal system deciding it wants to crack-down on pimping.

Vincent's honesty really makes him appealing to everyone around him. It's cool seeing a character in that situation, running those types of businesses, who isn't a bullshit artist. He tells everyone how it is, and lays his cards flat. Well most of the time, there's some lying by omission with respect to Abby and the Parlour. That honesty steered him well in the party scenes. You could tell Abby's Dad could see that he was earnest when he said he hadn't been advised of the dress code for the party, which lead him to appreciate the job performance review. I worry about Abby, there are Pimps with self-admitted free time on their hands, and she's not doing a lot to endear herself to them. Word gets out on Ashley and both CC and Reggie Love are going to have reason to come down on her, and CC is legitimately terrifying. From the shallow end of the pool seeing Deborah Twiss as Mindy made me happy. I've had a small Mrs. Robinson-esque crush on her since Kick-ass and she doesn't do a lot of mainstream items.

What's got one thumb and falls more in love with this show every week? This not lady! Ted Danson is doing work in this role. The way he transitions between delight, sinisterism, confusion, frustration, and a myriad of other emotions is great. He and Kristen Bell particularly are playing off each other well!

I appreciated the Camera work to make it look like Bill Goldberg and Bryan Cullen are anywhere near similar size. Bryan is incredibly lean and wirey and while not short, he's also definitely not within an inch of Bill. I'm guessing they had him on the Dana Scully box for the stare-down. I appreciate that they're at least attempting to to move forward on Erica at College stories, but it's really showing how difficult it is for shows to deal with the Child away. There's a reason so many kids on TV are in high school for 7+ years

"To sex with Amy!!" Charles' hair was more normal, but still did look a little off. Maybe a bit over-styled, cause he was happy his buddy was back? I liked how the show addressed Jake's return from jail. The show can constantly manage the serious storylines with levity thanks to the performances of its cast. I'll appreciate if Jake's adjustment takes time while not being a central part of every story, though I acknowledge that's tough to accomplish in a half hour every week.

When I saw what the episode was going to be dealing with, I have to say I wasn't stoked. Other shows have done PPD to varying levels of success in the past and it didn't feel like new territory for the show. Not to mention how much drama surrounding this pregnancy has already been in place. But Tracee's performance did it for me. She did a great job of portraying the depression in a manner that wasn't overly done. It felt real especially the moments when she was just sad and sitting there. And kudos to how they had Dre portrayed as well. The male response in these situations is "How do I fix this, I want to fix this." and it's frustrating when you can't. I appreciated the support that Dre got from the kids, work, and Pops to assist Bow, even if he couldn't fix anything himself. Speaking of Pops, thank god he was around to add some levity to the show. Cussing out the kids, then the cut hand while he enjoyed his bourbon were terrific!

I would have loved getting a closer look at Sheldon's date elimination whiteboard. While he was telling the story, over his shoulder were the end of the year dates. I enjoyed that he had December 25th blocked off as Isaac Newton's Birthday, not Christmas. Such a Sheldon thing to think of. I had to look though. Evidently Newton's 25th of December birthday was under the Julian calendar, not the modernly accepted Gregorian Calendar, which would place his birthday as the 4th of January. I'm sure Sheldon had both blocked off. Also, the Council of Sheldons made me giggle. "Humorous Sheldon"

I felt like this was the most consistently strong start to the show they've had in a while. When they opened with Aldean talking into the camera, I was skeptical of what was coming, fearing it would be over-done, but when he hit the opening cord of "Won't Back Down" it was obvious this was what we needed. You had a deep red state musician playing on a New York stage to a national audience a song from an American Music icon we lost this week with a message to "keep going and be better." I'm no country fan, but I became an Aldean fan right there. The monologue was earnest, and somewhat original, with a couple cute hooks. Plus Leslie looked incredible in her Street Wonder Woman outfit. Though I've probably seen a grand total of seven minutes of Kardashian programming in my life, the jokes hit remarkably well and weren't too insider-y on the E! Promo. Chris Redd as Kanye avoiding "all of this" made me laugh a lot. Then the OJ sketch. Holy Hell. This was the best written "first post-monologue live sketch" in a long time. The set-up was beautiful with the obviously unimpressed waitress, the establishment of Gal's character not knowing about American News in the 90s due to the Bosnian war of independence, and the first time trying online dating. And then it flowed so well from there, with the plastic knife being the cout-de-grat. After all that I couldn't have cared about the rest of the show, they came out strong. Loved Clueless Chad and Pete on Update, and I'm glad they let Gal play with the Wonder Woman sketch.

The Feud is getting dialed up. This article is really good read about how ridiculous all of this is. I highly recommend opening a Corona (or Bud) and giving this a proper read. http://uproxx.com/movies/fast-and-furious-cast-feud-timeline-the-rock-tyrese-vin-diesel-instagram/4/

That's definitely a Mike Schur special. As a comedy writer who moonlights as a sports blogger he's always enjoyed dropping little references in for the Sports Nerds. Keep taking those shots, I hope they can hold up as well as the Pawnee Law Firm. Of course "Remaining Loyal to The Cleveland Browns" being a contributing factor to one's positive points in the pilot was pretty great too. I am so So SO glad they didn't default to all trusting Michael, his very convincing bow-tie aside. This was a good episode for diving into the psyche of especially Eleanor, but Tahani and Chidi as well. We know they'll remain skeptical of Michael which will help frame the remainder of the season. As much as I like Brooklyn 99, I think they would have skipped to the team-up plot without this set-up episode on that show. But that's because the comedy typically comes from the execution, not the plot. But that's why the shows are different, and why I'll happily watch them both. Vicky is going to make a great villain for the back half of this season.