jordanpond

I just loved Team Nightmare's dance. Every single second was interesting. I couldn't believe all the cool shapes each of them made with their bodies, and when they moved as a group, they looked like one big creepy thing moving along. So many fun costume details, too, like the men's bat-shaped bowties. I think I could watch that dance 20 times and catch something new each time. I agree that Hayes stood out in a good way, as did Alexa for her team.

Really? I think Hayes is about as lucky as he can be! He got to appear on a show called "Dancing with the Stars" not by being a Grammy winning singer, or training for years to become an Olympic gold medalist, but by posting home-made videos on the internet. While he seemed to be a very nice boy, and gave some good performances, he was one of the least deserving contestants to ever appear on the show. He got his place on the show not through any particular effort or talent, yet he got to appear several times on TV, and earn a salary for doing something very fun. Again, I find him quite likeable, and I hope he enjoyed his time on the show. But despite being no different than millions of other kids his age he was handed a dream opportunity. I can't see him as anything but incredibly fortunate.

I thought the exact same thing. And this wasn't even the first time he did it. I'm finding him very arrogant in these last few episodes. And suggesting to his partner that she choreograph the two of them giving the judges the finger was a disgrace.

Although I agree that Charlotte is the most conservative of the four, I didn't find any inconsistency in her willingness to pose nude, since she was doing so for the sake of art. I did find it odd, however, how freely the artist and his wife used the "c" word to describe genitalia.

Cute video of Paula and Mark. I hope they do great together. She probably adds more fun to this show for me than any other contestant, so I hope a great dance for her tonight will keep her around a while longer.

Loved that dance, too.

A few random notes about Paula. I hope she brings her absolute best this coming week, because she seems to have very nice potential. Despite making some mistakes, she has handled some rather difficult footwork, with precision and speed and very nice lines. If she brings her best dance yet next week, it could be very entertaining. I also have to give three cheers to Paula's costume designer, because I think Paula has looked fabulous. Not fabulous for someone in her golden years or fabulous for someone with a somewhat fuller figure -- but fabulous, period. Beautiful fabrics and colors. Everything fits her great and flows beautifully. The designs use her figure, rather than hide it or try to change it. I think it's a lovely example of making the most of someone's appearance as it actually is.

I'm about to say something very controversial: I don't think most of these BIP contestants are stupid. In general, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Even really smart and articulate people can occasionally make a grammar error. And even though some of these contestants make numerous (rather than "occasional") errors, I still don't think they are stupid. If we gave these contestants a test, and told them that they would get 15 minutes of screen time for each correct answer, we'd probably get some surprisingly high scores. For example: Most of them probably do know that "I's" (as in "Jared and I's" relationship) is not a real word. And that "supposably" isn't a real word either. A lot of them probably realize that the word "definitely" includes both of the letters "n" and "t" despite the fact that most of them pronounce the word as "DEF'illy. " And I bet that at least one or two of them know when to use "her" versus when to use "she.," etc. And if you gave them a list of every instance this season in which a contestant used the word "literally," some might actually be able to pick out the only time in which the word was used correctly: when Justin informed us that the shaman had literally blown smoke up his butt. So, I guess my big (rhetorical) question is why don't these people care? They probably know a lot more correct grammar than what they are actually using. Yet by repeatedly using words incorrectly, or using words that don't exist at all, they are making themselves look a lot less intelligent than they actually are. Do they think that looking stupid is okay? Both the men and the women do this. But the women make themselves look even sillier when they use sing-song voices (Claire), or when they raise their voices at the end of each sentence as though they are requesting approval. (Jade) Is making oneself look dumber, sillier, or less self-confident considered a good thing nowadays? Because it sure wasn't the case back when I was dating.

Random notes about closed-captioning: Until "Bachelor in Paradise," the only times I used closed captioning were for shows such as "Downton Abbey" where I might have a little difficulty understanding one or two cast members' British accents. So that makes BIP the first show for which I need closed captioning in order to understand what my fellow Americans are saying. With all the mispronounced words, slurring, wrong grammar choices, etc. I can't understand half of what is being said if I simply watch the show. Whoever did this episode's captioning does not know the difference between "passed" and "past." That initially made me sad, but, fortunately, the feeling "past." ☺

Although I'm finding the various spellings of "Juelia" amusing, I'm starting to find them all a little confusing. I propose that for the sake of consistency we adopt the spelling "JUBLIA." If you haven't noticed it yet, this is the name of the toenail fungus ointment that is advertised during the "Bachelor in Paradise" commercial breaks. Yup, that seems about right to me.

