renatae

Oh, me as well. It was driving me crazy. All along, I'm supposed to be seeing this character as Jewish, and I'm having a hard time not seeing him as either a Thai king or a cowboy in a black hat. It was definitely distracting.

The writers seem to take a perverse delight in robbing us of favorite characters, either by death or displacement. I'm really getting tired of losing everyone. This episode brings us shake-ups in the family and the servants to such a degree it feels like the whole household will soon go spinning off into space. No permanent housekeeper? Branson's departure looming, Daisy, etc., etc. Here's what: I think Branson should marry Mary or Edith. So there. And if they don't give me what I want, I'm just going to fantasize my own end. I'm not even going to entertain the notion that something bad will became of our poor Mrs. Bates.

I already wrote in the last episode thread that I think there is a good chance that Rebecca somehow got Rudy to do her killing for her, just like she got Wes to do the same. But now that they are setting us on that track I think it might be a little too early in the season for that. On the other hand, maybe the rest of the season is navigating that fact. Agreed on all counts! Uh gross, he's her son! (that's my newest theory and I'm sticking to it.) Almost seems like somebody accidentally switched their parts in the script. I thought I was the only one still thinking that Wes is her son. I thought Cicely/Viola playing off each other was wonderful. I loved the way Annalise's backstory evolved via this episode, as did their relationship. Cicely's "potty mouth" blew me away, reminding me of a close relative who was very proper, but if she had to deal with the subject of sex, could be shockingly direct. She also was a victim of sexual abuse. It's uncanny how much Cicely's character reminded me of her. Not sure who I "like" for the murder, but it would be rewarding if it turned out to be Rebecca and we could be rid of her. Too cold about Nate. Really having a hard time getting over that, as apparently is Annalise. But then, she shouldn't have framed him. She deserves to be incapacitated.

Except I think Asher wouldn't be stringing her along - he's hooked!

While the discussion could have been vetted, as you said, I felt the shock on Lisa's face and her whole demeanor said otherwise. Call me naive, but that's how I felt. Being an adoptive parent in a complicated situation, her reactions resonated with me. It is a big deal, no matter how you try to be prepared, no matter how forthright your intentions. Your first question about Max's name, in your first paragraph was, "But, still, why even hesitate to answer a direct question from a 22 year old man?" I felt the reason she said, "I'm not going to tell you that," was because they were on camera. Again, I did feel this scene was spontaneous, and I felt it didn't mean she was going to continue to refuse to give him his name in private. However, I wasn't addressing that in my response. Instead, my responses about the legality surrounding revealing Max's birth name were regarding your statement from your third paragraph, "Now, there seems to be some idea floating around that Lisa could get sued it the birth parents' name is revealed." During that paragraph, you didn't mention Max specifically at all, so I didn't realize you were referring to her revealing it specifically to him. Mea culpa - and I can't think of any reason she couldn't reveal it to him.

LOL! Hilarious - AND very astute!

I've been thinking over the "bullying" Brandi thing, and, even though I did feel badly for her at certain points, there was no concerted effort to make her feel bad at the party. Nobody said anything snarky to her that we could see when the party first started. Mohamed was telling everyone where to be and she sat there with this "WTF" lost child look on her face - the same one she wore at varying points in the party, often with no obvious reason. Lisa came in, and yes, she made a jab by saying "How did you make the cut?" but she was also one of the first people Lisa greeted. Lisa had a genuine smile on her face and took Brandi's hands in hers. When they sat down, Brandi excused herself and Lisa made the "joke" toast, but Brandi wasn't even there. Kyle told Ken it looked as though he had forgiven Brandi, but he said he didn't like to to leave anybody out. Certainly not the most tactful exchange, but I don't think Kyle could have predicted Ken's response. Lisa went and sat next to Brandi and the discussion led to Brandi singing. Although I cringed at that, Brandi seemed to be up for it, and everyone but Kyle seemed to be laughing along with Brandi and many were clapping. Brandi got all snarky when the other women were singing together, but it's not as though anyone was deliberately leaving her out. She could have joined in. But, you know, as she said, she wasn't about to join in with the "menopause mamas." Later, she and LisaR were running off with the flowers and Lisa was chasing them, laughing. Then, at the end of the scene, Brandi is looking peeved, because, apparently, she thought LisaR was getting most of LisaV's attention. Or something. Yes, between Lisa, Ken, and Kyle, there were some awkward moments. But there were no "STFU" comments, no direct attacks, no shunning, just Lisa being Lisa, Ken still smarting, and Kyle being quite restrained under the circumstances. All three of these people have good reason to be upset with Brandi, and I don't feel they made any sort of concerted effort to upset her. There was a bunch of random stuff. Brandi is fond of saying what a "truth cannon" she is and how you have to take her for what she is, no excuses, blah, blah, blah. Well, Lisa loves her little snarky tidbits, and that's who SHE is. If Brandi doesn't like it, she doesn't need to keep bidding to get back into the fold.

