Wordsworth

I felt the same way. Then I remembered her first introduction to Dwight when she asked if he always sat when meeting a lady. He said he was treating her the same way he would treat a man for whom he would also not stand, except for the President or Judge Judy. Jo: (slyly) "I like that". So Dwight somehow managed to find all of her buzzwords....treating her as he would a man since we later find that Jo takes pride in competing in a man's world. Robert California is a clearly a scam artist. Scam artists will generally figure out how to read their marks and manipulate them. He must have found some way to identify Jo's points of weakness. I mean...she hired DeAngelo just because he saved her dog from a thief. Couldn't she have just given him cash? I can easily see California running a number on her, especially after his double talk managed to cause the entire search committee to recommend him.

I stopped watching the special last night about an hour and fifteen minutes into it and, instead, played a bunch of "Sesame Street" clips on YouTube. I get that the special may not have wanted to spend the whole time running "The Best of..." segments, but some of that nostalgia would have been nice. They only interviewed Sonia Manzano from the original cast. Instead, we got a bunch of guest star memories and huge portions of the show devoted to how important it is to have an African-American muppet.

I like Ken Jennings enough, but he doesn't have a good-enough host voice. His voice is a little on the thin side. Mike Richards is okay, I guess. He seems friendly. He has host experience. On the other hand, he's got to come up with another departing line. Cribbing Alex Trebek's final message to his fans every night is getting harder for him because he's having to go faster and faster. Last night, he ran through it like he was on the Academy Award stage and was about to be played off by the orchestra.

I am growing tired of this show. * They should not boot out any contestant at the end of the first episode. * I would definitely like to see more of the technical aspects of cooking displayed. They rush through the demos and I do see contestants with notepads, but it seems like they don't really use them much during the actual cooking. I'm wondering if they just can't get down all the ingredients and the steps when taking notes. * The physical games are becoming less and less dignified. This show was definitely filmed during the pandemic because we saw Cameron trying to give food to the behind-the-scenes people who were wearing masks. That makes the cake-eating contest horrific...but it would be ridiculous even without the pandemic. No one needed to see the contestants in flannel jumping over obstacles. This is a cooking contest, not Double Dare. * The fake-out eliminations are becoming annoying. Oh, everybody's sad, but, Wait for It!, no one's going home this week! * And to have the two contestants about to be eliminated stick around for another half-hour in the finale only to base your choice of representative on the final meal prepared by the four chefs is inane. I would be furious if I had not been up for elimination in the penultimate episode only to get booted in the finale because one of the contestants that had been up for elimination was kept around to cook one more meal that happened to turn out better and got to go to the finale instead of me. Regardless of how that meal turned out, JJ was still slopping stuff on his plate and Cameron was still running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Neither of them should have been serious contenders for the finale. It's production decisions like that which make me wonder if there are other considerations besides cooking skills that go into choosing the final two contestants. * I still think it's a bit unfair for the final two contestants to be judged on a meal that was chosen by their team coaches. If the panel of judges doesn't think a side dish goes well with the entree, that's not the contestant's fault, that's Anne Burrell's or her fellow coach's for choosing it for the contestant.

Camilla's arguments in this episode remind of things I've read of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor. She reportedly wasn't as besotted with Edward as he was with her and didn't want him to abdicate. Apart from him no longer being a King, she knew that she would become the most hated woman in the Empire. And she was right. No, we can't blame the abdication for everything, but, as I pointed out in another thread, Edward casts a long shadow. The Queen's lecture was so wonderful to see, especially in light of the previous episode in which she only addressed Diana's straying. She made sure Charles knew that his future subjects know he's being unfaithful and that he's causing his wife untold distress. Labeling them both immature whiny attention seekers who are driving everyone else up a wall combined with a warning shot across the bow about him being King worked well for me. I did enjoy Prince Philip's attempt to give Diana another point of view. They are all periphery characters in this real-life drama that surrounds one and only person.

If only "The Five Love Languages" had been out then... Those two clearly didn't understand what made the other happy. He was impressed by performances, but professional ones, not modern rock or musicals. Both performances gave me the impression of showcasing Diana instead of directing attention to Charles, though she may not have meant it to come off that way. She should've given him a book and her a grand gesture, as others have mentioned. No doubt Charles loved the boys. Remember in the early season when Charles reached out to shake his father's hand and Philip told him that they were alone, then got a hug. They were raised to be hugged, just not in public. My guess is that Charles expected the same procedure with his children; Diana didn't go along and regularly showed affection to her children in public.

