sjohnson

Since you ask directly...the show has explicitly played with the idea that Dutch is indeed toxic. Most recently, D'Avin leaving was all this was about. And the first question? When Johnny, the true north, jokes about Jaq enjoying his first firefight, the show's attitude. As to whether this should be called "toxic masculinity," I'm not a dictionary to prescribe proper usage. It does seem to be the kind of thing often referred to as toxic masculinity. And insofar as toxic masculinity is actually a real thing instead of a buzzword, the notion that becoming a real man is marked by, not just killing, but killing with brio, does indeed seem to earn the phrase.

In that remark I was thinking the dissipation might carry away the nuke's energy, and leave the asteroid relatively untouched. The jet effect would deflect the path, probably unpredictably. Yes, the KE is conserved. What I'm disagreeing with is the assumption that it's the KE that is the biggest problem. I think it's environmental after effects, particularly those causing a cascading collapse of ecosystems, which creates the mass extinctions. I mentioned acid rain from a giant strike. A giant strike can that happens to release enough sulfur can raise the acidity of the oceans, causing oceanic mass extinctions, including of coastal algae, which could affect oxygen levels in the entire atmosphere. The thing is, the fossil record seems to indicate there have been asteroid impacts not associated with a mass extinction. (Here's a link https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130214-biggest-asteroid-impacts-meteorites-space-2012da14/) Also, it can be difficult to associate the timing of the impacts with mass extinctions with the estimated dates of the impacts, sometimes maybe even to millions of years later. That again suggests cascading environmental effects rather than the shock of impact. If the KE per se is not the real killer for the whole biosphere, breaking up an asteroid may reduce the long term effects, Maybe. When Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter what was noticeable was the way it brought up lower atmosphere materials within sight of telescopes. Nothing within a couple of thousand miles (or twice that?) of the impact would be able to distinguish it from the end of the world. But planets are big.

^^^Yes, I've read similar discussions too. Almost always they emphasize the kinetic energy won't change if the asteroid is broken up. But I'm pretty sure they're forgetting that a thousand thousand pound TNT bombs going off in different place simply won't do the kind of damage a megaton nuke going off will. Energy per unit area matters, not just total energy. Even for firestorms, the polluting effects from a thousand firestorms that burn forest differ from the giant firestorm that is so hot it makes the nitrogen in the air itself burn, producing a vast amount of nitrogen/oxygen compounds. Even simple particulate pollution is more likely to be thrown into the stratosphere and block sunlight (except maybe UV, as ozone is destroyed by pollutants, the worst of both worlds,) by a gigantic blast than a group of smaller ones And a break in the crust is more likely to produce sulfur pollutants, with years of acid rain, too. I think, egotistical of me whether or no, they've got it wrong....except maybe, maybe the effects of the fallout are worse? The effects of asteroid strikes are highly variable on long-term environmental impacts, it seems to me. Actually it's not even clear to me that a nuke would break up an asteroid in the first place. The vaporized rock would immediately jet away, unimpeded by gravity or atmosphere, dissipating the energy to some degree.

Not altogether certain the Huntington's disease isn't destroying Darius' mind already. Unless he suspects how friendly Grace is and he wants to torment her by delivering her up to Uncle Nick? By the way, the Huntington's should be starting to manifest, as I understand the horrifying facts. And yes, it's idiot plotting for Darius to trust Nick. The Secret Service would have checked out the whole area, not just walked into a parking garage blind, no matter how cheap a set that is. Re Grace, the discovery that Harris is now sexually repellent says, without True Love, sex is disgusting. It seems to me the only way this could get more explicitly puritanical is to openly insist on a marriage license. Also, does she not know Darius' days are numbered already? Surely even Liam should have realized Alycia not shooting him when he killed her baby Tess meant something? At this point, Liam's thing for Jillian seems like it is really about how Jillian looks up to him (and therefore how he looks down on her.) No looking up at him from Alycia, a little bit the other way round. But I suppose by Hollywood standards, Alycia is out of his league. So Q17 is wanting the asteroid to hit, presumably doing worse to some places than others. Shame there's no Re/Syst to extort a global rescue effort. Incidentally, the nukes idea has the problems of radioactive fallout, but breaking up the asteroid is like chancing being hit by buckshot rather than a cannonball. A puncture of the Earth's crust, a supertsunami, a hemispheric firestorm are less likely with multiple impacts than a single monster strike. Also, the "alliance" with Russia and China is going to be every bit as shaky now as when there was a war scare back in season one, because the monster strike is going to hit some target much harder, and they'll know it. Shame there's no Re/Syst to threaten everybody equally.

