SeanC

Yay for Gina. After she became almost the default pick for so many prognosticators I was weirdly worried that it wouldn't pan out, but it did, and she gave a charming speech.

I expected that the critics' and awards support would get it renewed. Yay.

The analogy they're trying to draw between factory workers being laid off and Peggy's situation does not work, though. Peggy wasn't replacing anybody; she was working alongside men. The concept that seemingly the entire SSR has forgotten about her contributions, when she would have been a highly visible member, and was fairly high up the chain, is a pretty hard sell. Nancy Wake and Pearl Witherington weren't forgotten, and they were low-level compared to Peggy. That said, I quite liked the show. The fight scene in the second episode that's intercut with the radio show (and their practical sound effects) was my favourite scene.

Women can pass on the family name, which generally happens when they're rulers in their own right. In the main series, you have Maege Mormont, Arwyn Oakheart, Anya Waynwood, and Lyessa Flint, all of whose sons and daughters have their surnames.

I didn't see anything about it as "gay panic". They thought that Luisa was imagining a relationship with her stepmother -- which there is apparently a family history of.

I think Billy's connection to the hotel is way too recent (from what we can see) for that.

That's one of the worst instances where the show's general habit of only caring about the choruses of songs (understandable, to an extent, since they aren't performing original music tailored specifically to their needs [except when they are, of course]). Though if the storyline surrounding it had been good, I don't think people would have cared; but since IKAG was heinous, the titular song just became emblematic of everything that was wrong with the handling of that storyline. As far as things like the differing treatments of Brittany inadvertently revealing stuff about her and Santana versus Finn doing so, a lot of that is the show's gaping tonal inconsistency; Brittany is meant to be primarily a comedic character, so the stuff she does isn't supposed to "matter" (and also because most of the time the implication is she just doesn't understand what she's doing), even though other characters who are in serious stories are viewed differently. The show has never shied away from treating similar actions differently based on what tone they're working on within that particular scene.

Hey, Santana's sudden friendship with Rachel started in season 3, when Rachel randomly accosted Santana at her locker and asserted that they were friends now, to which the only logical response should have been "when did that happen?" That's another demonstration of the writing skills of the staff. On most programs, two longtime rivals setting aside differences and learning to appreciate each other would be an actual story.

In honour of Christmas, the Glee Christmas episodes, ranked from execrable to best: 4. A Very Glee Christmas - the nadir of the show's infantilizing treatment of Brittany (actually, there's been a few of those, but I don't want to think about them all enough to decide which is worst), and the terrible season 2 Rachel/Finn breakup/makeup plot drags on with Finn's sanctimonious behaviour and Rachel's abject begging. Bonus "points" for the ReWalk, one of those things the writers had to have known would never be mentioned again even as they wrote the episode. Grade: F. 3. Glee, Actually - My memory of this episode is pretty hazy, as it tends to be for Season 4 episodes that don't have Santana in them, but I recall the Puck/Jake plot being fine, and the brief bit with Marley and her mother as well. The Brittany/Sam stuff is, well, idiotic, and the stuff with Burt having cancer is some of the most manipulative storytelling in the history of the show (particularly given that I think this is mentioned in like, one more episode). Grade: D+. 2. Extraordinary Merry Christmas - the cast singing "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to the occupants of a homeless shelter is one of the most tone-dead song selections in the history of the show, and the stuff about Rachel learning not to be materialistic was irritating (and, together with Brittany and Santana's invisibility, capped a really terrible run for the show in terms of female representation, not that they've ever been very good at that), but the fake Christmas special is tolerably amusing. Grade: C+. 1. Previously Unaired Christmas - the show manages a good Christmas episode, and it's the one that isn't canon. The New York segment is full of stuff that the show should have done way more of in that setting, such as the kids having silly/annoying jobs, and the black comedy aspects actually work. And the Lima segment is actually pretty good too, remarkably; rather hilariously, the writers manage to plug in actual foreshadowing for things like Kitty's change of attitude, which happened for no real reason in the previous season. Grade: A-.

On the contrary, I think few things better signify the problems with this show than the show's obstinate clinging to the idea of ND and its members as uncool well past the point where their various accomplishments, individual and collective, would have changed that situation. Indeed, that problem started to manifest itself as early as episode 3, though it took a while before it really started to grind down on them.

