seacliffsal

CK totally overplayed her hand with Lete. Trying to dictate to others never seems a good way to go, especially after Lete clearly stated that if someone saved her she would save them. And blowing up everyone's game? Only if one is sure they are leaving. I don't understand why they turned it into a cliffhanger. I would have to like this show a whole lot more than I do in order to be all 'oooooh, what's going to happen?'

First of all, I am in no way justifying what David and Madison did (and will comment on it), but Michelle just needed to stop. She even told the women that it felt like nobody wanted to hear her side, and she was right. Read the room. First was Ikechi's foolishness and then her relentless and desperate attempt to be the 'victim' that everyone would support and feel sorry for while telling off David. Nope, wasn't going to happen. They obviously did not want to keep rehashing everything at dinner. She needed to let it go-that was not the time or place to pursue the issue. And, she even then insisted on bringing it up to Allen who was oblivious. Why she felt she needed to 'clue him in' is beyond me, except that she so wanted to be a 'victim.' The only person for whom I really feel sympathy is Allen. Madison and David couldn't wait until after Decision Day? And why did Madison have to keep leading Allen on? And, she is full of it if one of her 'requirements' is that a man dresses well. Allen totally bought all the clothes she liked (and wore them at the retreat), while David dresses like a slob IMO. Like another poster, I couldn't believe that Madison didn't tell Allen and left that to David. Madison and David, while both liars, are cowards. Deny, deny, deny until there's no option but to admit-and even then with the lies 'oh, we haven't done anything yet...' Once Allen has some time he'll see all the signs/flags that he originally missed. The silver lining? Allen will so find someone after this (if only I were younger, lived in Chicago, etc., I like his quirkiness and think he's a good guy). Ikechi, of course, will be hugely disappointed as he wanted to be the center of drama for the season...

I agreed with the judges on the two that didn't get a chair turn. Don't really care for Kelsey. Some really good voices, I'm looking forward to the season. Glad Michael used his second chance button. Was surprised Ricardo (?) didn't get a chair turn as I liked his voice.

I have watched a lot of shows that have an unique or quirky gimmick as the premise. One of my favorites is Psych. But, there has to be at least a bit of plausibility factor to make it work. IMO there are far too many holes in the basic premise of this show to really make it work. In every episode thread there are many posters who point out the weak spots (including me). And, for them to base the whole revenge story on a random reddit post is too much of a stretch. However, there are aspects to the show that I enjoy, I just wish they had really thought through the premise beyond 'what if we call it Matlock' and 'people will watch Kathy Bates...' Maybe at the end of the season, Mattie will wake up in her small apartment, which she shares with her sullen grandson, and talk about the dream she just had in which they lived in a huge mansion, were wealthy, and she was practicing law as an act of revenge. Heck, it helped self-correct Dallas, it could do so here.

I was surprised when Mattie didn't think anyone would believe she was Sarah's grandmother which led to Sarah's background story. I was surprised because I know several 'grandparents' who look nothing like their grandchildren due to mixed heritages, adoptions, step-grandchildren, etc. I would not have given their relationship a second thought other than how wonderful that a granddaughter was helping her grandmother find a place to live.

I am surprised by Mattie being so 'in' on Julian being the 'villain' based on absolutely nothing other than trying to protect her 'friend' Olympia. And, I think Sarah is not long for the law firm if she's so vengeful based on having a chair switch made by a supervising lawyer (and Olympia put Mattie in that position). Very few firms would keep an employee who swore vengeance because of a chair change (or, really, because of any decision made related to a case/client). That and her inability to make connections with clients would seem to spell the end of the road for her at that firm. There are plenty of over achieving intelligent lawyers who would love to get into a big successful firm IMO. I don't see how anything Mattie found in Lucille's room could be evidence in the case. Illegal search? Really like Autry-hope to see him again in a future episode. And, for all of Mattie's concern about Alfie if something should happen to them? I think he should be with someone else now as I don't see anyway for this upbringing to be good for him outside of being with family (lack of sleep [it seemed very late when he was concerned about the pen], vengeance over school, lying, etc.).

So, basically, we did not get any story about Happy and the mom. I hope Isabella ends up going to Stanford so that she'll be off the show. However, I thought her mother was going to be horrible, but she just seemed like a mom. But, the mom seemed like she could be Bobby's daughter age wise and that Bobby could be Isabella's grandmother age wise. Too many plot holes-I think the creators and writers really didn't have a cohesive plan in place for this show and are trying to come up with a story on the fly. Oh, and I don't get why Bobby had to 'forgive' the mom-it's Happy who cheated on her mother, not Isabella's mom. For all we know, she may not have known that Happy was married.

