Blergh

OK, I didn't catch Aurelia saying she was from Roanoke Island. Yes, a MUCH smaller place than the entire state of North Carolina but hardly without its problems re how Samuel could have travelled there, found Aurelia's mother+son, then spirited them away from the slaveholder's place AND gotten them OFF the island to the mainland,etc. Yes, there WERE women Confederate spies but I'm not sure Alice Green would have what it would take to do that or anything else useful for the organization.

forumfish, Your pet peeve re your sister and mother brought to mind one I discovered having to deal with handicapped friends and relatives: wheelchair ramps. Why do so many of them go up at too steep inclines for anyone to safely push the wheelchair up (or keep it from breaking away when exiting down) AND have too sharp angles to be able to effectively turn a heavy wheelchair? I know that things have improved from the days when few buildings outside hospitals had them at all but they don't seem to consider how cumbersome pushing a wheelchair of someone outweighing a helper can be!

Pardon my dissenting re the Casey Affleck interview but IMO , Mr. Colbert was right to address his casual attire and profanities due to this being a network [not cable] show that viewers have invited into their homes. If Mr Affleck wants to dress that way while chatting that way with his pals at a sports bar, fine. However; he's not a homeless person who has no access to more formal attire AND he's not ignorant of non-profane terms so he shouldn't be surprised that Mr. Colbert didn't act as though the emperor was clothed but actually called him on that so he can understand that there are consequences to not attiring and conducting oneself as though one has at least token respect for one's host or audience. Oh, and I don't care how cute others view him.

OK, I guess because I somehow didn't think a lone man with virtually no money or resources could somehow find Aurelia's mother and son with no surname and nothing more to go on than being from 'North Carolina' that's why I didn't believe it was Samuel himself. A poor defense I admit but that's what I've got. Anyway, as much as I'm glad Aurelia got to be reunited with them, I just didn't think that 'North Carolina' was the equivalent of a pinhead-sized village where one could instantly spot a random 7-year-old and instantly know whose child he was. It's interesting to me that Mr. Green appears to be having regrets over having been a participant in slavery (having been in the very prison in which his now-servant Belinda's brother had been a slave and sold away from) -yet has become more reluctant to sign the Oath while his son and younger daughter seem more determined than ever to keep the institution growing. Even though Jimmy Green DID sign the Oath at his mother's instance, I can't imagine he won't do something to screw everything up for the whole family before it's all over. And what would Alice Green have to offer to that organization besides being a 'comfort woman'? Will she stay with them even if Emma's pleas to President Lincoln and Jimmy's signature spring Mr. Green? Also, interesting that Belinda said she was NOT going to leave the Greens but while she may have just said that just to placate them at the moment, it DOES reflect what many older slaves felt re leaving the only homes and families they'd known even when they'd been mistreated by them. I wonder if Dr. Foster's good intents will prevail or will his morphine addiction resurface before the War's end? In any case with the hospital and (almost?) all the regulars still intact, it should be worth sticking around for the conclusion, I think.

DeLurker, Not a bad idea in theory (and intent). However; be warned that even THAT isn't without its risks. I recall once in a store, I went up to mother of well-behaved kids and complimented her and her offspring while dissing some dervish kids in the same spot and she gave me an icy response. As best I could tell, the other kids were either her nieces/nephews or best pal's kids and she didn't like me dissing (by extension) the other mother. Learned my lesson and now ONLY compliment parents of well-behaved kids with no nearby brats because one can't be sure said brats might somehow be connected to the 'good' parent.

