S06.E09: A Woman First

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Selina's book finally arrives; Jonah has a big meeting; Dan, Ben and Kent grab a drink.

Promo:

[BryroseA]

Okay, I know it's cheap as hell, but I was DY.ING. at Jonah smacking his head on his office ceiling. And when he tried pounding his desk with his fist and then smacked that on the ceiling, too? I haven't laughed that hard at this show in a long time.

 

This was actually the funniest episode of the season, I think. I loved how the shitstorm of revelations actually floated something beneficial for Selina. The worst part was Jonah's uncle who was way, way too over the top for me. It was uncomfortable enough that I had to look away from the TV.

 

Favorite line of the episode:

Shawnee: "Jonah, I've been thinking I want to slow things down a bit, with us."

Jonah: "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. My teachers had to do that all the time."

[biakbiak]

The entire hospital scene was perfection.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Leon: "We're the Washington Post, and we have been sued by better terrible presidents than you."

Mike: "Name one."

[scrb]

I can't decide if the show runners want to show Selina as a not nice person or she's suppose to be typical of our cynical, petty, unprincipled leaders.

Or she just comes off looking mean and petulant because she's just channeling all the wisecracks and putdowns, which drive the dialog and the show.

 

Maybe Selina knows deep down that her political career is over, so she's yukking it up with her Arab paramour about his relatives who like to fly into buildings.  Of course she does a lot of shady things and articulates notions which would be beyond the pale of American politics.

Does she care about her reputation or place in history?  Only in so far as she can sell her book and get her library built?  Of course she has to busk for money since Catherine controls the family fortune.  But her presidential and congressional pensions should allow her at least an upper-class lifestyle, though she probably wouldn't be able to have a large retinue of previous staff members.

I  think the presidential pension might cover one or two employees but in reality, most of them would find jobs elsewhere, in the media, working for other politicians, going to think tanks, teaching at universities, etc.  Some of them do get these gigs, like Ben and Kent and Dan.  The show has to stretch to keep them in Selina's orbit though, since this is an ensemble sitcom.

[sugarbaker design]

6 hours ago, scrb said:

I can't decide if the show runners want to show Selina as a not nice person or she's suppose to be typical of our cynical, petty, unprincipled leaders.

I don't think there's anything typical aboout Selena.

 

6 hours ago, scrb said:

Or she just comes off looking mean and petulant

That about sums it up!

My favorite line was Marjorie reciting the title of Selena's foundation/library.

Edited June 19, 2017 by sugarbaker design

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I don't think that Uncle Jeff is any worse than Furlong, and I'm all for anyone who tells Jonah how fucking useless he is!

I was shocked that Shawnie stood up to her father after he threatened to cut her off. I couldn't believe that she actually liked Jonah enough to stay with him against her father's wishes. When Uncle Jeff told him that his career was over and she dumped him, I thought yeah, that seems more like it.

Uncle Jeff was laughing so hard at Jonah getting dumped that I was afraid he would have a heart attack and die before he could actually go through with pulling the plug on Jonah's career. Don't die yet, Uncle Jeff!

Also surprising - Selina being nice to the intern at the Tonight Show. I know Selina often gets out of control yelling at her staff, but this week Mike really deserved it. Yes, everything worked out for her in the end, but what a dumbass! I really hope we don't end up having to deal with another arc about the staff testifying. The only time I truly enjoyed that was when they read a list of Jonah insults.

Loved how excited Kent was when Jonah fired him for having the audacity to be able to play basketball.

Usually when Will is forced to say terrible things at the behest of his boss, he seems a big hangdog about it, but he seemed downright cheerful telling Jonah about balls and then shoving him. Not that I can blame him. I think a lot of people in DC would love to have the opportunity to shove Jonah around.

[revbfc]

17 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I really hope we don't end up having to deal with another arc about the staff testifying. The only time I truly enjoyed that was when they read a list of Jonah insults.

Speak for yourself, that episode was gold!

