EyesGlazed

Jeff Drake, whaddaya mean "there is no real suspense" about deleting PP?! I was on the edge of my seat! Since this show loves setbacks for its heroes so much, I wouldn't have put it past the writers to make Richard & Co. have to reconstitute the whole thing. I am interested to see what will happen to Big Head next season. It would be hilarious if he became the CEO of Hooli. Also, I love watching bad things happen to Gavin Belson. Or, as someone posted above, maybe he'll be brought in as CEO of PP. If he becomes CEO of PP, then Richard can go on running things from behind the scenes. I join in the Jared love. He's awesome.

I think he suffered. His expression after watching Shireen burn to death in the last ep was like he'd lost his soul. Which he did. Then in this ep he loses everything else. His expression watching the Bolton army coming at him was also poignant: tragic, resigned, bitter, but determined to take it like a man. Excellent acting, btw. Same here!!! The Watchers could have just refused to let them in, thereby depriving the Wildlings of shelter and deposing Jon Snow from his leadership position at the same time. It would have been quite efficient. I also have trouble with the notion that the Night Watch either was not told that Winter Has Fucking Shown Up or did not believe what they were told. Either way it strains my credulity. Jon Snow better not be all dead. I'm going to hold onto that wish for the next nine months. Arya story: bleh. I would rather have spent the screen time on Bran and Rickon and the magic tree.

Kudos to Paula, I enjoyed her critiques (except she needs to excise "special" from her vocabulary right now) and I loved her meltdown over "ball-jumping". Jason seems nice but, as pointed out below, his ability to critique the dancing technically seems limited. Or maybe he just needs to warm up to the show. I think they need a fourth judge or guest judge to spice up the discussion. May I suggest Amy Schumer? My favorite of the night was Vishonda Sims. Her dance just grabbed me. She's a real storyteller. Does anyone know what song she was dancing to? I agree with this and actually respected Derulo for not playing along with the condescending patting-on-the-heads that Kioshe and Courtney received from the other judges. Kioshe had a fun personality but his "dancing" sucked, and it irritated me that they spent so many precious broadcast minutes making him the Aerobics Dancer With the Stars. Courtney has always bothered me because I don't think he loves dance, he just loves attention, and he takes time away from dancers who may actually get somewhere.

I still love this show. As a non-tech viewer, I don't care whether the tech speak is accurate, just that it sounds plausible enough to drive the plot lines. I hate Russ though. From his douchebag boots to his overstyled head to his horrible tequila. He can't get off my screen fast enough. Poor Monica. But speaking from prior long-ago experience, I can attest that the one time you try to sneak a cigarette in an area where you can be seen by passers-by, you will be seen by the wrong person.

They should have titled this episode "Holy Fucking Shit!" Wow the WW, the wights, the battles, it was all terrifying and amazing. If that little shit Olly ends up killing Jon Snow because he thinks it's "right", I will burst through the TV screen wight-style and strangle him.

My suppositions are these: The FBI figured out that the hooker (what's her name again? I'm just going to call her Carol) is part of a high class prostitution ring. This would be consistent with Jeff being able to dial up her and another hooker to party with him and Teddy. The FBI wants to nab her high profile johns. So they start surveilling her house. Though they might have turned her first so that Carol actually knows her house is bugged and is just pretending when she tells Teddy she doesn't know why she's being watched. The FBI realize that the Mayor is one of her clients when they hear him in her house. So then I guess they try to see what else they can nail him for. They tell Carol to try to get money from him. Teddy falls into the trap. Boom! Promotions all around for the Feds! I hope Teddy becomes a crime lord with all the connections he's going to make in prison.