Struck me as shockingly dull, which Killjoys usually isn't. Part of the problem is that the whole thing is contrived, where D'Avin running off to put Jaq in jeopardy with only one guardian for no reason except he was disappointed in Dutch. Once they glossed that over, the fact that Jaq had the best choice available the whole time was convenient to write him off the ship. Triangles do not need a fourth vertex. And part of it was how fake the fake jeopardy is, extraordinarily so even by Killjoys standards. First of all, if the spore is so nearly invincible at self-repair, how the hell is it degenerating in the first place? Second, why wouldn't Dutch give orders to Lucy in case she blacked out. And third, it wasn't necessary to circle the sun, no matter what Zeph said. (Her character was assassinated as being a total boob on this.) The acceleration that centrifuged the spore came from the ship's engines. The ship's engines could have safely accelerated that much at a prudent distance form any stellar object. And of course, the notion that centrifuging is an analysis is like saying you're going to reverse-engineer a watch by smashing it with a hammer. Seriously this is reaching BattleStar Galactica levels of stupid. The big emotional moment where Dutch basically says it's possible to do better is totally undermined for me by the episode's blatant insistence that nobody can change, and people always do bad things because they're just bad inside. Namely, of course, Dad is bad. Alcohol is truth serum and it just revealed the real man, and he was going to be exactly the same sober. The ex didn't have a heart, and that's why she's no good and has to die. You do something bad once and you're bad forever, except when you're Dutch. I know this show is just pretty people with attractively badass behavior prancing around snarking at the peons, but there just wasn't enough snark this episode, too much getting solemn about themselves. It crossed my mind that Dad had to be such a caricature of toxic masculinity to distract from the way Jaq killing someone and getting inducted into the joy of combat was actually a pretty good stab at toxic masculinity. I suppose part of it was the desperate need to reaffirm Johnny's not-gay best friend status, given the Dutch/D'Avin. Inclined to suspect Miss Lucas' fears D'Avin is to be sacrificed on the altar of lower bugets is all too likely to be true. The only hope I think is that Pip's sacrifice is enough drama to finish the season.

Johnny making a life with Pawter would have ended the life partner nonsense with Dutch. Once Pawter proved Johnny wasn't GBF, she was not needed? And Alvis converting Johnny would have done the same, as well as adding an unwelcome uncool seriousness to Johnny. Alvis/Dutch seemed more preemptive to me, but Dutch making a life with someone else would have been the end. Johnny's interest in body mods was terminated for roughly the same reasons Alvis an Pawter were terminated I think.

Luke MacFarlane is getting fewer episodes, which I think means he's getting shafted by Lovretta. Think that likely says something about the end.

Sorry, overlooked this: Way back the war scare with Russia was because Monroe Bennett was trying to aim the asteroid at Russia and China. We have since discovered Bennett was the pawn of the mystical "dark" money, Q17. So the plot says that Q17 wants to exterminate Russia and China. But at this point the plot seems to be not consequences of what went before, much less consequences of what people wanted.

Obviously Re/Syst was comprised of the people killed with the late but unlamented Dylan Harris: the old woman Nero; Alycia Vrettou/Lady Hawk, and Liam/Galileo. Plainly it is is a spent force. And John Noble was in Lord of the Rings and Fringe, so obviously his arrest means Q17 is done for too. It may be the astronaut VP who gives the world a happy ending where Elon Musk cures his Huntington's with the nanotech he invented in his odd spare moment, so that Grace can be a billionaire wife. Oddly I sort of wish Liam and Alycia go off together at the end of the series to refound Re/Syst, with the goal of destroying President Musk. Santiago Cabrera is pleasant to watch, but apotheosis gets on my nerves regardless. But I'm pretty sure that its' supposed to be Jillian/Liam, because they share cult brainwashing victimhood status. Have to say that seems more like an insuperable obstacle rather than the foundation for a healthy relationship, but that's me.

