angora

Looks like administrations have been playing ping-pong with it. Obama announced it for release in 2020, Trump 1.0 pushed it back to 2028, Biden worked to "resuming efforts" to get it made, and now it seems to be slated for 2030. So "forever in limbo" isn't too far off. ETA - arrgh, meant to include the link: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5321464/harriet-tubman-20-dollar-bill-2025

I definitely thought the Supervisor sounded like Stephen Fry. The way Jod interacts with the kids on the other side of his betrayal is fascinating to me. As menacing as threatening as he is to them, he's still specifically *not* actually hurting them--not sure if the show figured he's scary enough as it is, or if there's something to that. And even when he sneers that they're children, There's something about how he yells at them, how he bickers with them, that's just slightly...I dunno, almost at their level? Like telling Wim he was the worst one or arguing with Fern when she un-claimsies his claim on the ship. I really like that he's genuinely menacing and doesn't hate to kill other pirates, that he's a total bastard who's obsessed with At Attin's "treasure," and that he doesn't always feel like the clear "grown-up" in the scenario--what an entertaining character! I can't wait for episode 8! How are the kids gonna get out of this one?

It's also notable that we'd just seen Jod tell SM-33 to boil the other pirates in acid, proving how ruthless he's capable of being. Because immediately after, he goes out of his way *not* to hurt Fern. He quickly disarms her and threatens her, and he certainly scares all the kids, but he could've hurt/killed her so easily, and instead he just grabs her, threatening her with the knife (but never cutting her) while he repeatedly tells her to yield. Whether his intentions are pragmatic or self-serving, I think it's significant that he never actually hurts Fern or any of them. Of course, it's still a scumbag move, even if he *does* have a good reason for it. I won't begrudge the kids any feels of anger or betrayal towards Jod in the coming episodes.

Taking this to the book vs. show thread, to avoid talk about later episodes in the thread for the pilot.

From the 1x01 thread. I agree that the geography is pretty murky in season 1, and it gets tricky to keep track of where we are. I appreciated getting the quick shots of the map in season 2 as we were moving from country to country. If you're still fuzzy on how it all works, here's the map: The Fold separates a small portion of western Ravka from the rest of the country. The eastern side is where most of the population lives, and where the capital city is, home to the royal family and the Little Palace (where the Grisha live/train.) The western side has access to the sea, so their they're the ones that get all the trade/exports. In order for eastern Ravka to get supplies/food they can't make themselves, a skiff has to bring materials through the Fold. There's no way around, because Ravka's at war with the countries on either border (Fjerda and Shu Han.) In season 2, Nikolai's flying machine is still a prototype, so flying over the Fold isn't really an option for them at this point. At the start of the show, Alina and Mal are at a military camp on the eastern side of the Fold, where there's about to be a crossing to pick up supplies and bring them back east. When the skiff is attacked by volcra and Alina uses her power for the first time, they're closer to the east than the west, so they turn around and go back to the camp. That's where Kirigan tests Alina and takes her to the Little Palace (all in the east.) Alina's mapmaker friend Alexei, who got thrown/jumped(?) off the skiff during the attack, is the only one who winds up on the western side to tell them what happened. General Zlatan, the non-Grisha military guy in season 1, was a leader from western Ravka. He wanted to break with the royal family and make the west its own nation, leaving the eastern majority of the country to rot/starve without its shipments of supplies. But his push for western independence doesn't really work if there's a Sun Summoner who can tear down the Fold, so he enlists Arken to kill Alina during the Crows' heist, preserving his own political power. Kaz and the Crows aren't from Ravka at all. Ketterdam is on the island nation of Kerch (southwest on the map.) It's a bustling port city that attracts people from all over the region--Inej is Suli (part of a traveler culture originally from Ravka,) while Jesper is Zemeni (from Novyi Zem, northwest on the map.) Ketterdam has tons of trade, lots of pleasure houses, and plenty of criminals. When the Crows get hired for the heist in season 1, they take a ship to western Ravka and then use Arken's train to get through the Fold. They spend the rest of the season in eastern Ravka, and they don't cross the Fold again until the season finale, when they con their way onto the skiff that Kirigan is bringing Alina across on. At the end of episode 8, everybody is at a port in western Ravka, boarding ships to leave the country. The Crows are going back to Kerch/Ketterdam, and Nina is going there too (because that's where Matthias is being taken to jail as a "slaver.") Alina and Mal are going into hiding, and they end up in Novyi Zem.

Yep, Jon is doing Thursday this week, and I believe it'll be live. That's how the show typically handles the conventions--early tapings throughout the week, live show on Thursday after the candidate's speech. I laughed so hard at Michael's bit about Tim Walz living his best life on the campaign bus, consulting his personal map and giving the driver advice.

I kept thinking, you'd rather spend your 20 minutes talking about Biden's age than the Supreme Court ruling on Chevron and presidential immunity?