In spite of the many anachronisms already enumerated in this Forum, I can't say I was surprised that this series didn't quite have the . . .nerve to totally change history by having the Gunpowder Plot succeed re blowing President Lincoln to Kingdom Come long before Appomattox was in the realm of possibility. A little irony in that Frank throwing himself on the fuse to keep Emma alone from being killed wasn't too dissimilar to how the REAL Gunpowder Plot back in England got foiled due to one of the plotters wanting to keep a cousin from being blown up in Parliament by writing a letter begging the cousin to stay away but the cousin got alarmed enough to tip off the authorities who stopped the plot and had the participants executed. Why the need to have John Wilkes Booth be in on it and what exactly did he do besides urge Frank on? Although I know the odds of having Aurelia's family finding where she was going and meeting up with her before she was due to leave for parts unknown to all but Mary herself were incredulous, considering ALL that Aurelia had gone through in Alexandria, I'm glad she got that one small break (and it would have been interesting to find out HOW her unspecified male relative somehow had learned to READ said notice with the laws so discouraging of literacy for slaves). Also, Aurelia's son, mother and unspecified male relative all seemed like they were middle class freedmen on their way to church NOT fugitive slaves who had had to flee through two hostile states to reach Alexandria. Yeah, I DO hope that's Silas's wounds prove fatal but I wouldn't be surprised if he survived long enough to try to frame Aurelia for it even though ALL she did was take what was due her (her salary). Mrs. Green must have gotten REALLY desperate to be urging Mr. Green to sign the Oath but what's odd that he actually become MORE resistant to it after being imprisoned. Interesting that Belinda's own missing brother had been in that very prison as a slave being sold off and neither she nor Mr. Green were shy mentioning it. I wonder if Mr. Green's 'haunting' could be regrets for HIS role in at the very least doing nothing to prevent Belinda's brother from having been sold off to parts unknown? Good that Jimmy finally got guilted to sign on his father's behalf even though I don't any of them should trust him further than they could throw him. I think Mary wasn't entirely selfless re staying with the dying deserter instead of meeting President Lincoln in that she likely felt a good amount of guilt re not being at her own late husband's deathbed when he died and was willing to roleplay the soldier's abandoning wife whilst she pretended the soldier was her own late husband. Will Miss Hasting and her co-conspirator attempt to strike again? Somehow I wouldn't be surprised. Even though this series had quite a few problems and inconsistencies, in showing how chaotic and volatile life became for folks of every possible background due to this war, I think this series had its merits and I'm interested to see how things conclude for everyone by the end of the Civil War.

I know I already posted a tribute in "Celebrity Deaths" but I'd feel remiss if I didn't honor Miss Harper Lee who gave us her wonderful gift of "Mockingbird" and is now free to be Scout again!

I'll always consider "To Kill a Mockingbird" to be one of the best classic novels of all time and nothing can erase that legacy(not even that debatably timed 'prequel' released last year). In any case, not only is she no longer afflicted by deafness and blindness but she can no longer be exploited by those who sought to use her aging decline to profit from. On a somewhat trivial note, she used her middle name of Harper for the pen name because she had never liked her actual first name of Nelle and didn't want to chance folks mispronouncing it as 'Nellie'. RIP and enjoy the reunion with your real loved ones, Miss Lee.

jird, Maybe he was hoping to be a Sears-Robuck catalogue glove hand model in case the overnight carpentry career didn't work out.

Despite not being a fan of either's music, I was pleasantly surprised by how intriguing both Mr. Coomb's and Mr. LL Cool J'[born Smith]'s genealogies. I think what happened with Mrs. Smith's case of finding out she was adopted late in adulthood wasn't that uncommon a few decades ago when many adoptees were only told of being adopted in adulthood if ever by their parents but it's interesting that it was a random donation linking Mrs. Smith to a half-sister set that ball in motion- and quite amazing that it turned out that Mrs. Smith's bio father had been a prominent boxer and that they've been united to a hithero unknown family. Let's hope things stay as pleasant as possible between these sides of the family. I wonder how many adoptees will be able to find their actual DNA parentage via these databases? Anyway, I thought this was very well done.

In the 19th century, the 'treatment' for syphilis and gonorrhea was with mercury which only made the patient worse and I'm not sure it would have prevented the spread. Also, even if Mary somehow had 'cured' these particular prostitutes, that wouldn't have prevented the soldiers from finding others who hadn't been cured. In any case, it just seemed a bit OOC and from a future century for Mary to have taken this course of action.

Not that I think it was just for Mr. Green to have been arrested but why didn't he hurriedly sign the Oath as soon as they left? He'd already said he'd done it in front of his objecting family and the soldier's own mother so what would it have hurt him to have done so? Didn't he think they'd have checked it out? So, with the putative owner of the property being arrested, does this mean the Greens are now entirely homeless and will that Confederate grave be disinterred? Yes, I agree Silas deserves to pay for what he did to Aurelia, framing Samuel in addition to being horrible at his appointed job of distributing food, medicine and supplies to the wounded and medical staff! Sad that Samuel had to leave (and will Dr. Foster step up to protect Aurelia from Silas) but, Silas virtually signed the man's death warrant so he had no choice. Who was the older woman in Silas's quarters who told what happened- his mother, perhaps? Surprised that Mary would have greenlighted the camp followers to entertain the wounded (and that she wouldn't have known the contemporary euphemisms but used the actual term prostitute). I guess we're to believe that with all the hubbub over the escaped prisoner, then the surprise inspection, Aurelia's emergency surgery somehow got overlooked. I hope somehow Aurelia WILL beat the odds and be reunited with her son Gabriel but those odds were incredible. I know that Mr. Booth had a very long simmering hatred for President Lincoln and all he felt he stood for but was he plotting to do the President in this early? Good that they showed that Mr. Booth was somewhat Elvis-like re popularity back then.