I was surprised Kyle didn't mention she'd been in "The Watcher in the Woods" with Bette Davis. I'll bet she didn't mess with Bette's wig. Or anything else.

At this point, I'm suspecting her doctors are a bunch of quacks. Or she is basically ignoring their advice in favor of her cleanses and 1/2 peanut "nutrition."

I felt a bit uncomfortable with the anti Brandi antics last night, but then I got a few looks at her sourpuss face during the party, her snarling at Mohamed/Lisa and, hey, it's a wash. About time she got some of her own medicine. And she can miss me with her sudden revelation that maybe she isn't the greatest friend for Kim right now. I'm glad Jenifer called her out on all the crap. I agree I'm ready for this to move on. Kim's deflection, and now we see actual overt hostility coming up on the previews, are getting old. Now that everyone's intervened to the max possible, let's get on with something else. Maybe Bravo can send her a wake-up call in the form of "Dont show up unless you're sober," but I'm ready for the rest to be off camera. Not wanting to see her continue to self destruct on screen. I'm pretty sure Brandi and Yo were wearing the same dress. Brandi makes me nuts, but she looked awesome.

Yes, and producers, too, if I remember the credits correctly. And it's an "Abishag" production, complete with artwork of a woman's profile.Good catch that Nick doesn't know what's his name was a fake and wouldn't know where Charlie went or why, Otto. Of course, I agree with the other poster that logic won't hold and that True Love must be the hero. On the finding of the vests, as Otto mentioned earlier, it was the constellation Pegasus, overlaid on top of a map of the U.S., which gave them the locations. Oh, Charlie did finally give Aaron some thought. Right before her kamikaze attack to avenge Nick, she suddenly "felt him right beside me, like always." Or words to that effect. The right hand definitely didn't know what the left hand was doing while writing this episode. Or someone's ready to have a psychotic break.

I think the deal with thinking Nick is dead and Fatah is alive was that Fatah gave Nick the phone, which zeroed in on him, while Fatah apparently ran off to a more protected area. Charlie guessed this because Nick told her to hone in on him, and she knew Fatah had betrayed them. In reality, I do think Nick survived as well. After all, they were all wringing their hands when they learned everyone had gone into the tunnels because they said at the time they didn't know if even an air strike would work. Which idea was totally abandoned while the strike was taking place. I, too, think it was Nick giving the cover fire at the end. Ditto on the deal with why they let the Double agent get away. David, good guy or bad guy? I hate him. I think he's no good, but not sure.

And just for general snark, how come Charlie thinks her blonde hair covered by a transparent white scarf is sufficient to fulfill the dress code so she doesn't call attention to herself? OK, dumb question since she apparently doesn't need camo,either.

Great commentary, Otto! I have another question to add, but more on account of my own befuddlement rather than any plot holes. Why did it seem that POTUS (drink!) no longer holds a grudge against Charlie for the strange and unexplained events surrounding Aaron's death, nor for the fact that Charlie is carrying a torch for Nick?

Agreed. I do also feel that her claims of him messing up the house, etc. are less believable since she did not seem at all nervous until he finally came at her with that drill in his hand - even then she didn't move until he was in her face. But the guy is seriously disturbed. I wonder how much of his (stolen) money he actually put into that house he claims is his.

That was one hot mess! Spin, spin, spin, Brandi. Project your motivations onto Kyle. I can't believe I am defending Kyle in her sisterhood after limogate, but things have really changed. I guess that's some sort of progress.

From their comments, it seems Max's interest is out of the blue to them. Apparently, he has not said anything before now about having any interest in knowing anything about his birth family, so I understand they are unprepared. We are so used to hearing about adoptees who want nothing more than to know everything about their birth families that we expect everyone does. But it isn't necessarily so, and I think Lisa and her family may have felt they would never have to face this since he apparently never said anything earlier. Some really have no interest (or have decided for their own reasons not to pursue it) and some are determined from the time they are adopted to at least learn as much as possible, while there are others who go throughout their lives ambivalent about what they want to know and how far they want to pursue the issues.

