Literata

Agree entirely. I like both characters, but IMO, the moment they got married was the moment the show jumped the shark. There's nothing that keeps them in the relationship except that they're in the relationship. They have less chemistry than ever; it's really more of a roommates-only vibe these days.

I've thought about this angle, too, but what I keep coming back to is the writers could make it entirely believable and handle it sensitively if they position it as: Raj has had such difficulty in relationships over the years because he's been trying so hard to feel the way he believed he should about women. As the son of conservative Indian parents, he repressed his sexual orientation so he wouldn't disappoint them, etc. IMO, it would make Raj a sympathetic character worth our time again.

It remains to be seen, I guess. And it's typical for moms and daughters to clash ... but if, as Kate says, she feels responsible for Jack's death, that no doubt added an extra layer to the uneasiness of the relationship. It's also telling that prior to Randall's learning that Rebecca had kept William from him, he didn't seem to harbor the same degree of resentment toward her. Yeah, he was her favorite. But I still maintain there's more to it, and whatever that is has to do with the months or years immediately leading up to Jack's death.

I absolutely get this. But here's why I want to know how Jack died. - My mom died when I was little. She had cancer. Everyone was sad. But we don't all have totally fraught relationships with one another because of it. Like we're being led to believe about Jack's character, my mom was a very good person, and she died young. But the fact that we lost a mother, while tragic and life-altering, didn't fracture our relationships with one another, our surviving parent, or our eventual stepparent. - Kevin and Kate obviously have HUGE issues with Rebecca. Kevin also dislikes Miguel. Something, or a chain of somethings, had to have happened to impact those primary relationships. Until we begin to understand what transpired, we can't begin to invest in the interactions between those characters.

This. I care about learning how Jack died because it obviously informed the relationships between the people left behind. We see that Kevin and Kate have issues with their mom and with Miguel. But until we know why, we can't understand those interactions and become invested in those relationships.

Was she not being paid at all for the two weeks? I really never got the impression they were in dire financial straits. If I missed that, my apologies, as that would certainly skew my response. And if her paycheck isn't sorely needed, I don't see a thing wrong with her doing something that feeds her soul. Everyone views marriage and his or her responsibilities to it differently, and I don't mean to criticize your perspective, but I think maintaining one's individuality in any partnership is critical.

As someone who spent a few years as an at-home mom, if my husband had been dismissive of any hope I had to follow my dream, I would have reacted just as Rebecca did. Is hers a pipe dream? Maybe. But that wasn't for him to determine; she was only going to be gone for two weeks, which wasn't a major inconvenience to him or to the kids. I'm more partial to Jack, but that remark was a dick move on his part.

Exactly right about the "major mystery" suspense. That's precisely why I stopped watching The Blacklist. My husband still watches and every so often I'll ask, "Hey, do you know if Red is Liz's dad yet?" I'm not patient enough for the endless string-along.

The argument was uncomfortably realistic to watch. I cringed when Jack made fun of Rebecca's desire to sing. I know he was hurt, but that was pretty low. The rest of the episode? Meh.

This. He's just bland. I don't care enough about him to care if he goes or stays. I'm not sure I'd notice. I agree the leaving-Sloane-alone-on-the-stage thing was ludicrous. But mostly, nothing he does matters. The character I like least, and I know I'm in the minority here, is Beth. As another poster said, she exists to do little but react to Randall and William. And her earnestness when she's defending Randall annoys me. I'd like to see her develop a life next season.

I don't think for a minute that Jack's going to meet his maker tomorrow night. The foreshadowing with the drinking has been so over the top -- let's shine a neon arrow right here in the car, POINTING AT THE BEER CANS -- that it couldn't possibly be leading us to that. My guesses: - He sees something tomorrow night. Maybe Rebecca and Ben are embracing after a good performance. Maybe Rebecca's feeling some combination of irritation at Jack and independence at being away from home for the first time ever and she allows Ben to get too close. I think the endgame of tomorrow night is they'll start down the road to separation. The kids will blame Rebecca. - They'll reconcile before divorcing, hence Rebecca's continued wearing of the moon necklace. - I'm not willing to give up the plane-crash theory. There were a few aviation catastrophes in the late '90s. Maybe he takes a flight he wasn't supposed to take because Kate was ill or needed him for something; hence, she blames herself.