I never really figured out why the one brother wanted to murder the other. It had to be more than just the lifestyle change. There was something about how an investment really increased after the murder but I didn't really follow why that was. IMO this was the weakest murder case in that there didn't seem to be a real motive other than 'he was mom's favorite' or something like that.

I think there are a lot of things they have done that don't follow military protocol. I also don't like that so many left due to injuries rather than to quitting or not being able to pass the tasks.

These last two episodes (vegan restaurant and 3 southern girls) were just meh to me. I didn't think either owner really wanted any help (and it was the son who contacted Gordon about the 3 Southern Girls restaurant). Neither seemed willing to really change. Wasn't surprised the vegan restaurant closed so soon after Gordon's visit. He seemed to realize there wasn't any hope for it. I would try the food at the 3 Southern Girls restaurant. The food looked much better after Gordon's visit but I would be afraid that they will revert to their former ways.

I really am shocked by Kyle's win. I have not been a fan all season mainly due to his need for constant attention. I never thought Gordon would hire a high maintenance diva for head chef. And, Gordon even had to point out to Kyle that the scallops were cold that Joe brought to the window. Okay, I do have one positive-Kyle knew how to manage Lulu so that she wouldn't ruin his chances.

It's a bit scary to me that Drew is always looking directly at the camera-it's like she's looking directly at me... In this episode, Pete stood at the edge of the structure and people acted concerned for him and she was 'scared' for him but instead of looking at him, yep, she was looking directly at the camera.

I really don't understand any of this. I think it would make more sense to me if the worst performing 'recruit' in each task was eliminated, but, instead, those who fail tasks may make it to the end and even 'pass' the test. I'm still not over the fighting task as the military teaches how to fight and these recruits were just thrown into that task without training so that those who could already fight (because they had during their lifetimes) had a huge advantage over those who had never been in a fight. It seems like this was very unclear in how to get to the end. However, I did like both Brody and Kayla so am glad they 'passed.'

Wow, there seems to be a lot of entitlement/superiority complexes amongst these players. Phillip, who lied to Parvati about the value of his case, is upset with Parvati because she lied about the value of her case. People were disgruntled at Will for his lack of strategy in going in numerical order. Well, that's as value a strategy as any other in a game of CHANCE. Then they're made when they thought Will accepted the $70,000 something offer. Well, that's at least more than $1. Also, one of the goals when playing the banker is to stay in the game and there were 3 values over the offer and 5 values under the offer, so statistically that was a good offer. They play it off that the entire goal is to build the amount for one of the final cases, when it should reflect the goal of staying in the game. And Dickson is all 'why do you think I'm a weasel?' when he knows he told people he would target CK. Glad the others have finally woken up to the alliance that is 'the family.' I don't understand why they so blatantly showcase their alliance to others. Oh, and I think the producers thought the challenge would be way more suspenseful and strategic than it actually was. It might have been different if they assigned partners rather than let them pick their own partners. Most pairs were willing to work with each other.

I think Karla is really exhausting to be around. Juan has really been a good sport and doing what she has wanted to do (and the tantric woman-the fact that he went to a reading after going through the tantric exercises tells me that he is pretty easy going). I laughed so much with his new look, but I think he just wants to have some fun with this whole thing. Allen is trying so hard for Madison who is better at lying than is David ('oh, no, I wouldn't go out 3 nights a week' [cue video footage]). However, I do think the new clothes look really good on him. And, who does Madison think she is-Alyssa???? I never noticed David's teeth either, but apparently Madison is channeling Alyssa with her smile demands... I thought Ikechi could not go any lower, but, no, his need for attention go beyond anything I've seen on this show before. Showing up at the couple's retreat with fake divorce papers? I'm so glad that Emem didn't fall for it-he wanted her signature for some reason and since she is very successful, I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of money grab. But, he knew what he was doing-disrupting and event in order to make it all about himself. Nobody should ever sign anything without carefully going over it, and, even better, having a lawyer look at it. Michelle also knows how to put all of the attention on herself. So many of these participants really know how to play the victim game. Come on, just let the others enjoy Allen's cooking and specialty cocktail and have some semblance of fun. I'm a bit frustrated that I had to sit through over 1 1/2 hours of this show to get to the couple's retreat! Next week better be pretty great...