Liam already knew Alycia was Lady Hawk, which means everybody knew. She was already burnt, which makes the doxxing some of the fakest fake drama I've ever seen. It's like decapitating someone, then cutting off their ears and nose. It doesn't make quite the statement you wanted. Elite Shelters suggests Bass Shepherd was contracting for Q17, if the writers are keeping track. But at this point, I think they've been wrapping up everything anyway they can, because they've been told this is it.

Big time jumps is a cheap way to escape problems, like how the Mutant Underground gets itself restarted. The real thing about the Mutant Underground is that they essentially are working for the government, serving up the bodies of evil mutants for meal tickets. As police assets they should be getting paid, and living much more comfortable lives. Lauren can shut off arteries, meaning she would be an ideal assassin for SHIELD/HYDRA or the CIA. Without some sort of deals with the powers that be, there really isn't any safety for mutants being offered by the Mutant Underground. There's just the moral purity of non-violent resistance+violent opposition to mutants who are not non-violent with humans. I'm not feeling the hero worship for this. I'm not quite sure what the point of the MU really is. The thing about the Hellfire Club is that they are about the top mutants joining the rest of the ruling class, they way they feel they should. As such they should be making alliances with fellow top dogs. Tony Stark should be invited to the Inner Circle (I gather even the comics knew this?) If we want to stick with cheap actors, Carmen Guerra would be an ideal candidate. Then we could have tri-angst! The whole we want to conquer the world, but secretly because it's easier that way, doesn't make you feel like rooting for the Hellfire Club. Why watch? On the family drama, the question is why Lauren hangs with Mom and Dad. I'm pretty sure she's active, judging from the smirks on her and Wes' face in the Fairburn ep. (And Andy said so explicitly about Jack, and he would likely know.) There's not really any contribution from Reed and Caitlin. None of them actually like Andy, so why would they try to get him back? Lauren is so perfect she isn't tempted by Fenris, unlike the contemptible Andy. Marcos has the problem that he's rejected the assassin, and Lorna will always be the assassin. So unless his story is custodial kidnapping, I'm not sure what's up. Marcos will not join Lorna, because only nonviolent mutants who will kill violent mutants are acceptable. The show did a lot of foreshadowing, which made the season end really well, with a true dramatic climax, where people made meaningful choices that actually changed things. The usual pattern for serialized shows is to spin their wheels undoing them, like getting Polaris "back," or by taking off on tangents while leaving the consequences unexplored. Which is after all another way of undoing the drama. Even if they then somehow work out some sort of histrionics where basically things get repeated, where Andy has come back to the family, then leaves again, repetition weakens the effect. There is the possibility that Andy would want to find out where Andreas and Andrea went, or who his great-grandmother was, but it seems really unlikely the show would give such agency to a male juvenile. But the goal that the characters should be pursuing, a goal that binds the episodes into a story line, finding out where the X-Men went, will almost certainly not happen. It ties into the larger Marvel universe. Tom Holland and Percy Hynes White were in a movie together, and that's about as close as TV Marvel and the real Marvel will ever get.

Hive mind and different personalities don't mesh. Also, one told Andy specifically it didn't matter. The only hint they were different is two seemed to be resentful Esme didn't suffer the initial rigors of the Hound program. Seems like rewriting the characters. PS The choose your sides poster gallery is Fox-y: The bad guys are blue staters, and the good guys are red staters...and the red has a strong orange tint! Especially notable: The only ambiguous figure is Jace Turner, the man who has conducted illegal mass wiretapping; mass harassing raids without warrants; issued shoot to kill orders on several occasions; turned over prisoners to torture programs, including minors who hadn't even been officially arrested, much less convicted of a crime*; connived in the attack on a superior government official from the DOJ; planned to massacre all mutants at the underground HQ. Of course Fox thinks he's basically a good man! *After the massacre at Trask, Turner would ordinarily have been fired, but I'm fanwanking that he got away with it because they didn't want to admit they are just plain torturing minors with out even doing any paperwork.