Me too. He is so moody, sulky and self-centered that I hope he never gets Scarlett back. And I'm tired of having to look at his head excrescences: the pompadour, the hats. Word to both reactions. Oh SO MUCH WORD. My parents would have shut down such brattiness in me in two minutes. And really, if anyone has the right to whine it's Daphne. "Uh, hi? Remember how I have a biological father and until recently a nuclear family? Might I be feeling distressed not only that my mother dumped my father, but now I have to deal with my mother banging this baby-daddy musician who I never really knew and who panders to Maddie all the day long?" I do like that Will may be stepping out of the closet. But I predict that his new love affair will not go smoothly. The new guy will not enjoy pretending to the world that he and Will are just friends. As for Teddy, it would be much more interesting if instead of getting "stung", he fully embraced the dark side and became a corrupt racketeer mayor who tries to hide all his dirty doings from his ex-wife and daughters.

Golly, what a stupid show. I watched all 8 episodes because there are good actors in it and I found the premise interesting. But all I came away with was a deep dislike for nearly all of the characters, and a flat-out hatred for wretched Rosie, and a big WTF!!! that the fact that Harry abuses his wife was completely passed over in favor of focusing on The Slap. What a waste of talent. I was going to make a list of all the things TPTB could have done to make this show better, but I just don't care enough.

Me too, except for Sandi, Richie's mom and the school principal. I expected this episode about Rosie would give us some backstory that would at least somewhat explain her overprotectiveness, obliviousness, righteousness and general annoyingness. But no! She's just a total asshole! Therefore, I enjoyed every bit of the other characters' rejecting her and Thanassis cross examining her. Also, I was hoping that Gary would get with the lady artist and dump Rosie's sorry ass. Why on earth does he "adore" her and Hugo?? He must be a masochist. Aisha: yuck. Acting the injured wife with the teenager [Corinne? don't even remember her name] when a couple weeks ago she was ready to hop into bed with her med school classmate. Jerk. And by the way, is the show ever going to return to the disturbing fact that Harry gets physical with Sandi??? Isn't that kind of a big deal? Bigger than a one-time red mark on that little shithead's face?

Yes, this is exactly what I was getting at. I think Fran brings out a more mature and relaxed Hannah, just as Adam brought out her insecurities and instability. Let's hope for Fran's sake that this is true! Even though this has been a crap winter in NYC, I still loved the final scene of kissing in the falling snow. Reminded me that I used to like snow.

When Michonne clocked Rick in the middle of his rant, I GUFFAWED. "And I'm not going to stand here and" - BAM! So excellent! And then for the next few hours whenever I thought of that scene I guffawed again! Fortunately no one else was home to witness me laughing at nothing like a lunatic. See, I think all of this showed that Deanna is trying to be a fair leader and get to the truth. Her comments to Nicholas during the interview didn't convey belief to me, rather the opposite. For instance, she asks him, well if the others wanted to leave you and Aidan, then why did they come back with you? He says, don't you see, it's all those people's fault and she tells him "you don't know what I see". My view is that if Rick hadn't starting bugging Deanna about the need to kill PorchDick (at her dead son's graveside, no less! nice timing!) and generally acting batshit, Deanna would have interviewed Glenn and not jumped to any conclusions about Rick's group. But now Rick has made a bad situation worse. Good point. And maybe it explains all the surprisingly rage-filled comments about Jessie and how boring and stupid she is. Sheesh, give it a rest. Yes, I loved how Michonne and Rosita not only followed and looked out for Sasha and shot zombies with her, but when Sasha started ranting, they just silently listened and looked at her with compassion. No group hugs, no long therapeutic discussions, no false reassurances. It was great writing and acting. I too hope that we get more of ASZ next season. It would be a waste to set up this very interesting situation and then have it all be lost in 4 episodes.

