Mocking Bird

My biggest takeaway from all this is at least I don't have to spend Monday nights wondering why Clay-un's parents neglected to get him braces for that awful under bite.

I don't care for Myrla at all, but her early family life sounds horrific. Myrla's mother was 15 when Myrla was born. Add to that the abject poverty and the terrible murder her father. I don't like it, but I completely understand why her personality is so fucked up.

Hey, I got half of that.

Katie kisses like a praying mantis chewing off the head of it's ill fated mate.

I love and endorse every word of this comment. These are my feelings about Paige summed up far better than I ever could.

I formed a completely different opinion of Jake after seeing him on unfiltered. Yes, he's extremely low-key and quiet, but also very kind, gracious and witty. Jake also looked a lot better with his hair a bit longer and his early grays soften his features. I believe Haley is the real dud in that relationship. I haven't heard her reveal one interesting thing about herself. She isn't playful or sweet. She seems to be very stodgy, inflexible and set in her ways. Poor Virginia looks so rough for her 26 years. I believe she uses alcohol as a substitute for developing a personality. I hope she doesn't learn the hard way that there's nothing charming or interesting about a frowsy, middle-aged drunk, which is where she's heading. I also believe she's an alcoholic, this coming from someone who really dislikes internet diagnosis of random people on television. I do have some experience, having dealt with my own raging alcoholism for 15 years, now gratefully sober for 12. "Alcohol will always be a part of my life" is the saddest thing I've heard in a long while. She needs help. I've lost all respect for Paige and don't have an ounce of sympathy for her situation. Sleeping with Chris the first night when there were already more waving flags than the Biden inauguration is one thing, but not bolting immediately after being told by Chris that she's so unattractive to him that it gave him a panic attack was the end. She really has no self respect or pride if that's the treatment she'll accept. I am embarrassed for her. There's just something not right about Paige. I find her affect odd. I find her constant yammering about, and reliance on, her match being "Godly" and "ordained" extremely peculiar and that is not meant as a dig against religion. There is some damage somewhere and that's just a shame as she ("on paper", ugh) seems to have so much going for her and she has such wonderful friends! So, I don't think there's much to say about the horror that is Chris that hasn't already been said. I find him utterly repugnant and repulsive in every way possible. I find his family and circle of friends disgusting as well. I could turn over a wet rock in my backyard and find a far more appealing colony of living things than Chris and company. I look forward to reading about any future calamities that might befall this clown. .

Keith introduced the men as "his brothers", but I don't know if he meant it as they were blood relations. I did assume they were his actual brothers, though. Whether or not they were, I was horrified by Iris's behavior. I was raised in the south (not that that matters) by two very good, generous parents who would never deny anyone anything we had in the house to eat or drink. Relatives and guests were always offered the best of what we had. I would die a thousand deaths before I would every deny anyone anything I had to eat or drink. To try to embarrass someone in front of people over helping themselves to something is the absolute lowest a hostess can sink. I can't ever look at Iris the same now and I used to really like her.

Not just you. My daughter pointed it out right away. Shave her head and they'd look just alike.

Thank you kathe5133 for finding his name (David Ariely). I didn't catch it during the show either but wanted to because his research sounded so interesting. Perhaps the half beard was his own private behavioral experiment as it made an impression on a few of us.

I don't think it's tacky to ask. Every time the fellow was shown I couldn't help but fixate on his facial hair. Most every one of us have seen and also have scars, but half a beard and mustache just isn't something you see everyday. Had he been clean shaven I wouldn't have given his looks another thought.

Fear of the camera must be why Joe is always looking down or awkwardly off to the side. I like and feel sorry for him. He's a fish out of water. He doesn't have the same famewhore gene that the others do.

I appreciate Kevin's mature handling of the Leo incident. That said, Kevin's revelation that he sees a therapist twice a week to deal with not being able to find "the one" on the various Bachelor franchise shows makes him sound like a complete moron and a lunatic. Can he not meet a woman outside of reality television? He also very much reminds me of a Geico caveman, which is a big turn off.

That scene was the only thing about the episode I did like and you described it beautifully. I detested everything else and feel cheated, or angry and made a fool of for suffering through the entire series of Camille driving aimlessly (I get it already!) and Richard's various sweat stain patterns. Was that the entire point of his completely useless character, to show us how hot and humid it was?

Giada is a mean, vain, ugly woman. I can't stand her. Is Manny an actual fireman or does he just cook for them? He's woefully out of shape compared to the fire fighters I've seen and moves like a bull in a china shop. Chris is so sloppy and unkempt. His wrinkled shirt and too short shorts looked like they came from the dirty clothes pile. Being a heavy-set person is no excuse to dress like a slob. His weird, patchy hairline (or lack thereof) really bugs me, although there isn't much he can do about it except shave his head clean and that wouldn't be in keeping with his total disregard for his personal appearance. Amy is in that category too. I'll be glad to see her awful, lazy hairdon'ts and Target outfits off my screen.

I feel sorry for, and will miss sweet, awkward, clueless Jordan. He was the only break in this batch of humorless dullards.

