cal

It was the letter that Cersei had Sansa write telling Rob to be a good boy and bend the knee.

Hooray to Sam for saving Jorah! I know he was given the chore of copying over old scrolls and books as a punishment but I'm thinking that they will be the old texts regarding the White Walkers that he's been asking to read and that his punishment is actually his reward. When Littlefinger was talking with Sansa about imagining every possibility and seeing everyone as your enemy, did anyone else get a deja vu feeling back to his "don't trust anyone, even me" conversation with Ned?

They don't even need to try to kill Negan in his sleep. Hell, they have guns. You have a gun trained on whoever the current victim is while Negan is pontificating. Negan makes a loud noise or sudden move and you "jump" in reaction. Your finger grazes the trigger and your aim gets thrown off just enough to blow Negan's head off. Oops! My bad. You just have to be prepared to eat your gun in case you miss. And frankly, listening to Negan go on and on and on, ad nauseum, would make my WANT to eat my gun.

So much WORD on this. All I could think is, "Why are you just sitting there staring!?!?!? I'd be rowing like a motherfucker!" I was thinking there was something off about that whole conversation. And then when Sam said his bit about doing something that might feel "wrong" but was "right" in the long run, I got this funny feeling that the food Olly brought was poisoned. The pause that Olly had at the end, looking back at Sam and then the focus on Sam holding the tray of food seemed to reinforce that notion. I'm wondering if Jon's enemies convinced Olly to help get rid of Jon's remaining supporters (and Sam has never been well-loved by most of the Night's Watch). I hope that I'm wrong, that Sam is okay.

I was actually okay with this. They weren't sure what might be wrong with Carol, they just didn't want to waste any more resources. But as for the quick recovery, I was hit by a car once as a child. I was thrown a few hundred feet and hit a telephone pole. I was unconscious for a period of time. But, I was awake and walking and released from the hospital the same day. Was Carol incredibly lucky? Sure. But I can buy that because I was just as lucky once.

At first, I wondered why Michonne stayed at the church with Carl and Judith rather than Sasha or Tyrese. But after i thought about it for a little while, it made sense. They were going on a rescue mission with no guarantee of coming back alive. Out of everyone in the group, who would Rick trust with his children in the event he didn't make it back? My guess would be either Michonne or Daryl and Daryl had to go on the mission because both Beth and Carol were taken on "his watch".

He's trying to scrape the blood off the floor.

I have to admit that I have/had no idea who John Barrowman was. But after last night all I can think is Asshole. Goes off on some strange comments about how EK so effectively acted with her back and shoulders while framed in the window. Okay, this is more idot than asshole, but that comment made me wonder if we had watched two different shows. Brings politics into the show unnecessarily. Asshole. And hey, John - just remember that all those Republicans that you are summarily lumping together and happily insulting are also the ones who will most likely have most of the weapons when the ZA happens. Love 'em or hate 'em, they'll be well armed. Just sayin'. Saying that Dawn must be jealous of Beth and the other women who are getting "attention" from the men. Asshole. You consider forced sexual servitude AKA fucking rape to be "attention" worth desiring? Fuck you. Asshole. Maybe if I had known him from some other show or cared about him I might be trying to feel differently about his comments and....uhhhh, no. That last comment alone still makes me think he's a fucking asshole.

I was worried about this episode because it was going to be Beth-centric. I didn't think it would reach the same level as the others. And I was right, after the first 3 episodes being so kick-ass, this one was a let down. Was the opportunity for suspense there? Sure. You have the whole waking up in the unknown, the psycho leader Dawn, the rapey guards, the creepy doctor, the walker maze in the basement....it's all there. But the suspense wasn't really there. It missed the mark for me. There were a handful of moments that were worth watching - once - but this is one of those episodes that I'd flip past if I came across a rerun while channel surfing. I want to care about Beth. I really do. I like the idea of Beth. I like the theoretical concept of Beth. But even with that, I have a really hard time caring about her. Maybe the writers have done a poor job in fleshing out her character. Maybe EK just can't pull out the nuances that would give the character depth. Maybe it's both. It's not like Beth has been stagnant, the character has had growth, she's evolved from the suicidal farmgirl and yet....she still feels like an animated cardboard cutout. I don't love her and I don't hate her. I want to see more out of her instead of just seeing more of her. Then I will care. Maybe.

I think the expectation that she "perform services" for the guards in exchange for the protection they provide might have made the place seem not quite as relaxing as it could have been. On top of that, you've got the psycho Dawn who likes to be bossy and hit, the doctor who tricked her into killing his competition, the overall strange fucking vibe in the place and let's not forget - being held there against her will. I don't blame her for wanting out.

I like the fact that Sasha was the one to kill/overkill Martin. I'm sure Tyrese is going to be weighed down with even more guilt that because he didn't do what he should have done (kill Martin), his sister ended up being the one to have to kill Martin and she went all crazy with the knife on him. That temporary craziness that she displayed during the killing may be the impetus that causes him to confess.

I understand that the coaches may bond with certain contestants or they have their favorites or whatever. I don't have a problem with that, it's just human nature. But when you have a competition where, in this round, you are pitting two people against each other in order to see who advances, then the winner of the battle should - I don't know...WIN. It shouldn't matter if you think person B is a better singer than person A, if person A outperforms person B in a competition, they should win. Period. You know, the whole "on any given Sunday...." thing. If there is no clear winner and both contestants performed at or about the same level, then it is appropriate to bring other factors (personal preference, potential, work ethic, etc.) into play. I'm prepared to disagree with some decisions or not understand the reason someone is being praised or bypassed, but if all 4 coaches are saying "OMG, person A totally won that round" and then the final decision is to advance person B, I find that to be an inappropriate result in a competition. In fact, in some ways it makes me want to quit watching the show because it is no longer a real competition.

I just got to watch Tuesday night's show and I'm totally confused by Pharrell. Ricky clearly won that round. Clearly. All the judges - including Pharrell - said so. But then he chooses Elijuh to move on. Huh? WTF? If you've got your favorites and you're going to have them advance regardless of who did a better job, why even bother having the contestants actually sing at all? Let's just have the coaches sit there and put up pictures of two contestants and then they can just pick thier pets. Pharrell has the ability to help any of the contestants outside of The Voice, there's no need to subvert the competition to help his favorites.

It seems to me that the longer we go in the ZA, the harder these questions will be to answer. Who could possibly keep count of how many walkers they've killed in the past 18+ months? The question about the number of people is getting to be almost as difficult. Could Rick even answer the number count of people anymore? I don't think he could answer it even if the question were just how many Termites did you kill?

*Roll my eyes* With that description, I was expecting something drastic or dramatic. Like maybe he broke her tattoo machine or pushed her down the stairs. LOL Since when is merely outperforming someone "playing dirty". Enough with the stupid drama.