Same, @DoctorAtomic. I know I can just watch the YouTube clips, but I watch the episodes while I'm doing something else (dusting, working on a craft project, etc.), so it's nice to be able to hit play and leave it, not individually select each segment. Which, yes, isn't exactly a "problem." But I hate that everything is getting siloed into a different paywall, and it makes me less likely to want to try Paramount Plus.

I liked getting to see more from all the characters in season 2, but one issue I had was that their storylines felt so siloed from one another. In most episodes, it was like, "Now let's check in on Bisma's story with her identity and her family, now let's check in on Ayesha's storyline with Laura and her feelings about coming out, now let's check in on Amina's storyline with Billy and Ahsan." I'd have liked to see them in one another's plots more. Maybe they could've spread it out more so that they were supporting a just few characters' plots in each episode instead of needing to advance a snippet of everyone's individual storyline every time. Like, this episode is mainly Amina and Ayesha's stories, this one is mainly Saira and Taz, etc. I still loved it, though. I love all these characters! This season had so many great songs, and I liked the different themes we explored here.

I agree with what everyone is saying--the consequences of leaking their original tracks were a little unrealistic and basically takes the band back to reset mode, but I still liked the episode a lot. *Loved* "Glass Ceiling Feeling," especially how much of the first verse was taken directly from their argument about the album. I loved seeing Momtaz find a way to bring her vision to life, and regardless of my opinion on how things went down with the label, I was glad to see the whole gang back together. Amina's serenade was really cute! I appreciated Ayesha realizing that coming out to her parents wasn't the right choice for her right now, and I'm so happy that Dirty Mahmood was such a real one--out of all of Saira's dreams and goals, he was the only person that fully lived up to her expectations, both as a music producer and as an all-around good guy.

100% agree. Satirists can have fantastic, biting political commentary, and I certainly wouldn't categorize Lady Parts' songs as inconsequential or non-political. I hate it when people automatically equate humor with "not having anything 'real' to say." I liked Bisma pointing out that the very fact of being themselves was political, and I appreciated her standing up for the type of music they write. I also liked the point that they write about their own lives, and "picking an atrocity" from a list felt like capitalizing off of other people's suffering for their own cred. I understand why Sister Squire's words made Saira spin out, though. Apart from having her art dismissed by her *idol*, she's been very concerned about not selling out, and like @RachelKM said, she's most likely still reeling from what went down with Taz. When they were posing for a photo with the record label, I loved the moment where Ayesha swatted down Amina's double thumbs-up and then Amina slowly brought one of them back up again. So cute!

I thought Bisma's plot was really good, and that cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was gorgeous. Although, yikes to her husband's "Believe Black Women" T-shirt while he was asking if she just wanted to remove her headscarf to be "sexier." The thing about Ahsan's insecurities/jealousy about Amina and Billy is that he feels like it's Amina choosing Billy *over* him, when in truth she's very clearly buried any hopes she had of getting with Ahsan. She doesn't know she's been in a love triangle this whole time, because after everything that went down with Ahsan last season, she's internalized that he wasn't/isn't/will never be into her. She has no idea that Ahsan inviting her to the folk night was supposed to be him making an overture, so of course it's going to feel to her like Ahsan "suddenly" wants her after she went out with Billy. Oh, Momtaz broke my heart at the end! She let Lady Parts go so they could fly, but it hurt her so much! If this Clarice thing doesn't blow up in the band's face, I hope there's some way that Clarice could mentor Taz or something, make some introductions for her.

Amina dramatically declaring it her "villain era," by which she means she's establishing boundaries and not letting people talk her out of things she wants, is the most Amina shit ever. I love her!

Okay, they all looked so ridiculously hot in their wedding suits! The implosion during the photo shoot was kind of over-the-top, but given what everyone was dealing with personally, I completely get why it happened. Poor Bisma, that's two episodes in a row now that a Gen Z-er put her in the "people pleaser"/"non-threatening" box. It's interesting how Second Wife, a band that from an influencer background, views Lady Parts from the perspective of branding and cultivated identities: Bisma's lower follower count is an image problem, Amina is ditching the "girl next door" vibe to go "full Sith," is Saira "queerbaiting" because she wears flannel? But Lady Parts isn't about any of that. They each have their own style and their own vibe, but it's based on who they are/want to be and not about what image they're trying to perform. In that way, it makes sense why Second Wife is gaining quicker success, despite not having original songs and besides Taifa's built-in following. They're crafted for people to like them, while Lady Parts just is who they are, and their thing doesn't really work when they're trying to fit someone else's idea of them.

I remember Amina's fantasy sequences from last season, but the fantasy elements didn't bleed into other characters, did they? Interesting to see little bits of that this season, like Bisma "pausing" her daughter with the remote. I liked Momtaz doing her best to make things happen, for both the band and herself, and not apologizing for her choices. And I laughed out loud when Bisma worried that she was a people pleaser and Amina instantly exclaimed, "You're a queen!" with that super intense look on her face. Loved the Malala song!