Corgi-ears

I'm going to choose to believe that Siobhán's choice to wear a dress whose shade of yellow made her outfit look indistinguishable from the potters' aprons is just her attempt to show solidarity with the potters. I'm so charitable!

But the teams all did the same task (the roadie) second, thereby converging -- and Rob and Corey got there second. And the map we saw had glassblowing and roadie-ing close to each other. So Rob and Corey drove the longest distance back and forth, did the trapeze nine times in total between the two of them, and were still quicker at that point of the race than the Brothers. At their third task (the glassblowing), I thought there was a chyron saying they succeeded on their first attempt. But it's hard to say what that means in terms of time, because the show seems to count the moment when they tap the pole as an attempt, and there was obviously lots that had to be done before then. Like we saw them fail to get the glass bulb inflated, and asked for a second demo -- but that was not an "attempt." It seems more like Rob and Corey bled time going from the scramble to the hangar.

I hope the second place prize is big enough that the Beardos can still get the service dog for (one of) their daughter. 🥺

My God, let's talk about that couch, by which I mean let's talk about the actual piece of furniture. Did someone saw one of the couch's leg shorter, thereby causing it to tilt and thus every guess to keep sliding to the right? Or did Cher smell bad? It was driving me crazy, and the fact Graham called it out only made it slightly better. But seriously, that's a lot of star power when Tom Hanks is third billed. He has gotten a bit "ok, grandpa, let's get you to bed" in his recent appearances, but he is certainly well-meaning. And it probably says a lot about his relative lack of ego that he let himself be third billed, instead of only coming on by himself in the middle of the show as some guests do. And the Clooney joke was well-timed. Graham saying what we were all thinking in response to Cher's story about the difficult director she worked with: "We are all going to look it up. About the boy, you say..."

I know the US only got two season of this show on Netflix, but "elsewhere," the show just ended its six-season run. Though episodes got a little repetitive, it's still worth commemorating this sweet little show. There will apparently be a new show, "The Casketeers on the Road" or something, where Francis and Kairora visit different countries and cultures to learn about their funeral customs -- indeed, the series finale seemed like it was something of a backdoor pilot, if there is still such a thing, or a proof of concept.

The Good Thyme Burger. And the Peary...Mason Burger? Peary Manilow (looks like Bob made it)? Peary Gibb (with a side of tragedy)?

Maybe we should first be clear that Todd and Ashlie did not "miss" the "Express Pass Taken" sign. There WAS no such sign, because when they started running up the stairs, Rob and Corey were still climbing the stairs. So the pass was not yet taken, and there was thus no sign. What they missed was the Amazing Race marker that indicated that these were the stairs teams had to ascend. When Ashlie talked about "missing it," it's possible that she was talking about missing the marker and thus the stairs, or missing out on getting the pass. But whatever it is, it seemed clear to me that Todd wasn't angry about whoever missing whatever. I'm not sure why we are parsing those exchanges. Instead, he was angry that Ashlie (a) was very wishy-washy about making a decision on whether to chase after Rob and Corey, and (b) made the wrong one. When they finally realized where the stairs were, Todd asked Ashlie if she was confident that she had the physical ability and energy to catch up to and overtake Rob and Corey, and she evaded answering him, and acted like he was wrong for even asking. When he first asked, she said, "OH MY GOD, Todd, yes or no!?" When he repeated the question, she said "I don't know!!!", whereupon Todd replied, "then that's a no," and turned around. But she persisted. So it looked like she was the one who got the team to chase after Rob and Corey, before giving up. So maybe we can see why Todd held her responsible for, and was even angry about her, setting them down a path they then eventually had to abandon.

Lena wasn't even "sure if the 9s were 6s," because business school -- it was her who went to the best business school in the world, or am I misremembering? -- apparently doesn't teach you what the line under a number means 🌚

I wish: 1. That the show had made Anna-Leigh walk all those steps back down after being told the express pass was already taken (fine, Steve can use the zipline); 2. That, as she is walking down, they magically re-route the stairs and turn the sign around so that Anna-Leigh goes past, AGAIN, and this time SEES, the sign that said "Express Pass Taken" (though it is also delicious to contemplate the possibility that on TV is the first time the two of them realize that there was even that "It's Taken, You Dumbass" sign); 3. That they still somehow land second-last on the mat, only for Phil to give them the "HOWEVER" of doom: namely, to tell them that the clue said, "travel by foot," and taking the elevator down instead of the spiral staircase means that they have a 30 mins penalty. Whereupon Lena & Morgan arrive. C'mon, show -- we even had a few other teams portend that this might be the requirement (e.g., Greg and/or John asking the other, "Would this be going by foot? Let's take the stairs down to be safe"). It would just be good TV, not to mention cosmic justice. I think the significant issue the sisters had was each other. Rob is just the cutest.

There was no explanation, and it would be delightful if the reason is simply that if you're going to get your kicks, it might as well be on (route) 66.