Edited June 19, 2017 by revbfc

[peeayebee]

53 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

My favorite line was Marjorie reciting the title of Selena's foundation/library.

I loved that, as well as the part where she thinks Selina is talking to HER when she's actually talking to her boyfriend on the phone. I also loved when Marjorie is carrying Catherine to the couch. It looked so easy for her that I wondered if some CGI was involved. 

 

27 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Uncle Jeff was laughing so hard at Jonah getting dumped that I was afraid he would have a heart attack and die before he could actually go through with pulling the plug on Jonah's career. Don't die yet, Uncle Jeff!

Uncle Jeff was hilarious in all the awful things he was saying. Oh my god. 

Jonah repeatedly hitting his head and then his hand (or elbow?) on the low ceiling was hilarious and just never got old. 

 

Quote

Loved how excited Kent was when Jonah fired him for having the audacity to be able to play basketball.

First off, there was his outfit. But second, yes, I loved that he was happy and excited about finally getting fired. Hey, he cried tears of joy!

 

Quote

Usually when Will is forced to say terrible things at the behest of his boss, he seems a big hangdog about it, but he seemed downright cheerful telling Jonah about balls and then shoving him. Not that I can blame him. I think a lot of people in DC would love to have the opportunity to shove Jonah around.

That was great. I esp liked when he simply shoved Jonah in order to make him drop the ball. 

 

As far as the rest of the ep, I was shocked that all the scandals came out. I didn't see how the team would recover. But when the truth about the Nepal deal came out, everything else was forgotten. It's sickeningly how realistic that is.

Edited June 19, 2017 by peeayebee

[crookedjackson44]

Wow! to the shade thrown at SUNY Binghamton!

[Traveller519]

Great episode for Kent. He was fired from the Seahawks, in part because he couldn't get the concept of Yards After Catch across to Steve Largent, I would have loved to have watched those conversations. Plus his listing of all of Jonah's potential enemies and the double fist pump when he's fired by Jonah because he makes a basket.

Selina thinking Johnny Carson still hosted the Tonight Show seemed a bit off. While it's a good little throw away joke, has she been that insulated despite a full term in the executive branch? She was current on SNL a few years back. Interesting commentary with Adam Scott's Tonight Show set looking more like David Letterman's Late Show set, and being a touch more sinister in Dave's mold.

[CofCinci]

Was Richard the only one from this motley crew to get recognized in the book dedication?

[iMonrey]

Kent's shorts!

Am I out of the loop or something? Jimmy Fallon still hosts the tonight show, right? Why was Adam Scott the host? Is this show supposed to take place in the future when Jimmy Fallon is no longer the host? If they couldn't get Fallon why didn't they just make up a fake talk show? That was weird.

Strange to say, but it was actually kind of nice to see Selina get a "win" for once. She needs one, if for no other reason than to keep this show going. I'm still not sure how they're going to stretch it into another season.

Loved Marjorie leaving the house and asking Selina to take good care of Catherine. Selina: "Who's she talking to?" 

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Am I out of the loop or something? Jimmy Fallon still hosts the tonight show, right? Why was Adam Scott the host?

Because the show doesn't take place in our universe. It has different presidents. Compared to that, a different Tonight Show host seems minor indeed.

[iMonrey]

Now that you mention it, there really is a "CBS This Morning." I'd never bothered to check. And obviously, it is not hosted by Jane McCabe. Still - the Tonight Show is a pretty iconic show, so it seemed awfully strange to have some random host on it without explanation.

[revbfc]

37 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Now that you mention it, there really is a "CBS This Morning." I'd never bothered to check. And obviously, it is not hosted by Jane McCabe. Still - the Tonight Show is a pretty iconic show, so it seemed awfully strange to have some random host on it without explanation.

It does, but I'm accepting it.  I can dig the alternative universe scenario.  I can let my imagination fly thinking of all the ways Fallon lost out to Scott.