Do I think folks should proclaim a dislike for anything without even the slightest knowledge of it? No, but one can decide re hype and others' descriptions whether one has any interest or liking in something to believe it would be worth giving it a try. If one has gleaned enough info via not personally seeing, reading, interacting,etc. whatever to decide one has no interest or liking for it, that's perfectly okay, IMO. Does this mean one MUST visit North Korea or drink Flint, Michigan water to have the 'right' to decide whether they're any good? I don't think so.

OK, I'm going to buck the thread a bit and say one of my faves was the two parter 'Dr. Fever and Mr. Tide'. The rock vs. disco storyline may sound like it would be lame in hindsight but Mr. Hesseman did an unexpectedly good job of how Johnny was getting more and more enticed to become everything he hated to the point of being willing to destroy who he really was. Also, Miss Anderson got a good moment to shine there as Jennifer used a revelation to try to pull Johnny back. Of course, I knew that the one-note villainess played by the late Mary Frann would have no use for Johnny once she realized she couldn't use him. Oh, and it had a good amount of humor,too.

Would it be considered an 'unpopular opinion' to say I like the 'Commander Audi' commercial? Yeah, I know that letting an old man with such diminished capacity that he's not eating drive a car may not the smartest move. However; I like the idea of letting him have his fun even if its entirely within his own mind (like Captain Pike's fate in the Original "Star Trek"). Also, those pictures and NASA footage were quite impressive!

bilgistic, Like you I never rode a schoolbus that had heat unless you count having to sit in the back where the fumes often collected. Even though I have no current connection to this situation, my pet peeve re schoolbuses is that( apart from a tiny number of 'short buses' for special students) I've heard of few if any schoolbuses that actually have SAFETY BELTS -despite numerous accidents resulting in injuries and ,yes, fatalities down the years. Yes, I know that a good number of safety belts could get vandalized but shouldn't that be something for schools and districts to be willing to 'eat' if it means the injuries and fatalities get minimized?

I wonder why they detailed when Miss Arquette's direct paternal line and Miss Moore's [born Smith] mother's side immigrated to the US but none of the other sides (and nothing at all about when Senator McCain's ancestors arrived). Amongst the other ironies of this episode were that Senator McCain's double-great grandfather who was captured and died a POW did so while fighting to defeat if not overthrow the very nation Senator McCain fought for. Also, it should be noted that the Battle of Chapultepec that Miss Moore's ancestor participated was not against a hardened adult legion but against teenaged military cadets who were willing to sacrifice their all to defend their nation against what they considered an invading force(and a century later President Harry S Truman laid a wreath at a memorial to them for that very reason). but I wonder if Dr. Gates may have decided to spin it otherwise to avoid hurting Miss Moore's feelings.

Oddly enough, I have no problem hearing her voice but I get very annoyed that she isn't wiping the kid's mouth or telling the kid to wipe her own mouth instead of reveling in the mess. Sorry but both mother and daughter are over the age of three and should know better!

It's amazing to me how many times folks wanting to knock out kitchen walls seem genuinely surprised that said walls often contain drainage pipes from the upstairs commodes directly overhead. Hello, did you all think it zigzagged under floor to the outside wall? Speaking of commodes- why would any grown person not realize that one should completely drain and scrub out said fixture beforeattempting to MOVE it? But what do I know? I'm a complete home repair klutz who still thinks its silly to want to record and broadcast to the world my reno fails.

Are former sports stars so hard up for cash that they're willing to appear in toenail fungus commercials or are they so egocentric that they think they're doing their fans a favor by showing off their feet? I guess we should be grateful the ads aren't for other parts of the anatomy seen less in public.

I don't disagree, Milz , that it's a safe bet Mrs. Green had good reason to take pride re household and meal management but that doesn't negate the fact that while she had the idea for the cake and was able to use blackmail to obtain the ingredients, it was Belinda the newly freed person who turned those ingredients into the delicious and appealing cake so one may say it was a triumph and skills of a freed person using their own skills over a generic and unappealing military issue confection.. In addition to feeling a bit more sympathetic to Mrs. Green re her understanding that Mr. Green's motivation is above all else to protect and safeguard their family, I have admit I felt bad for her when her heirlooms got manhandled and even deliberately destroyed .Yes, despite her refusal to accept the grim reality that their house had been confiscated by the occupying army and they have only been allowed to stay there with any possessions whatsoever due to whims of the occupying commander. Poignant that Aurelia attempted to console Samuel (and possibly herself) after Samuel's news of her having been rendered barren via the operation,etc. that she is the mother of a son named Gabriel. This makes her desperation re gaining news and being reunited (and her agreeing to a sordid arrangement ) all the more palpable rather than just her wanting to know about unspecified 'family'. Where she last knew Gabriel was, who is supposed to be tending to him, how old he is, who his father is/was and whether she can be reunited with him may all come to play out in this series.