Well, it never occurred to me that the writers would immediately bring back Re/Syst in the guise of a single woman, even one fetchingly shackled at the ankle. The idea that there was only ever one hacker in Re/Syst is preposterous, Lady Hawk by herself isn't enough. It makes you wonder why they bothered to get rid of Re/Syst in the first place. Liam should go back to being Galileo, because as Galileo he was interested in saving the world. As Liam, he's chasing after Jillian, though it seems like Alycia actually enjoys herself, which should be a plus I think. The successful launch of the solar sail is due almost entirely to Galileo et al. I have trouble suspending disbelief over the sail unfolding/repair "problem" in the first place, and Darius' magical appearance as Aguirre left no real impression. The thing about the political story taking so much screen time over the anti-asteroid engineering is that they aren't doing politics, they're doing soap. They've disappeared Russia and China and Monroe Bennett's agenda in favor of Nick/Darius scenes. They've disappeared Re/Syst in favor of pregnancy and light bondage. They've disappeared hard feelings over political violence in favor of Grace/Alonzo heat. I actually tend to like the characters but the intense focus on their personal lives at the expense of the world, even in the background, tends to diminish them. It makes them feel petty to me.

I find I can't remember when it's Aaron and when it's Shawn. So "Ashmore" gets more roles than anybody else. By the way, is it my imagination, or do casting directors tend to favor Shawn for more prestigious projects? If they do....*why*?

Unless I've inadvertently rewritten the plot in a way that makes sense to me, Monroe Bennet, agent of Q17, was all about aiming the asteroid at Russia and China, to improve the planet with a little discreet pruning. Re/Syst took over to force concentration on a plan to save everybody. Tanz of course thought the very most important thing in the world was to do away with Re/Syst, the one body which was committed whole-heartedly to Salvation operations. Presumably he is shocked to discover that he is the Manchurian Candidate, fortuitously placed to resume Q17's plans for solving the overpopulation problem. If the plot makes any sense whatsoever, dear old Uncle Nick, in his years of anger and rivalry, has placed agents, sleepers, hacks, back doors, gotten stuff to black mail Tanz employee, as well as the work Monroe Bennett carried out using his government resources. And it doesn't much matter what Darius wants to do, he'll never clean out the company in time. Like Ozymandias in Watchmen, Nick Tanz already has taken over Tanz. Thanks to Darius' relentless commitment to being in charge, Re/Syst is no longer able to interfere. I conclude Team Asteroid aka Q17 is sitting pretty. Russia and China will take the rest of the world with their last gasp, an honor guard on the trip to Hell. On the other hand, if they've just rewritten the plot, the scheme to wipe out Russia and China was just Monroe Bennett, or maybe didnt'even happen. And Elon Musk did save humanity from the ultimate evil, terrorists.

At the end of first season, J says outright that Smurf kept a roof over his head. That's part of the way she treated his mother and him. So if he was lying then, he was always planning to steal it all. If he just hated Smurf for otherwise cutting off Julia, turning states' evidence was the best move. Julia's addiction almost certainly meant there was no way that Smurf could give Julia any cash, just pay rent, utilities, etc. But I suppose J might just have seen that as Julia selling out cheap. Of course maybe J took out his resentments of Julia by hot shotting her. So it seems highly unlikely that J's hatred was inspired by recent events. By the way, the simplest way for Smurf to know where Baz hid the money was to have Morgan check on any financial moves by Baz, see the new house, who sends someone to check it out who can spot fresh drywall/paint. J's smart but I don't think he could have done that, yet.

That Smurf threw out Julia because, competition, has been explicitly offered in dialogue. If Julia had detached Baz and Pope, how was she kicked out so easily? Smurf doesn't squick, but Pope sure does. Baz didn't squick at the deed. But doing so openly, even if limited to inside the family, I think would be something else entirely. Plus of course Baz had a meal ticket in Smurf. If this was supposed to be a shout out from the writers making it obvious, I'm not sure they have it right. The brothers very, very rarely talk about Smurf's sexual behavior either. There's always a problem with the hiatus between seasons. When you remember the show, problems and difficulties start looming larger. If J wanted revenge he could have ratted out Smurf back in season one. Or would that have been too safe and too easy and too series ending?