How difficult it is to watch Charles and Diana on this show. You just think that, if only they were of a closer age and shared some interests, it might have been better. That cringe-worthy scene of Diana embracing the Queen who couldn't think of anything to do but flail her arms impotently as if she were being mauled by a vengeful stag was heart-breaking. Diana just wanted to be loved; Charles just wanted to be loved. They were looking for it in all the wrong places.

I really enjoyed this episode. Finally, we got some real quality time with Andrew (who I already knew was the Queen's favorite) and Edward. * Loved the callback to Gordonstoun school and its boorish bullying. By all accounts, Andrew and Edward did much better there than Charles did. * Loved Andrew's landing on the lawn; waking up Margaret who is still in bed at what is certainly no longer morning. * I jawdropped the whole "Movie about a much of older predators in a fancy house deflowering a teenaged girl". Did they really go there? Mr. Wordsworth was too busy googling the name of the movie and the actress to pick up on the reference until I pointed it out to him later. * The scene with Princess Anne was done really well, especially her remarks about how she does real charity work, but the press only cares about her when it comes to marriage gossip while they photograph Diana at the drop of a hat. * The scene with Charles was cringeworthy. Showing Mummy the gardens and how they will reflect him (I was thinking the whole time..."Not us? Just you?"). That lunch chat was perfect. The Queen showing that she was no fool, knowing exactly why he moved out to Highgrove and not shy about pointing that out. Her line about how Charles could possibly need cheering up when he's decorating this lovely house and gardens surrounded by sycophants working to celebrate his soul was delicious. And, too, her comment about perhaps supporting a struggling pregnant wife. * The Thatcher scenes were a nice juxtaposition to show that it's not just royalty that has problems relating to offspring realistically. Solidly middle-class Margaret indulges her rascal of a son while her daughter chaffs under her mother's clear disappointment in her abilities. * The Falklands issue was take or leave for me. I remember the incident, but it seems rather inconsequential now. I get that they were trying to muddle Thatcher's concern for her son by having her overreact to this problem. * Kudos to showing a little bit of Jared Harris in the old photos of the children.

On Monday's episode, the minute the Final Jeopardy category popped up, I yelled, "Benjamin Franklin!". And, of course, that's exactly what it was. Did anyone tear up a little bit when Alex mentioned how quickly this year was going and how it is a week-and-a-half before Thanksgiving? I thought to myself, "Yep, when you filmed this, you didn't know you wouldn't be alive when this aired".

This was a train wreck. It was so horrible and, yet one couldn't look away. * I really enjoyed Margaret's pointing out how interfering in the love lives of their relatives has cost the family a lot. I rather wish Elizabeth had urged Charles to make sure he was making the right decision rather than trying to bolster him by reminding him of how her rigid and frigid grandmother became more British than the British in order to make her marriage work. By all accounts, she and George had a good relationship, even if they were lousy parents. No doubt, Margaret wished she'd been given more leeway in her choices than she had been. * And I've never read anything to indicate that Bertie cheated on Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. I would be surprised if it were true, so I'm going with the theory that the Queen Mum was making a general comment about how the upper crust was known to hop bedrooms with the full knowledge of the spouses. * I didn't really think of Philip's attempt to balance Margaret's concern as "mansplaining". Speaking from the perspective of a man isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when the subject is about a man. I think the problem is that he was speaking as an older man with a decades-long marriage who had learned the value of having a spouse by one's side and appreciating the beauty and worth of that person even as she ages. He believed that Charles would eventually recognize how valuable Diana is to him and the monarchy and grow to love her as they spent more time together. Charles isn't at that place yet and would be unlikely to take anything his father has to say with any seriousness. * Yep, we saw the mouse run across the floor. It was the only thing we noticed about that scene. * That luncheon was cringeworthy, wasn't it? I don't know enough about how much the real Diana knew about Charles' relationship with Camilla prior to her wedding. I believe I read something about how she found out on their honeymoon that he was still in love with Camilla, but I could be wrong. Certainly, meeting an old flame would be awkward under most circumstances. As portrayed here, Diana didn't seem all that enthused about it. At the luncheon, Camilla is self-assured enough to order what she wants while Diana is intimidated and allows herself to not only order what Camilla is having, but also to gorge on it until she has to purge. Clearly, Camilla knows far more about Charles than Diana does and it's pretty apparent to everyone that the betrothed couple have little in common. * The perils of being a private secretary (is Charles' secretary a descendant of Michael Adeane's, btw? My closed captioning referred to him as "Adeane", but it definitely wasn't Michael) is that you have to keep your boss's secrets. The secretary obviously knows about Camilla. It was very sloppy of him to leave around drawings of the bracelet around, even though he couldn't possibly have known Diana would be aware of the Fred and Gladys pseudonyms. Oh, how Tommy Lascelles would have handled that. * They really seem to have set up Diana to have no support system here. A sister who uses her for low-paid cleaning, a grandmother who is more concerned about her fitting in than in being herself...we never see her father or brother or any other relatives. She makes a call to her girlfriends from the palace, but that's it. She can't even get a minute alone with her future mother-in-law in the same building. I think that if I were Martin Charteris and the daughter-in-law-to-be is saying she can't go through with the wedding, I'd make sure the Queen knew about it at least. * Did Princes Andrew and Edward do nothing during this time? Were they always at school? They seem to be nonentities here. Princess Anne is given some attention, but only as the commentator. Her marriage to Mark Phillips was not addressed at all last season and is barely addressed here. I'm surprised they cast anyone to play him, especially as her children seem to be invisible.