I found this episode very enjoyable, funny and satisfying. I liked that it showed growth, or some possibility of growth, for all of the Girls. It touched on what is good in each of them: -- Hannah makes the mature decision not to take Adam back and does so with some grace -- Shosh leans in -- Jessa saves the day -- Marnie mans up Yeah, I love it when Adam goes ballistic at whatever stupidity is around him. Maybe he's growing up too. Ray disappointed a bit. His takedown of Desi went from funny to rather cruel. It got so bad I was kind of rooting for Desi to say "fine, loser, she still chose me." Desi is douchey, but he's not mean. Two unpopular opinions: Hannah and Fran are a good couple. Remember how cool she was on their date, before they went to Mimi Rose's art show? I think Fran brings that out in her, especially now that she's said goodbye to Adam. I could see them having a lot of fun together and being sympatico in their tastes and interests. Also, I kind of liked Marnie's performance. I know I know I know! But Lena Dunham has written the Marnie character to be so completely annoying and without redeeming value that I feel like being contrarian.

I thought that was bizarre too. Then I started thinking that Aisha was most bugged by the planned deceit: that HotDoc had taken off his ring way in advance in the hope of seducing Aisha. It was not so much his being married, it was his lying, planning and scheming. (BTW why is Aisha the only character who doesn't get the pretentious VO during her episode?) Having said that, I still don't like her. In fact I don't like anyone on this show except for Sandi. In fact I find this show really bad. Saddest line that kind of summed it all up for me: "Let's just go back to Brooklyn."

I also don't get why Cookie isn't supporting Jamal. It seems like he was and is her favorite child. Perhaps she sees him turning into Luciferous and doesn't like it? The thing about BBK: until she drugged Elle, I had sympathy for her. She hadn't done anything wrong up to then, she fell in love with a divorced man, and Cookie was awful to her from the get-go. Now my sympathy is coming back and I was kinda rooting for her during the catfight. Just bought the Empire sound track and I LOVE it. The only thing missing from this finale was Lola. I want her back. Taking this over to the "Second Season Wish List" thread.

Most of all, slow down this thing and give us more character development, longer story arcs, less frantic pacing. Please don't Shonda this thing. Empire's huge success is largely due to the audience love for the characters. MORE LOLA. Guest appearance by Lupe Fiasco. Andre becomes a hugely successful televangelist and starts railing against the pernicious aspects of gangsta rap and misogynistic rap, especially as produced by Empire. Cookie gets more nookie from Malcolm. Tiana gets her own story arc and background. BBK enters politics and becomes a powerful congresswoman whom Luciferous has to suck up to. Much to my surprise, I agree on the return of Naomi Campbell. Bring it on!

So other than Luciferous, it appears anyone over 50 on this show is a redshirt. R.I.P. Vernon and Bunky. Luciferous glowering behind bars was a good way to end this season. But what I don't get: was the scene where Luciferous was giving presents to his sons and Cookie just a dream sequence? As Jamal took over as VP right after that, it seemed that somehow everyone knew that he was chosen. So was it because of the present he got, or was it done at some other meeting we don't see? Rhonda once again does the dirty work for Andre. Geez Rhonda, is it really worth it? Where is Malcolm?

How is it that Marnie got engaged to Desi without (apparently) meeting his family or any of his friends other than the ex-girlfriend? And without having her family meet Desi? Dumb! I predict some unpleasant learning experiences coming up. Plus, the whole Marnie-as-crunchy-singer-with-crunchy-unemployed-singer-boyfriend just doesn't ring true to me. This is the type of "Girl" who dates investment bankers or lawyers and goes to black tie events. I think it would be more fun to show Marnie screwing up in that context than in this one. I love Shoshanna. "I couldn't get hired to give free blow jobs in a bus station!" I want Shosh and Ray to get back together.

NOT NOAH, you goddam show! That was horrible! I liked the character and the actor and thought there was a lot of potential in his story arc. Plus the death was just grisly and awful. Sometimes I really do question why I watch this show. It's masochistic to get invested in characters over and over only to see them die wretchedly. I am seriously unsure whether I will come back for the next season. Yeah, this. And this. The show runners are quite the little bunch of sadists.