I think the watch was Smurf telling J she knew he stole the properties and murdered Morgan. Which is her saying also she has something on him she can tell police. She's in the clear because not only is she the victim of the fraud, she was in jail when it went down. And even the police have to know that the person who stole the properties is the one with the most pressing need to shut up Morgan permanently, especially after Smurf gets out. She's both promising him that he can be the number two and defying him to make the same mistake Baz made. By the way, since Julia was kicked out for incest with Baz, it is almost certain Baz was the father. (Yes, Baz and Julia were not genetically brother and sister. But I feel being raised as brother and sister gives it even more squick than blood siblings who never lived together in a family mating. And I suspect Julia's addictions were not helped by feeling guilt.) J's fury at Smurf may be even more intense because of guilt over his killing his mother, even if it was unintentional (not sure at this point.) Punishing Smurf for his crime is a kind of psychological displacement of guilt, I think. Smurf not having Lucy killed along with Baz becomes more and more bizarre. Lucy not looking for Smurf to come after her is amazingly stupid, however convenient for Smurf and the writers. Lucy not killing Smurf herself is unlikely in a cartel queen. The only thing that even makes the slightest sense is that Lucy was convinced that Pope would off Smurf, much safer and more satisfying. Then it's not surprising such a ridiculous scheme would turn out to be a Darwin Award winner. If I were Pete and Tina, I would not repeatedly abuse a killer. Motivating her to betray them, or maybe just shoot them in the back, is remarkably stupid. I have no idea why she didn't sell Pete and Tina to Lucy, who would no doubt have paid her, unlike Pete and Tina. I see it on screen and I still can't believe it. The episode description talks about the price they have to pay for getting their share of the money. So I think in one way or another all of them have been shafted by Smurf. It's most obvious with Pope, of course. He lost Lena because Smurf made it clear that she was going to make Lena miserable. J has been threatened with Baz' fate. It's not so obvious with Craig, but I suspect that Frankie is friendly with Smurf. Smurf may even have planned Frankie's job. At any rate, I can't see Frankie being with Billy. If Billy was the best she could do, she wouldn't be the kind of person who could pull off conning the rich guy. Maybe she was using Billy as an entree into the Cody family, switching targets from Deran to Craig? Still, I'm inclined to think Frankie is basically Smurf's Craig-walker. At this point I'm pretty sure that Adrian was lured by an agent of Smurf and ratted out. I can't see Smurf being gay friendly. Pope on some level knows he can't really cope, so he's in a bind. He needs somebody and Smurf is the only one offering. Craig is too consumed with his addictions to want anything but more, i.e., the status quo. Deran is too stupid to realize he really wants out or even truly grasp how messed up Pope is, much less how to help. J? The thing about J is that he doesn't just want revenge, he also wants the money. The threat about taking away everyone she loves was kind of strange. It's not at all clear why he thinks she loves anyone. I think it just means he plans on killing all his uncles first. But that's more of a disarming Smurf move, taking away her weapons, not breaking her heart.

^^^^Yes, Rachel RSL it really does seem as if Grace is thinking "I gonna die, so every offer is good. I will not die with regrets for missed opportunities.!" Q-17 bankrolled Monroe Bennett and Claire what's-her-name's plan to conquer the world by selectively offing Russia and China. Now that Re/Syst is gone, the way is clear. Which is I guess why Uncle Nick was right to install his nephew as President. Trust Darius to make more effort to take out his old girlfriend than to save the world. Strictly speaking, Russia and China should resume hostilities to the US government, now that Re/Syst isn't threatening NYC to make the US government to prioritize saving humanity as a whole.

How on Earth does Smurf know it wasn't Pete who stole the cash?

The modern popular sense means "nonsexual." This is not actually very useful. You have this kind of Platonic relationship with your next door neighboor, the mail carrier and the clerks at convenience stores. I don't see how the term "roommate" doesn't cover everything better for Dutch/Johnny, Sherlock/Joan, or Pete/Myka and Fitz/Simmons for whole seasons. As I say, I've not been watching Elementary, so what they've been up to I can't say. But I will say that on Killjoys Johnny being with Pawter was leading very clearly to Johnny not living with Dutch, because, behold, he's with Pawter. That's why the show killed Pawter off, I think. An outside relationship was in fact impossible for the Killjoy characters. And I still don't see how Dutch/Johnny is one bit better because it's Platonic. I do hope you realize I don't expect to convince anyone who feels love is purer without sexual feelings. It was a random post about why I can't love Killjoys, though I do find it entertaining enough to watch.