Of the three episodes I've seen, this one is my favorite. I was in grade school when Thatcher became PM and I remember the hoopla over the first female Prime Minister. I don't have the same antipathy toward Thatcher as others do. I am finding Anderson's portrayal to be wonderful, though, perhaps, she doesn't quite have the same tone and pitch that the real Thatcher did (she's certainly much better than whatshisname who played JFK in season 2). I am loving the Thatcher marriage, stolidly middle-class people with more egalitarian ideals than the Royal Family. She unpacks his bags, fully expects to share his bed and commisserates with him. He seems perfectly content to read Balmoral hunting logs in Prince Albert's voice while his wife works. If only the Royals could come up with partnerships as good as this. In the first episode of the season, we find Elizabeth pleased with the idea of a female Prime Minister, then seems surprised that Thatcher has found many women too emotional to withstand leadership positions. It's an unpopular opinion, but there are some women who can't handle leadership positions; some men, too. Thatcher comes away with a better impression of the queen than she had - the queen is far more interested and informed about the government than she'd thought. Of course, that doesn't mean the two women are exactly alike. I did appreciate Elizabeth's attempts to downplay the Thatchers' faux pas. On the other hand, bringing someone to your home in order to haze them seems pretty immature so I can see how the PM would be put off by these so-called sophisticated royals behaving like middle school kids. As for why she didn't bring galoshes or hunting paraphernalia...well, she may not have realized she would be invited to go out with the family to hunt. The Diana stuff is obviously required, but I'm less interested in that than I would have been ordinarily. I lived through the Diana years, was 11 when they got married, so I remember what a big deal it was.

I agree with you here on the Thatchers. I am finding the Thatchers' marriage a high point of the show. He's clearly not cowed by her and she obviously adores him. I knew what was going to happen to Uncle Dickie (Mr. Wordsworth was not and his eyes widened when the explosion happened, though he has seen enough shows to know that the montage indicated something was afoot). The juxtaposition of his death and his letter arriving while Charles is grieving certainly gives the viewer an impression of Charles as an unhappy man manipulated into settling for someone he doesn't really want. Furthermore, the theme of the Abdication being a watershed event for the Windsors is continued as, once again, the heir to the throne cannot marry the woman he loves, Edward VIII cast a long shadow even after his death.

I just thought the finale was too busy. I was annoyed by the Q&A panel spending so much time on Jim & Pam and then pretending that Erin's search for her real mother was a significant storyline. It would have been nice to have Meredith or Kevin talk about the pitfalls of letting cameras follow you around. While David Wallace had a brief bit, I think him talking about the good and bad publicity a business gets from a show like that would have been interesting. It didn't have to be long, but the Q&A was just unbalanced. Otherwise, I suppose the wedding was okay and tied up the loose ends of Dwight and Angela's interminable saga. It had just about the right amount of Michael not to go overboard. Who gets in the most legal trouble: Ryan for child abandonment or Nellie for international kidnapping? And Jim & Pam still haven't resolved their communication problems. Pam's solution is to put the house up for sale without telling Jim? Really? They're still not using their words!