Just in case no one has answered yet, and sorry if they have, I think Pandy is afraid Max's biological family may become part of the picture. She is very afraid of this, for some reason. Not at all prepared. I imagine what she really fears is that Max will leave for his biological family. I feel sad for her. There is a gut level of emotions for all involved that even when you tell yourself you are being unreasonable, fear of change and the unknown take over.

lunastartron, I love this! WWFCBICCC. Or something like that. ;)

Well, at least she was giving them the stink eye. I think that's progress for Kandi. Usually she just nervously laughs that stuff off, or says "Really??" in a high pitched voice, but she wasn't any more happy about it than he was. Hopefully, the next time they pull that crud, she will actually tell them to stuff it. Yeah, I know I'm in LaLa Land.

Amen to all that! Phaedra? Really? Has no clue anyone would revisit their old, bad habits? I don't think he wanted to be her puppy on a leash, so he decided to go out and get his own so he could spend all that money at the clubs. I think she thought that if he had a chance at a "better" life he wouldn't screw it up. I get that, but it never entered her mind that this could happen? Ever? And what was the deal that she doesn't see herself visiting someone in prison? Wasn't he in prison when they met? I do dislike the new Porsha, who seems to be following in NeNe's entitled footsteps. Not again. Please. And NeNe can get lost with the "Can't get a huzzbin, must be a waste of space" attitude. So Porsha, who was basically an airhead, and is now an entitled airhead, has status, because at least she was married to that creep for a time. Ugh. I'm a very traditional person who believes in marriage and family, but that was whack. Besides which, whatever happened to NeNe's mantra, "Don't spread your legs for a married man?" Now that Gregg is back, it seems she no longer cares about that, so I guess Porsha gets a pass. Ewww! Claudia, get away from Kordell! That guy gives me the creeps. Maybe he's the real reason Porsha isn't interested in "getting along."

Often when a child asks for the birth last name, the curiosity is likely not to end with finding the ethnicity, so Lisa probably knew the time which she knew was inevitable had come. Just because you know it's coming doesn't mean you are prepared in the moment - you still have to adjust because often these questions come apropos of nothing or seemingly out of the blue. It takes more than a moment to adjust to the fact that your life is undergoing a sea change, even if you did always plan to be open about it. Obviously, she's been open at appropriate times in the past, with appropriate information, or he wouldn't even know he was adopted, nor expect her to give an answer to his question. But certainly, she can't do that on TV. Regarding whether she would know the birth name, since she was a foster parent, then of course she would know it, because that's the name he came to her with and was his legal name until adoption. As others have said, birth parents have a right not to have this information released. Around the time Max was born, states such as New York did not allow "open adoption" and therefore the birth and adoptive parents knew nothing about each other and had no right to obtain such information and neither did the adoptee. Of course, in the case of adoption after foster care, the adoptive parents do know some things about the birth parents, and may even have met them during supervised visitation before the child is released for adoption, but that doesn't mean they have the right to violate confidentiality. In fact, they must protect the privacy of the child and the birth parents to the greatest degree possible. There's no reason to believe that Lisa or any other foster or adoptive parent is free to be revealing information to the general public. Back before probably the late seventies, or early eighties, adoptions were always closed and information was never released, except possibly someone might look into medical history for an adoptee, but still not release any other info. Birth parents released their children with the expectation that no one would ever be able to get any identifying information on them, and records were sealed. Generally, the pregnancies themselves were kept secret, so birth mothers were not looking to have their secrets revealed 20 or more years down the road. Gradually, adoption registries came about, where birth parents and adoptees who wanted to learn about each other could register, and then matches could be found. But those are purely voluntary. Adoption laws regarding open and closed adoptions are constantly changing and are different in each state. However, one thing that is constant is that birth parents have a right to choose whether their information is ever officially released, and there may still be some states that don't allow it period, outside of an adoption registry. New York, which now allows "open" adoption, will release information according to signed, legal agreements made between birth and adoptive parents, or from a Registry, but even then, there has to be a court order for release of Registry information. More than you ever wanted to know, LOL.

Shades of Taylor trying to insinuate herself into Adrienne's life with the "Godmother" ploy.

In the bathroom, Kyle refers to being concerned that Kim is not "herself." Kim gives her the pain BS and Kyle drops it, having second thoughts about confronting Kim, because we all know that leads to "you exposed me!" Which it did, anyway, as we see when Kim goes back into the party to say "Thanks for that," meaning, of course, Kyle is to blame for Kim's condition and exposing it, even though Kyle didn't even go there. Darned if she does and darned if she doesn't. We did see her expressing her concern when she visited Kim at her home, but once again biting her tongue because Lord knows we do not mention the elephant.

And yet, even considering all that, I don't think Kyle was trying to make any such statement (that Kim shouldn't be friends with Brandi.) She was only asking that Brandi stop preventing her from taking to Kim and also stop trying to derail the sisters' relationship. Oh, and stop pretending to be Kim's savior.