Sometimes a baker might nick their finger with a knife, other times they get a gunshot wound in their side. Then again, it feels like Josh should have two more star baker wins than he does, so maybe the shirt is accidentally metaphorical.

I don't really know which one is Lena and which one is Morgan, but the way they, as a collective unit, "accidentally" almost throw eels in each other's faces and/or "accidentally" almost stab those faces with needles* is hilarious. I can't wait for the next facial near-accident. * after which the editors cut to the scene of the monkeys fighting, just as "accidentally"

Wouldn't he? It's not as if we live in a world that frowns on nepotism.

So, I have an employee at work who is not very good at his job, and customers are leaving us bad Yelp reviews. I could fire the guy, but I think I'll MURDER him instead. Good idea, or nah?

Have we met this character before? I ask because I want to map and understand the ties that bind this community together would love to know who is this absolute smoke show of an actor. He got to smack White Steve in the face with a shovel. (Whereupon a voice off-screen goes, "Dig another hole." 😂)

You think the show "does not think about [how Paul's parenting affects Luke and may be related to his anxiety]"? The entirety of Season 2 was about the clash between Paul and Luke, and the basic-ass Wiki summary of Season 3 Episode 1 even begins by saying, "With Paul having moved out after realizing his anger management issues were causing Luke anxiety..." Indeed, the entirety of the entire show is about children becoming parents--and about them possibly becoming their parents. So I think the show does think about it.

I don't mind too much all the eps focusing on the supporting characters, and this one obviously affects the future of Bear, etc. But at this point, I think I'm going to start a rumor that, behind the scenes, our four leads are prima donnas that hate each others' guts and, like a bunch of little Julianas and Archies, refuse to shoot scenes together 😂

In a TV landscape where shows tend to mutate from being comedies to gritty, dark, humourless dramas (hi, Barry!), I appreciate that Breeders seems to have headed in the opposite direction. It's appropriate, too, as if the show's overarching point is that parenthood is often comprised of a number of years of absolute shit, and then there's light at the end of the tunnel that is in fact a kind of reward for all the hard work of parenting young kids and helping them into something like adulthood. I think a lot of levity and humor comes from what has always been my fave character, Darren, who I always find hilarious. As Siobhan said, he is sweetly pathetic. I'm glad Patrick Baladi seems to be freer to film this show this season. I may even have a bit of a crush on Baladi, despite how -- or because -- he's not conventionally good looking. ANYWAY, the episode set-up almost seemed like it would be some sort of Fraiser-ish French farce (when will someone let slip that Darren has kids?), though the episode also zigged away from this. The escalation was funny, and I thought the conflict was completely motivated by what we have, over the course of the series run, come to know of the characters. It made complete sense (and was unusual in terms of representation) that Ava actually wants her coming out to be a big deal (making her "old fashioned"), and this fits with her constant unhappiness about how she tends to get overshadowed by her elder brother, even as she also feels guilty about feeling this way. And then the episode was capped off with a genuinely touching moment between brother and sister. It feels like we waited for years for such a pay off, and it was very satisfying.

I enjoyed how every episode of the series has been titled "No ____" but the Season 4 opener, set at Christmas, seemingly bucked the trend...until you realize it doesn't. Maybe they should have made the joke more obvious by titling the episode "No L," but maybe that would cross into dad joke territory.

Why? I hope it is. Because it would mean that network execs don't tolerate such behavior, regardless of how great the show is.

SalmaHayeksAnus is still available as a username, everyone. The show made several critiques, but there was one I found especially intriguing. It occurred in the scene -- which was in itself kind of a clunky, "the Big Bad Explains It All for You" scene, but never mind -- when the Streamberry CEO revealed that the streaming service will roll out individualized versions of the show for each and everyone: Fatima is Awful, Brian is Awful, etc. Why? Because viewers will "find it relatable." Many cultural theorists have pointed out how, in recent few years, "relatable" has become the dominant yardstick by which we measure the value of art; a Taylor Swift song is supposedly good if it is "relatable." But this means that we now treat art as a mere (black) mirror of ourselves -- instead of say, seeing art as capable of showing us people, worlds, and lives different from ours. It was nice to see the episode take this tendency to task, though I wished it was a much more sustained critique.

nvrmd

I did find the characterisation of Rafa a bit inconsistent: sometimes he seemed wiser (and even jaded) to the ways of his uncles, and sometimes less so. Indeed, I wonder if the eps were out of order, though I don't know why a streaming series that dropped all at once would need to rejigger running order. But it was overall a delightful little show, and I especially enjoyed how in the last ep we see

I seldom like any show or movie that has a "oh, look, if those terrible Hollywood ghouls made a version of the events you just watched, it would be terrible hahaha so see how great and uncompromising and artful our version is by comparison?!" segment. It's obvious, self-congratulatory, and depends on a strawman. (That's the end of the sentence; there's no "but.")

C'mon, Sam. Charity is a c*nt, but don't waste that good butter pecan ice cream. And this is not a drill, this is not a drill: Hot Neighbor is back! And not a total drug pusher.