Yes, I meant Darryl. Can you believe that I proof-read that thing again and again and still put Dwight instead of Darryl? Must be the stupid D's. Thanks for pointing that out. 🙂

Oh, and can we talk about Darryl and Val which appears to have come about as a way to give Craig Robinson more to do on the show? So the warehouse employees win the lottery in “Lotto” and Darryl, bummed out because he stopped playing when he moved upstairs and because his ex-wife, Justine, is a gold-digger who isn’t interested in him anymore, costs his employer a client while failing to hire a replacement crew. In that episode, we are introduced to Val who is ultimately hired as a replacement foreman. In “Doomsday”, Gabe tries to court Val who turns him down because she has a (wise) policy of not dating co-workers. Darryl is clearly interested in her at this time, but decides not to pursue her. Until Valentine’s Day. In “Special Project”, Darryl gets a knitted beanie from Val and can’t decide if it’s a romantic gesture or not…then he sees that she’s knitted beanies for everyone…then he gets a phone call from a man wanting to send his “girlfriend” flowers… Then something weird happens. He sees the flowers, sees they’re from someone named Brandon and Val, who doesn’t date co-workers, tells him that deep-voiced Brandon is her mother. ???? Darryl is now getting mixed signals. He knows Brandon is her boyfriend. She knows he knows that Brandon is her boyfriend. What game is she playing? Two episodes later in “After Hours”, Brandon confronts Darryl in the conference room over texts that he’s convinced means that Darryl and Val are having an affair. Both Val and Darryl deny it, but the other employees are generally in agreement that Darryl’s texts do cross a boundary. “Free Family Portrait Studio” is the last episode of the season. When some of the previous employees return to the warehouse after squandering their lottery winnings, Darryl overdoes it praising Val to them, unaware that Brandon is in her office. Brandon once again confronts Darryl who finally admits that he is trying to steal Val away. Later in the episode, Darryl and his daughter, Jada, pose for what is intended to be a family photo and Darryl invites Val, still in her warehouse uniform, to be in the photo with them. Is that creepy or what? Isn’t that a little quick? Has Val even broken up with Brandon yet? What is poor Jada thinking? If you were a little girl, what would you think of some stranger jumping into a photo of you and your Daddy? At this point, my sympathies are with Brandon. We have no evidence that he has done anything to deserve his girlfriend and her boss making eyes at each other. As for Darryl’s assertion that he would praise Val all the time if she were his girlfriend… Ten episodes later…yep, about the same amount of time Erin and Andy’s final relationship arc lasted….Darryl is tired of Val. So much for all that praise. Since he’s interested in working for Jim’s new company in Philadelphia, he uses the complications of being separated to orchestrate a break up. Unfortunately, Darryl’s co-workers misinterpret his crocodile tears and harass Val to get back together with him. Darryl is quite clearly not enthused about this. So Val broke up with her boyfriend who, by all outward appearances, seemed to treat her well (sending her flowers on Valentine’s Day, etc) and who had a stable job running his own business (Sure, he appeared a little hot-headed, but one could argue that we only saw that side of him when he was provoked by Darryl’s attempts to break them up) in order to date a guy who pretty quickly gets tired of her and uses a potential job in Philadelphia for which he has not even interviewed yet as an excuse to end the relationship (to say nothing of the fact that this business is still getting off the ground and there’s no guarantee it will go anywhere) only to get back with him because three of his co-workers that she barely knows or even interact with nag her about it. We next see Val briefly in “Vandalism” when she blatantly ignores Pam’s yelling through the bullhorn about the damage to her mural by walking into her office rather than defusing a situation that eventually escalates. Clearly not the best foreman Dunder-Mifflin has ever had. I can’t imagine Darryl letting an office worker yell through a bullhorn at his workers. Finally, Val appears, again briefly, in the finale when she’s seen holding Darryl's hand as they attend Dwight and Angela’s wedding. Evidently, they stayed together. Did she move to Philly? Is she going to move to Austin? Did Darryl just bite the bullet and lie in the bed he made? What a waste of time and what a bad relationship.