I absolutely agree with you. I lost 70 pounds four years ago, have regained 15, and am working like hell to get it off. I owe it to myself, my kids, and the kind of life I want to have to be the best ME I can be. However, from what I've read, Chrissie Metz isn't all "Rah rah, being fat is amazing." I think she's more -- and I can relate to this -- "I want to lose weight, and while I'm not mentally there yet, I know it needs to happen, and it does no good to hate myself in the process." If you haven't struggled with weight, take it from me: hating yourself is simply a direct path to that next donut. For some of us, food is our drug of choice. (I don't drink or smoke, yet I have to work hard to not be obsessed with what I'm going to eat next. And I'm still pretty slim, so you'd see me and never guess how much I struggle daily.) I don't hear Metz spouting Whitney's lies -- and trust me, they are lies. And excuses. "I don't want to lose weight; I just want to be healthy" is the biggest lie of all. Translated, it simply means, "I don't want to give up Oreos AND Wheat Thins, so I'll keep eating the Wheat Thins because those will look healthier to everyone else." I spent a lot of years where I think Metz is; in Weight Watchers, we call that the "I WANT to want to lose weight" stage. I think she'll get there. But Whitney? I have my doubts. Whitney doesn't want to be inconvenienced. And I'm not a psychologist, but you don't get as big as those girls are without making an effort to stuff down some other stuff. We all have our baggage. Food can't be your medicine and food can't be your crutch and food can't be your boyfriend. Also -- exercise is so important, but you can't outrun your fork. Whitney can work out all damned day, but negate all of it with that family-sized Papa Murphy's take-and-bake. I wish this weren't the truth, but to lose the weight, you have to do the work. And it sucks sometimes. But it's so worth it. I hope Whitney gets her shit together one day and can begin living a real life.

Four years ago, at 216 pounds at 5'4", I decided it was time to take control. I'm older than Whitney, but my weight and sedentary lifestyle had wreaked havoc with my health. I was on blood-pressure and cholesterol meds and was pre-diabetic. I got winded climbing a flight of stairs. I was arthritic and I was a bitch because I hated being uncomfortable and borderline-sick all the time. So I call bullshit on EVERYTHING she says about being healthy and in shape. She's not. Period. And the only reason she hasn't experienced many adverse issues related to her weight is because she's still pretty young. Losing weight is hard, and keeping it off is harder. I feel her hatred for tuna packets. Some days, I want to say "fuck it" and eat like I used to. And I take things day by day, because addiction is addiction and I can see how a person could become that large. But it irritates me to no end that she tries so hard to justify a lifestyle that she wants to maintain simply because she's not yet ready to do the work she'd need to do to change.

Pretty sure Whit's 15 minutes are winding down.

Poor thing -- her newborn babies likely thought the same of her. As we all know, Victoria was nothing to look at. The lovely Jenna Coleman was a generous choice.

The first few episodes of Season 3 almost caused me to stop watching. The Monica Bellucci episodes were just too much. One episode, maybe. But an entire arc? Yawn. I missed the orchestra. I like the evolution of the Rodrigo/Hailey relationship, but I think the evolution of Hailey as a character needs to be escalated next season. I love that she holds her own with Rodrigo, but she's still a little too one-note-college-girl to hold anyone's interest much longer.

My guess: Jack is in some kind of care facility. Maybe he has been for a while. Perhaps he was driving drunk, got into a horrible accident and was left physically/mentally compromised. She's wearing the necklace; I have no doubt our takeaway from that is supposed to be that they didn't divorce.