[scarynikki12]

Also, Fallon's too much of an ass kisser. That scene needed a Letterman to knock her down a peg and Adam Scott did it brilliantly.

[Matt K]

7 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

Selina thinking Johnny Carson still hosted the Tonight Show seemed a bit off. While it's a good little throw away joke, has she been that insulated despite a full term in the executive branch? She was current on SNL a few years back. Interesting commentary with Adam Scott's Tonight Show set looking more like David Letterman's Late Show set, and being a touch more sinister in Dave's mold.

It's funny because literally right when they introduced Adam Scott as the host, I speculated that this was a timeline where Letterman took over the Tonight Show and then the show did feel very Letterman-esque, especially with the contempt for the guest and using the kids to slam her.  Great episode.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Strange to say, but it was actually kind of nice to see Selina get a "win" for once. She needs one, if for no other reason than to keep this show going. 

I've been rooting for her to get this specific win since last season because despite all the shitty things Selina has done and all the terrible decisions/mistakes she has made over the years (many of which were described again in this episode), the Tibet thing was something she actually did on purpose (even though her motivation was to make herself look good), not something she accidentally did or that she fell into ass backwards. That may have been the only positive thing she's done in all her years of public service and Montez stole the credit (with China's cooperation out of spite). I don't mind when she's hoisted by her own petard but seeing Laura Montez get credit for something huge that she had nothing to do with made me want Selina to get credit for it even more!

[EarlGreyTea]

I loved the entire Shawnee arc so I hope this isn't the end of her. Jonah has been really doing it for me with his  slicked-back hair and glasses, and I liked seeing him with with someone who was finally on his side who is not named Richard. The entire politician's wife trope is so interesting to me and I loved when she helped get him some victories. Also it took me forever, but the actress looks just like Katy Perry. I'm interested to see if they've cast Ezra and what he's like.

Am I missing something? Didn't Mike have Leon West's diary and if so, why can't he use it to blackmail Leon into taking down the expose of Selina? I kept waiting for that to happen but it never did.

Selina is way, way bitter and cruel these days, but I can fanwank it well enough that she's angry about how her career went up in flames so spectacularly and her cruelty toward Catherine in particular is a part of that.

Glad they are bringing Dan back into the fold. I don't give a single shit about his CBS morning show career storyline (sorry, Margaret Colin). He's only interesting when he's with the gang. Bring them all back together again already.

Edited June 20, 2017 by EarlGreyTea

[bmoore4026]

21 hours ago, biakbiak said:

The entire hospital scene was perfection.

Everything Peter MacNicol did in that scene needs to be taught in acting school on how to do comedic acting well.  That man needs a statue built in his honor with all the lines he said on a plaque underneath.

[Pamela]

Kent saying "Boom goes the dynamite" was just a delight.

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Kent's shorts!

Indeed.

[ganesh]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Strange to say, but it was actually kind of nice to see Selina get a "win" for once. She needs one, if for no other reason than to keep this show going.

This is my main issue with the season as a whole. They should have given her more purpose this season. 

I don't know if I got the entire hospital scene, but was Jonah only down 3 points? That's not an impending defeat for someone who is an incumbent. I get that the shutdown blew up in his face, but it's not really that bad. 

[Milburn Stone]

I thought the episode was great, and so was the hospital scene, but when Jonah's uncle referred to Not Sheldon Adelson by saying, "He's the Jew in Why People Hate the Jews" (or whatever he said along those lines), I cringed. And actually felt assaulted. I realize the show runner is Jewish, as is Julia, and others in front of and behind the camera, but that line crossed a line for me. Maybe if there weren't so much actual anti-Semitism in the world, it would have been funnier... 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

This is my main issue with the season as a whole. They should have given her more purpose this season. 

I don't know if I got the entire hospital scene, but was Jonah only down 3 points? That's not an impending defeat for someone who is an incumbent. I get that the shutdown blew up in his face, but it's not really that bad. 