I loved Àmber on her date, simply because she seemed so incredibly "non-desperate" in both her appearance and her demeanor. In contrast to the other women who wear tons of makeup and who are overdressed, she wore little makeup, and had on an attractive but casual dress. She seemed very relaxed the whole date. And when Dan asked her a question (I think it was whether she'd like to date him again), I loved how she teased with an indifferent "meh." What a refreshing change from the other women on this show. She actually acted like going on a first date was fun.

Although there was a lot I liked about this season, the show feels like it took a big drop in quality from what it was last year. I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but I'll give it a try. Even though I thought some new members were great additions to the cast and created some opportunities for interesting stories (Lee, Clara),i felt that some existing cast members from season one were greatly underutilized , such as Florence. Also some of the kids who had major roles last year like Gabe and the boy genius, had had their own mini "cliff hangers" from season one that were never addressed. These boys appeared in the first epsiode tossing a ball, but then I don't think we ever saw them again. So it's not like the actors were unavailable. So why drop their stories? i felt like season one (especially the first 8 to 10 episodes) was very original, unique, and interesting. But beginning with the end of last season, and carryng out through all of this season, they relied too much on unoriginal, stereotyped storylines, and anachcronistic dialogue. Sadly, i thought this was especially true with Elizabeth and Jack. Their relationship, which last year was a real highlight of the show, became rather uninteresting to me this season. I would have been totally fine with this lovely couple proceeding through this season by gradually building their relationship. But not only were the writers determined to create more obstacles for this couple, they did so in a way that seemed to contradict both their individual personaities, and the solid, secure reltionship that they had at the end of season one. I have no idea if the following is true, but I'll throw this out there. I got the impression that someone in charge decided to offer a whole lot of middle aged and senior men a chance to appear on this show, and spent more attention on writing little side stories for them than for most of fhe key figures from Hope Valley Some of these small parts made sense (the judge from episode one) but an awful lot of time has been devoted to peripheral, middle aged or older men such as the lying witness, the con man with the daughter, Nora Avery's father, some man connected to the railway,etc. It's like they abandoned the core of the Hope Valley characters, and even the essence of what makes "When Calls the Heart" unique in order to give a lot of tangential parts to someone's cronies, and to fall back on boring, unoriginal cliches where fresh and interesting stories used to be.

Village, I actually agree with you. I think that some bachelor/ettes crossed over from confidence to arrogance, and I think Emily was one of them. And lots of the men were this way, too. I didn't like that either. I think the best leads, male and female, had a "quiet confidence" about them. They didn't act cocky, but I also didn't see any self doubt. They all seemed to just have that air that it was going to be a great 8 weeks or whatever. I just wish I saw more of this from Kaitlyn. By the way I didn't even understand what Kupah's issue was. Didn't he say that he was concerned that he would be "the" minority man that would be kept as a token of sorts? But hasn't Kaitlyn kept 3 or 4 minority men so far? Or, she might have even kept all of them?? It's as though he was so determined to say he didn't want to be a token that he didn't bother to look around and see that he wasn't actually one at all.

Oh, dear. This conversation definitely went in a path I did not intend. I never said that she looked good. I never even noticed her backside. However, as did the original poster on this topic, I did recall her wearing very unusual (and in my opinion, unprofessional looking) pants. After you commented on how her backside looked in them, I made the general comment that if what the secretary of state wears to work allows people to evaluate whether her/his behind is good, then maybe he/she should wear something less revealing. All I can say is that something really, really got "lost in the translation" between the point I was trying to make, and how you interpreted what I said. And that's fine. It happens all the time on message boards, as in life. Hope next season we both continue to enjoy this series as much as we do now.

I don't understand.Are you saying that appearance should be the primary factor in judging women? Because I don't agree. In my post, I wasn't talking about just women. If either a male or female secretary of state is wearing something that reveals whether or not she/he has a nice backside, in my opinion they need to see Blake ASAP in order to find something less revealing!

Good point, but I think that there are two very different criticisms of Kaitlyn. One is that she is not good looking enough to be the lead. And i agree with you in that I think she is a much better looking lead than Bob or Ben. But I think that the other criticism about Kaitlyn is more valid (and I don't think it is sexist): that Kaitlyn should act with more confidence. I didn't find a single likeable thing about Ben, and didn't find Bob to be particularly "bachelor worthy" either. But where Emily, Ben, and Bob succeeded where Kaitlyn so far has not is that they at least acted as if they were worthy. If the lead starts out looking like she/he isn't worthy, why should any of us watch?