Unexpectedly, I liked Mimi Rose during the laundromat scene. And it's interesting that she is the one person to whom Hannah was able to confess that she left Iowa because she didn't have enough talent as a writer. Hannah has never said anything clear-eyed about herself before. Is this character development . . . ?? Jessa is awful. Btw, what is she doing for a living these days, besides being Dr. Female Eeeevil? All I could think about when I heard Z. Quinto's character's name was, Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man.

YES ME TOO. I've always disliked it that the show has Maddie constantly prodding on Rayna and Deacon to get back together. First of all, stupid child, it's a matter between adults and you should butt out. Second, there's another man who raised you from babyhood to 14 or so, don't you care about him at all?? Seems he's earned the right to be called Dad a lot more than Deacon has. Third, stop whining. Same here. I used to dislike country music, But now I even have a playlist on my iPhone now called "OMG Country!" Yes, I've never shared the Luke hate. I'm glad the show is keeping him around. And I'm enjoying Jayla a lot. It's weird, and a little creepy, and a little codependent and a little cool. It's an interesting relationship, compared to (Reacon!) many (Ruke!) others (Scunnar!) on this (Zunnar!) show.

I'll pick one nit with this episode: I hated the street confrontation between Luscious and Beretti and their gangs, with all these douchebags pulling out their penis substitute guns. How, um, American TV. (By the way, how do other countries even do TV shows without everybody having a gun like it is here? I can't even imagine.) I'm so over seeing a bunch of guys pointing guns at each other and then, dum dum DUM, cocking the hammer when they're reeeellly mad. OTOH, I just read an interview with record executives about Empire and one of them said the street element is real in the music business. So maybe the scene was somewhat accurate, except for it taking place on a main street in broad daylight. Still don't like it though. Ha ha, gotta admit that was funny.

I effing love this show so much and I can't believe there are only 2 episodes left this season. What acting. Andre's crackups in the elevator and the boardroom were so incredibly moving and well done. I also like that the episode showed the "up" side of Andre's bipolar illness too, when he's motor mouthing ideas at the "sharecropper" guy and they're good ideas and he basically saves the day. His manic side is so different from his usual buttoned-up, corporate image. Also: poor Rhonda. Cookie being stuffed into the car with her booties in the air crooning "take my cookies" to Hot Security Man was hilarious. Glad Tiana's back. I hope she becomes something like a daughter in the Lyons family, and it kind of looks like that's where things are heading. Cookie and Luscious both like her. Hakeem was honest with her and now they may have a good platonic relationship. Speaking of which, bravo Hakeem, little man you may be growing up!

SO MUCH WORD. Having watched the last episode of Girls, in which a character gets an abortion and isn't conflicted about it, I was hoping this show might also show us something new and different. But no, it's network television so the woman must realize she wants the baby after all and then she'll live happily ever after except we won't see her life after she has the kid. Barf.

Putting these two comments together, because I thought the Mama character was ridiculously written during the first half hour of this episode. That "I'm a VIP because your boss came out of my V and her daddy's P" line?? HATED IT. Come on, no woman of that age would greet strangers with talk about genitalia. And it was stupid. It was obviously some writer (Shonda) thinking what a neato line that was. Barf. And later in the episode when she accuses Annalise of having Wes "sniffing at your drawers". Just yuck. And again, inappropriate for the character to talk like that in front of an outsider. Thankfully, the later scenes in the kitchen and, especially, the hair brushing, were dynamite. This show could have many more well written scenes if it didn't feel the need to shock us with sex and vulgarity every five minutes. Nate is not only amazing looking but a good actor too, so he better be a series regular or I'll be boycotting.

Rosie is so appalling that I have to believe we're going to get a sympathetic backstory for her. Her hysterical and overprotective approach would make more sense if she had been raped or in an abusive relationship previously. And IIRC Anouk said something to Harry about walking on eggshells around Rosie. Harry wrapping his hands around his wife's neck was horrifying. I don't think we needed the cheating aspect to conclude he's a bad guy. I do love his house though, and I'm trying to figure out where in New York City it could be.