I think the whole point is that Selina didn't know what her purpose was anymore so she was just grasping at anything: the library, becoming a Supreme Court Justice, her book, etc. To me, it was kind of like S6 of Buffy - after her mom died and Buffy herself died, she was trying to adjust to the new phase in her life as an adult and unfortunately some of the more mundane things that can be tough to deal with if it's happening to you isn't very interesting for someone else to watch. Granted, watching some of that stuff wasn't riveting, but I understood why the character went through it.

Similarly, I think that Selina, like many people, has a lot of her identity wrapped up in her job and now that she's no longer VP or President, she is a little lost and trying to figure out what to do next. I also think someone like her who is so well known faces particular difficulties because whatever she does will be scrutinized and since she's so recognizable, she can't just go volunteer at the local library. I'm not saying we should lose any sleep over Selina's post-presidential struggles but at the heart of it, what she's dealing with isn't totally different from when a professional athlete is injured or a normal person retires. It's a period of adjustment and it can take time to figure out what to do next. Of course, most of us don't have a staff to help us through that transition!

As for Jonah getting kicked to the curb, he knew that was going to happen going into this. His uncle was honest from the beginning and told him that Jonah was only getting this position temporarily until his cousin Ezra came back from Afghanistan to take that seat because Uncle Jeff plans on having Ezra become President one day. The fact that Jonah managed to majorly fuck something up this early into his term just gives Uncle Jeff even more motivation to kick his ass off the ballot.

[sugarbaker design]

12 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

Am I missing something? Didn't Mike have Leon West's diary and if so, why can't he use it to blackmail Leon into taking down the expose of Selina? I kept waiting for that to happen but it never did.

Isn't it possible there's nothing blackmail worthy in LW's diary?

9 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

but that line crossed a line for me.

That's what kind of show this is.  Line crossing happens every episode to different groups.

[ganesh]

6 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I think the whole point is that Selina didn't know what her purpose was anymore so she was just grasping at anything: the library, becoming a Supreme Court Justice, her book, etc.

She's been a politician for a long time though. One thing politicians are good at is reinventing themselves. I can see a few episodes of that, but eventually, I would have expected her to find a purpose. 

[Keepitmoving]

3 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Isn't it possible there's nothing blackmail worthy in LW's diary?

That's what kind of show this is.  Line crossing happens every episode to different groups.

Boy does this show cross lines, I mean they had Jonah shouting out something about 9/11 and planes flying into buildings. Did I not hear him correctly? I know I did, because then they had the car take off nearly causing him to fall over which I took as karma for that shit he just said. 

The bottom line is, these people are horrible, wretched human beings and then you have the utterly pathetic ones like Gary. He's not horrible, he's just so sadly pathetic. Mike isn't horrible, he's just annoying and yes, pathetic.

But somehow I'm still chuckling at these fools.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Keepitmoving

[Milburn Stone]

6 minutes ago, Keepitmoving said:

Boy does this show cross lines...The bottom line is, these people are horrible, wretched human beings...

Yeah, I can't criticize the show for that. I'm just saying that suddenly, when the Jew-hatred line was uttered, I felt the pain all over again of being pushed around and called Jew Boy in the school cafeteria. I guess that pain never goes away. I also suppose others have felt similar pain from this show at lines I laughed at.

[scrb]

What was the joke that Selina was trying to make.  First she told Leon that he could have Amy.  Then she said he'd have to fuck her from behind and made a face.

That a shot at Amy's sex face?

[iMonrey]

Quote

I loved the entire Shawnee arc so I hope this isn't the end of her. Jonah has been really doing it for me with his  slicked-back hair and glasses, and I liked seeing him with with someone who was finally on his side who is not named Richard. The entire politician's wife trope is so interesting to me and I loved when she helped get him some victories. 

I never really understood why she was with him. At first it seemed like an arrangement with her father, but after she defied her father, I figured maybe she just wanted to rebel against her father. But then when Jonah's uncle said he was pulling the plug she dropped him like a hot potato. I guess maybe she had aspirations to be a politician's wife but I don't get why she was willing to hitch her wagon to Jonah of all people unless her father was bankrolling him.