I was stunned when I compared the Whit of the first season to Whit now. You guys ... the weight gain! And the additional hair loss, and the acne, and the fact that her personality becomes less bearable by the episode. My prediction is she's headed for a meltdown. She's her own worst advertisement. There's nothing fabulous about her life. She looks as though she’s given up on her appearance entirely. And not to be shallow – OK, sorry, I KNOW this is shallow – even if Lennie were her real boyfriend, I can’t see that he’d be attracted to her unless he’s a chubby chaser. When they first met, either he was actually into her or was a better actor. Now he simply can’t be bothered. It’s clear he’s going to be exiting the show. My guess is something that may have looked like fun in the beginning has turned into something that’s decidedly not. He’s playing the love interest of a lazy, overbearing 400-pound shrew who treats others with disrespect – and I know it’s cheesy, but it’s hard to love someone else until you love yourself. And Whit clearly doesn’t. She talks a good game about “want(ing) to be fat,” but we saw her tears at the gym. She clearly doesn’t want to be fat, but she also has no desire to work to improve her life.

This stunned me. She's most likely 400-plus pounds. She mentioned being on birth control. It seems she'd be a prime candidate for a stroke, or blood clots, or any number of things for which the odds are worse for smokers.

That disconnect is what confuses me most about Whitney. If she truly thinks she can continue to do anything a smaller person can do, she's delusional. We've seen so much evidence that refutes that: skiing. Biking. And as much as she protests that she's not glorifying being fat, she's attempting to do just that: "See? I can eat tubs of ice cream on the regular -- and still do anything you can do! I've found the holy grail!" Not to oversimplify, and no pun intended, but she wants to have her cake and eat it, too. Saying "I don't want to fixate on calories and the scale because that's not healthy" is shorthand for "Losing weight is hard and I don't want to try." I wonder if, away from the cameras, Glenn calls her on her BS. He obviously loves her but also seems pretty close to being over her shit.

I'd love to see her work with a nutritionist on a solid, sensible food plan, then work with a therapist on the reasons behind her weight gain. I ate my way up to over 200 pounds for a variety of reasons, none of which dealt with being physically hungry.

My heart is with you. I hope you're proud of having proven to yourself that you could lose the weight and don't spent too much time beating yourself up about the regain. You'll lose it again when you're ready. (I tried Simply Filling, too, and no dice -- I have no "off" switch and need my portions controlled.) I hit Lifetime in 2013 on WW and gained back 20 of the 70 I lost, and I'm within 5 lbs. of goal again, thankfully. But it's f-ing HARD. Every moment of every day, it's hard. And it's daunting to think I'll have to do it forever, but that's my chemistry and my wiring. I can't blame PCOS or metabolism or faulty genes or whatever our girl Whitney is throwing out there today. (And I know PCOS can make weight loss more difficult; if you're struggling with that, I don't mean to make fun.) I was in Whitney's corner until it became obvious that she's obnoxious, lazy, disrespectful, sloppy, underachieving and resentful. I don't like her. Am I coming from a place of superiority? Hell, no. I'm a DQ Blizzard away from a total loss of control daily. But even at my heaviest, I didn't blame others for my choices. Word. I'd love to ask Whitney why her "no BS" credo doesn't apply to her "relationship."

Sorry if this has been covered, but my speculation is this: Matt initiated the proceedings because he met someone, probably online. Matt is too big a baby to ever want to even try to survive on his own long-term. Whether or not he's still infatuated or has moved on, he's going to end up with someone. I remember reading, or maybe hearing Amy say on the show, that Matt was quite the big man (no pun untended) in Little People of America. As bombastic, obnoxious and egotistical as he is, I'm sure there's some famewhore out there who would want him.

It embarrasses me that I took the time to figure this out, but "Lennie Alehat" is almost an exact anagram for "Nathan Lee," the name others here have surmised is his real name. Three letters -- L, E and I -- are left over. So, my guess is he's Nathan Eli Lee. ETA: He signs his originals "N. Lee." http://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/554202?wmc=1041&wt_cc1=2470763&utm_source=CJ&utm_medium=Aff&utm_content=6148433&utm_campaign=2470763

Eating represents different things to different people. For me, it's an addiction, and I have no choice but to be mindful every meal, every snack, every moment, really. I daresay Whitney's addicted as well, and she has to decide she's willing to try to get control over food if she doesn't want to die. Giving up and saying she likes being fat is shorthand for "I don't want to do the work."