I enjoyed the judges and that's as far as it goes. What a godawful show. One would think they'd want to showcase some actual talent on the AI returns! premier. Most of the auditioners were untalented/delusional/insane. Far too much time was wasted on tiresome backstories and on indulging the whims of young people who just can't sing. The ages of our viewing household Sunday were 8, 12, 50 & 60 and we all had the same opinion. There is nowhere for the show to go but up after last night.

Perhaps Danielle agreed to come back only if she could do the show while in a medically induced coma. Seriously, that girl should be trolling necrophiliac chat rooms. I don't believe for one minute Jorge has really left to start his own torje business. Wells the "unavailable" bartender and Dani the brave, dedicated nurse was just another manufactured plot line. Not counting my second husband's family, this is the most obnoxious, yet excruciatingly boring collection of people I've ever seen in one gathering. I unapologetically look forward to this terrible show every summer, but this season is so dull there's nothing and no one to even make fun of.

As a casino dealer of 25 years, I'm tickled to death that the redundantly named "Black Spade" team was eliminated. ALL the spades in the deck are black. Always.

I didn't understand this at all. It only made complete sense to tie one end of the line off at the shore, take the boat out and drop the end with the rock overboard. I can't stand those two lummoxes and every time I see their half-assed tarp propped on sticks "shelter" it pisses me off even more. My husband and were chanting "Sink, sink, sink!" the whole time they were in the boat.

Oh, my! Not one word about Peter's mom's Kate Gosling reverse mullet hair cut?? Being far older than what I assume is the age demographic of fellow commenters is here, I was really put off by his mother's "He'll probably have kids with you, but isn't ready to get married" bit. It's just sad that making babies with someone these days ranks second in what is now considered as a "commitment". Eric's mom's "I didn't show you any love, attention or support as a child to make you stronger" was just a pile of self-indulgent bullshit. I admire Eric for apparently not harboring any resentment, but can't help but believe he's romanticized his crappy upbringing and crappy parents. It seems to have worked for him though and I find him far more likeable than the vast majority of contestants that have done this show. Dean's family visit was so depressingly uncomfortable to watch, but I won't condemn him for going, even with him knowing how horrible it was going to be. I believe, like all emotionally damaged children, a tiny part held out hope that things would be made right, not matter how deep that feeling was buried. His father is such a delusional, narcissistic asshole with a heaping helping of mental illness on the side. It is/was in no way Dean's responsibility to repair their relationship. Sure, his father no doubt grieved over his wife's death, but eleven years afterward, for him to refuse to acknowledge emotionally and physically abandoning a child and the tremendous pain he caused that child proves his so-called spiritual enlightenment is just so much egocentric claptrap.

I could not agree more. For fifty of my sixty years I've lived in Mississippi (a fact I realize will render my opinions immediately suspect) and have heard/read "I seen" used far more often by White, rather than Black people. My first husband and his family regularly used "I seen" until I broke him of it. It may be viewed as a cultural phenomena by some, but if so, it's a culture associated with the poor and/or uneducated in general, not one particular race.

I went from not caring about/mild dislike of Eric to him being my absolute favorite too and I kind of love him. Eric is the only man (other than Dean) who is an actual person. Something Rachel said during their one-on-one really irritated me. Eric describes his less than stellar family. He says many/most of the male members sell drugs and have been to prison. He's pretty clear that he's ashamed of their lifestyle and that this is the reason he's never brought a girl home to meet any of them. Rachel, in her TH, says this is a "red flag", seems to take it personally and suggest there's something wrong with Eric. She doesn't seem to get that he's hesitant to bring a woman he cares about into "Straight Outta Compton". I believe when Eric started describing his family life, which is the polar opposite of hers, she was taken aback and just quit listening. She gave him the rose out of pity and obligation, which stinks because Eric is the sweetest, most mature and "real" guy there.

The "hiker/camper" format is just a huge bust and I'm hating this season. Setting aside this failed "Alone but not" concept; the contestants are proving to be the most inept and least motivated of any in past seasons. Other than that goofy woman, why aren't they setting up camp? Isn't that why the "campers" were left there in the first place? What have been doing for a week? There's that one guy filming 17 piles of bear poop, catching ONE lousy fish, then calling it a day and some other guy poked four sticks in the ground: "Oooh, a drying rack!" Uh, no. It isn't. All of which now seems Herculean compared to the others who've apparently been huddled under a tarp while rocking back and forth and crying. I'll hang in there, but I ain't happy.

I guess I don't understand why some would take offense to Peter using "hood" in a rap song. My son loves rap music and is quite good at making up his own. Depending on the subject of his songs, they can be filled Black cultural references and slang common in many rap verses and he isn't making fun of or being disrespectful toward the African-American community when he does it. We are a white, college-educated middle class family. I don't get freaked out by some of my son's more eyebrow raising prose because we are white and don't live the lifestyle described in some rap songs. I take it for what it is: a work of fiction, creative license if you will. Not one of the men doesn't know Rachel comes from a prestigious, well-to-do family. It was a joke. A word to rhyme with "good". I just wonder if folks would be so taken aback if one of the African-American men had used the word "hood". All in all, it seems such a small, silly thing.

I loathe Diggy for that very reason! Every time he's on screen his shoe remark is all I think of. I don't care how well off a person is, buying that many pairs of tennis shoes is sick and creepy as hell.