I was amused to see that described as "a moment of inspiration" on Rachel's part, since bringing back graduated characters to teach the newbies lessons is pretty much the default for how New Directions has worked.

I'll miss the Chancellor if they make another season of this.

Mei's attempt really didn't make sense to me. If she's desperate enough to attempt the kill in a way that completely disregards her own safety, she shouldn't have any problem getting close to the Empress and killing her with her bare hands.

She and Brittany are off pursuing their careers, from the spoilers we've been given. I'm a bit surprised that they aren't going for a big cast reunion in the finale, but a number of shows have used the technique of gradually phasing castmembers out over the final season, and in a way they're going to get more attention in 6.08 than they would in 6.13.

Mike Huckabee actually was there in at least one shot.

Gitmo!

I don't think Jane's break is unusual by TV standards, so hopefully it will work okay. If Gina and/or the show actually win, she'd get to make a speech on TV for a decent audience, so that would be great too (I think Gina can definitely win).

No, she wouldn't have rights to the child. Petra having rights would hinge on Jane being a surrogate, which she isn't. Likewise, I don't believe that agreement would give her any rights vis a vis Rafael either, because Jane isn't a surrogate, so the child isn't Rafael's and Petra's, it's Rafael's and Jane's; one parent can't unilaterally contract away their share of parental rights to a third party.

The fact that they've introduced the idea of Rafael being Sin Rostro here more or less means that he isn't. The flashbacks also kind of make it seem like Magda isn't either, though, which is interesting. I like the way they handle Jane and Rafael's different perspectives on things (also, count me on Team Rafael regarding school choices). Much like last week's throwaway joke about Jane have a cheap lawyer, this week's Petra lawsuit plot was resolved by episode's end, but, for the sake of nitpicking: getting that lawsuit thrown out of court would take about ten minutes. Rule 1 of contract law is that a contract only binds parties to it, so it has zero applicability to Jane, who isn't a signatory.

Since the show typically introduces the season's plot threads over the first two episodes, I was thinking on what the distribution for season 5 will be like. There's a bit of awkwardness in that there's three groups of characters we won't have seen since 4.08 (Sansa and co., Theon and co., Ellaria), who it might therefore be good to see in the premiere, but they're also the less urgent characters to appear for much the same reason. Anyway: 1. Jon and the Night's Watch - very obviously 5.01. They're as much a book behind other characters, and have to get a move-on. 2. King's Landing - aftermath of Tywin's assassination. 5.01. 3. Tyrion - see above. 4. Daenerys - actually no especially urgent plot elements, but one imagines 5.01. 5. Arya - symbolism of getting on the boat in 4.10 and getting off in 5.01 is too obvious to ignore, structurally, and she should have a fairly busy season. 6. Theon and the Boltons - this one's kind of borderline, since we have few details about what will be happening here, but could probably be left to 5.02 7. Sansa and co. - see above. 8. Brienne and co. - see above. 9. Dorne - if we see them prior to Jaime arriving in 5.04, I expect it will be 5.02 or later. There's no obvious reason for them to be in the premiere. I don't see any reason to think that's not his plan (with the proviso that, between the lines, he probably isn't intending for Harry to live especially long after fulfilling his purpose as a warlord/Arryn-heir-fatherer). It's obviously not going to go through as he describes it, but there's no way the next chapter is going to have the whole thing executed even if it was, given the timeline.

Again, Elio only said that some might find it controversial, and he didn't say it was more controversial than any of the other things you list.

Robert Arryn is eight years old. He is physically incapable of fathering a child, or being thought to have done so.

Otherwise known as "the one with the nude Kung Fu".

No, it doesn't make "perfect sense" -- again, quite apart from on a character level, it's nowhere near time for Robert to die. All kinds of things have to be lined up for that to happen. And there's a huge difference between covering up the deaths of two people who conspired to murder you and killing a little kid. I assume this is meant to be a joke, because otherwise, um, what? Harry the Heir just won a tourney at Runestone. Moreover, do you not think Lady Waynwood, his guardian, would have noticed if he'd dropped off the face of the earth for months?

Unlikely, given that that wouldn't be "super traumatic" for the characters, and that's not the way her character is developing anyway. GRRM spends a ton of time show her psychological state in AFFC, and she consistently rejects his sexual advances; indeed, that's the main problem for his whole "Alayne" project.