By Samuel's reaction to Dr. Foster's query, re NOT denying that he could have had something to with Aurelia getting in that condition, I think it's possible that Sam and Aurelia may have gone beyond flirting on at least one occasion but maybe Samuel just wished they HAD instead of wanting to admit the ugly truth that he knew that Aurelia had been so badly exploited by the quarter master. I take it that by the surgery, they had to cut and sew up so much in such a hurry so many places that it rendered Aurelia barren like an 80-year-old nun. Ironically, Mrs. Green's 'cake triumph' was completely due to Belinda being able to make such a delicious and visually appealing confection. Hence the [former] slaveholder's 'victory' was DUE to the work of a freed person! Yes, Mrs. Green had the idea but did nothing to carry it out.

Ok, do I think Mary and Dr. Foster needed to do ALL they could have done to save Aurelia? Of course. Without question. However; do they think that NO ONE will ever find out that Nurse Mary tore herself away from the ball- and enlisted the help of a 'quarantined' doctor along with a laborer to perform very risky, complicated surgery on a non- military person considered by both sides to be 'contraband' ? I hope they're ready to bite the bullet and hope their medical compassion and knowledge won't get trampled to the ground by military regulations,etc.. Oh, and since a known enemy prisoner DID make his escape during this ball, there no doubt will be a thorough investigation as to EXACTLY what went on in the Mansion Hospital during that time. WHERE would Mary have gotten an expensive, form-fitting silk ball gown at a moment's notice and how could she have begun to have afforded it? Don't forget for all we know, she only carried one small satchel with her and has NEVER gotten to sleep in a bed. Also, they made this character to look much more fetching than she likely would have appeared at the time as, in real life, she was born in 1818 and would have been in her mid 40's- the exact same age as Mary Todd Lincoln who was NOT the belle of the ball despite her overspending. Interesting to see Mrs. Green being revealed to be more sympathetic to her husband's efforts than previously shown and at least she DOES understand that he is trying to protect his family even if she disagrees with his tactics. Also kind of funny that she somehow convinced herself that her fancy apple cake being more popular somehow meant she (and the South) had 'won'. Kind of funny to see Emma and her sister pour on the charm to help her sister's boyfriend escape but no doubt the sister will be devastated when she learns of his death (I wonder if Emma's boyfriend the fake dentist will tell them it was a suicide?) It will be interesting to see how soon Aurelia will be able to recover from this major surgery and where will she convalesce ? How will Dr. Foster explain his quarantine and will folks think he and Mary were really carrying on a longterm tryst that week?

Thank you! I cosign you! Oh, and I have to WORK during this time. No, I don't mind that in itself since I couldn't care less about all this and it'll be my usual scheduled time to do so. What I DO mind (and this is another pet peeve) is I know there will be OTHERS who will openly whine about having to work during that time AND will feel the need to share every single literal and figurative blow, commercial and song involved. No, really I'm perfectly fine just glancing at the final score when it'll be ALL over and won't care how it happens.

Interesting that Richard Branson found out not only had his paternal-paternal great-grandfather been born in Australia which he'd had no inkling of but also one of his great-great-grandmothers had been born in India- apparently to an unknown East Indian woman [due to the 'South Asian' DNA showing up]. Oddly, what went uncommented on re the double-great grandmother's birth registry was that she was referred to as the' natural daughter of the late. . . 'Yes, calling someone a 'natural' child was the polite term for a nonmarital but acknowledged child so I'm wondering if it may be that the her unmentioned paternal grandparent/s may have been so devastated at losing their (only?) child that they were willing to raise his posthumous offspring as their own despite her being nonmarital and biracial. Of course, WHY her unknown East Indian mother agreed to let them do so, whether the unknown East Indian mother may have given the girl an Indian name and whether she had ANY further interaction with her child thereafter [i.e. being an ayah to her own child somewhat like Moses's mother was to him whilst he was raised by the Pharaoh's Daughter] and if the great-great grandmother (as well as her eventual husband) had any knowledge about her actual origins would be interesting to find out. It's not unheard for folks of the British Raj to have hidden Indian DNA as in the cases of Merle Oberon and Anna Leonowens [whose writings eventually would become the basis of the "King and I"]. Also, interesting that Miss Linn had had no inkling about her great-grandmother's independent, autonomous path after her husband's early death much less any idea about the origins of her surname. Too bad they made a big deal about her matrilineal DNA being NOT Han Chinese but not saying what it actual was (Tibetan perhaps?).