To me, any outfit which has the potential to make the secretary of state's backside look good or not good automatically fails. If it gives this much information about she/he is built, then it's not proper office attire.

I don't recall all the details, but when the "double bachelor" evening was done about 10 years ago, the show had a whole different tone to it. The two men seemed to be having a lot of fun in their roles s potential bachelors, and the women played the usual role of hoping to see potential with at least one of the two men. It was actually fun to watch! Yet, rather than this being a night of great fun for Britt and Kaitlyn,as it had been for the double bachelors (after all, Kaitlyn and Britt both were "the bachelorette", at least for one evening), the tone of the show was so desperate for the women. I wish that both of the women had embraced the evening with a sense of confidence and fun, rather than looking so insecure. Of course, production made it much worse, by repeating 5 or 6 times any insecure thing either woman said. How much more fun this episode would have been for me if the women had just held their heads high and been determined to have fun. They were the stars of the show, and they both came off desperate.

I'd prefer to simply call Chris by his first name, as we do for all the other contestants.

I agree with you in that I don't see any of Kaitlyn's jokes as coming from a lack of self esteem. But as for men who will date some kind of women but then want to marry a different kind of woman -- I think those men are hypocritical. .

Random thoughts: I liked Jack and Elizabeth's conversations a lot this episode. Very thoughtful and caring. I always liked the playfulness of their relationship, but I felt the writers had been making their conversations in general, and Jack's manner of speaking in particular, too full of teasing lately. Their talks this episode were more consistent with their personalities, and with their romantic feelings for each other. It was nice that Viola's engagement occurred during Elizabeth's visit. And I think she and Lionel are a good match. And I like Julie, even though she's pretty silly. She and Elizabeth are very close, and that's nice to see. And I'm glad Charles continued to be so nice. Elizabeth's visit home seemed to be very enjoyable in a lot of ways. I think that makes her return to Hope Valley that much more interesting. It was nice to see they held a party in her honor. She has done an awful lot to embrace them as her community, and it's nice that they see her in the same way. On a silly note: Did anyone else notice that Lee has a striped cravate and pants that match the stripes of the saloon walls? I just love the men's vests, cravates, and tiepins of this show, including Lee's, but the perfect match to the bar decor really struck me funny.

I agree. I find them both very unattractive and very sloppy. I find it really disappointing that the bachelorettes can go to all the effort of wearing high heels and somewhat uncomfortable gowns and strapless bras, all to make a nice appearance for the evening, and you have men who won't even make the effort to wear a tie, or keep the tie/jacket on the whole evening, etc. I kept thinking last night that I'd have a tough time even choosing 5 to want to keep.

I wish they would have kept both bachelorettes for the whole season. Even though they aren't the best of friends, I think the whole season, and especially the first night, would be a lot more fun that way. This was the first time that I ever thought those silly gimmicks right out of the limo worked. They usually seem terribly awkward with two people, but with three, they looked like a lot more fun.

With all the Grove kids, I almost missed that Mr. (Arthur) Crabb's godson was Ernest's older brother, Arthur. It was nice to see little Arthur finally receive his wind up toy. Once again, George was amazing. And so was Mrs. Crabb, even though she was off screen again. I miss her! Wow. That's pretty sad when you think about, that one of the best things done in the episode, the little knit outfit, was produced by someone the producers didn't even bother showing in the episode. i did find the new promotion very exciting. A good mix of the traditional Selfridge's with a modern twist. I didn't get why Connie just dropped by for magazines without arranging it first with Miss Mardle. That scene seemed pointless. To tell you the truth, even though I like Connie, the amount of responsibility she, a former dock worker, is given seems very unrealistic. There are probably a dozen women in fashion ahead of her, and they're treating her like a first assistant. Her story isn't consistent with how they've always shown us how things work at Selfridge's. Elsa's goldish outfit at the club was gorgeous.

About Nancy ' s partner in crime: I didn't think they ever explained who he was. When we first see him, Nancy introduces him to Harry as "Mr. Gerrard, the architect." Earlier in the season Nancy told Harry she had a brother, but I don't think the show ever indicated that Mr. Gerrard actually was her brother. So, I think it remains a mystery.