Quit watching Elementary. But if Joan starts having a life outside the brownstone with the SO, then good for her. In a platonic relationship, you organize your life around each other. In friendships, you don't. I happen to believe friends usually don't have benefits, but then it's just friendship. Yes, simple friendships are indeed possible between male and female, just as they are possible between young and old, rich and poor, healthy and handicapped, beautiful and not. Curiously, those friendships are rarely depicted. Interracial friendships are fairly common but rarely depicted in convincing detail. Sometimes I'm afaid I get the impression they are put in to integrate the cast. Sorry, but it just seems like you're redefining friendship as platonic. When a friendship more or less excludes another relationship, it is not in my opinion redeemed by avoiding nasty, dirty sex.

Forgot the episode but it was one of the times when Pope was swearing he was going to find out who killed Baz. Phone calls from jail are not secure. Personal visit from Pete? Perhaps, but personal visits can be recorded and visitors can be monitored, so I can't really see Pete feeling secure in deducing such an assignment. If Smurf obliquely refers to Baz, J knows where to find him. How does Smurf give Pete the routine. These objections are plausible. But, I'm afraid I think trusting a low level flunky to do hits for peanuts is giving a resentful underling blackmail material. Sorry, don't think so. If Mia is doing hits for Pete, she's a major player in his group, or freelancing. The girl Smurf thought of him as her new daddy. His crime was abandoning her, personally. She was just a minor in the car, as I recall. But I bet she went into foster care. So, his crime was more like ruining her life, the same crime J can blame Baz, or Smurf, or Julia for. Does make me rethink his story about shooting up Julia's OD.

Platonic friendships as I understand them require both fidelity and celibacy between the partners. As to Elementary...Sherlock gets to have a sex life, which rules out a true Platonic friendship. Joan gets to be virtuous. At the beginning, Dutch treated Johnny like her GBF, but the show really butched him up. In the flashback episode they highlighted the change visually by putting Johnny in guyliner. And the story had him nearly taking up a prostitution job. Aaron Ashmore wanted to play more heroic, sort of like Michael Shanks straightening Daniel Jackson. Hannah John-Kamen is pretty awesome, though no human can be as awesome as the show thinks Dutch is. Aaron Ashmore is charming, despite lapses into grimdark BAMF cliches, and Luke MacFarlane is VFX for beefcake. I just couldn't help making fun of how busy, busy, busy the plot is going in circles. I watch the show to laugh, and I do.

When Pope said that if it was Smurf, then J was in on it too, he was almost correct. The only reliable communications for Smurf were J...and Morgan, with her privilege. If the writers insist on Smurf killing Baz without getting the money first, just because, then either J arranged it or Morgan arranged it. If your remark above about J and Mia not knowing each other is correct, then Mia was planted on J by Smurf. Is he aware? Seems not, because Smurf will wonder about his money. Could he have tried to frame Morgan so he could kill her and get revenge for Daddy Baz, as well as the money? At this point ratting out the family has to be an option if J hasn't gone full Cody. That would get revenge for Baz, Julia and himself, so no, it doesn't seem to me to fit. But maybe that fits the writers' goals. He also seemed real eager to plant the idea Morgan skipped (too eager to convince, I think.) Separate thought: The Cody weak point at this time is Deran, who really does not have his heart in the life of crime. He has even sunk to picking out window treatments with Deran! Smurf has been very tight-lipped about Deran's confession. Toxic masculinity has really paid off for her, so it seems unlikely she doesn't strenuously disapprove. She may be setting Adrian up, to rat him out. As to why Adrian would want money? Trying to contribute as an equal, as a gesture at independence. It's not clear but Deran's return to the business I think had to do with the typical capital needs for a new business and bankrolling Adrian. Adrian doesn't seem to be stupid, he may want to keep pressure for cash off of Deran.