Quote

She's been a politician for a long time though. One thing politicians are good at is reinventing themselves. I can see a few episodes of that, but eventually, I would have expected her to find a purpose. 

I don't know, if you're a career office-seeker and you've reached the pinnacle as President of the U.S. there's nowhere to go but down. Most ex-presidents would cash in on speaking engagements and book deals but as we've seen, Selina was so profoundly unpopular nobody was offering her anything. Maybe now the tide will turn; there wasn't really much more story to tell if this was her trajectory. You can only watch someone get beat up on for so long.

I had my doubts about this season as a whole once she lost the election - they've managed to craft a funny story but I really didn't see it going any further after this.

[taragel]

16 hours ago, ganesh said:

  ON 6/19/2017 AT 0:44 PM, IMONREY SAID:

Strange to say, but it was actually kind of nice to see Selina get a "win" for once. She needs one, if for no other reason than to keep this show going.

This is my main issue with the season as a whole. They should have given her more purpose this season. 

It sounds like, from this article previewing the finale, that things are looking up for Selina next week too. I was honestly surprised to hear of it because they seem to thrive on humiliating her, but I'm guessing whatever it is sets up next season. 

And hurrah for Dan, Ben, & Kent (DaBeKent? KeBenDa? The Three Stooges?) joining forces. Now they need to get Amy in the fold. This is the first scene I remember them showing any of those four kind of meeting outside of work to commiserate a bit. Those scenes have been great all season.

Edited June 20, 2017 by taragel

[qtpye]

18 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I thought the episode was great, and so was the hospital scene, but when Jonah's uncle referred to Not Sheldon Adelson by saying, "He's the Jew in Why People Hate the Jews" (or whatever he said along those lines), I cringed. And actually felt assaulted. I realize the show runner is Jewish, as is Julia, and others in front of and behind the camera, but that line crossed a line for me. Maybe if there weren't so much actual anti-Semitism in the world, it would have been funnier... 

 

20 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

I loved the entire Shawnee arc so I hope this isn't the end of her. Jonah has been really doing it for me with his  slicked-back hair and glasses, and I liked seeing him with with someone who was finally on his side who is not named Richard. The entire politician's wife trope is so interesting to me and I loved when she helped get him some victories. Also it took me forever, but the actress looks just like Katy Perry. I'm interested to see if they've cast Ezra and what he's like.

Am I missing something? Didn't Mike have Leon West's diary and if so, why can't he use it to blackmail Leon into taking down the expose of Selina? I kept waiting for that to happen but it never did.

Selina is way, way bitter and cruel these days, but I can fanwank it well enough that she's angry about how her career went up in flames so spectacularly and her cruelty toward Catherine in particular is a part of that.

Glad they are bringing Dan back into the fold. I don't give a single shit about his CBS morning show career storyline (sorry, Margaret Colin). He's only interesting when he's with the gang. Bring them all back together again already.

 

20 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Everything Peter MacNicol did in that scene needs to be taught in acting school on how to do comedic acting well.  That man needs a statue built in his honor with all the lines he said on a plaque underneath.

 

4 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

Yeah, I can't criticize the show for that. I'm just saying that suddenly, when the Jew-hatred line was uttered, I felt the pain all over again of being pushed around and called Jew Boy in the school cafeteria. I guess that pain never goes away. I also suppose others have felt similar pain from this show at lines I laughed at.

That was some amazingly scary and funny laughing.  That uncle really hates Jonah.  I do not understand why he referred to Jonah's ex finance as a knuckle dragging t*****.  There has been some allusion that she is not good looking, but the actress is perfectly attractive.

I also do not think she would let the uncle walk her to the car after he made those anti Semitic remarks about her father. 

14 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I think the whole point is that Selina didn't know what her purpose was anymore so she was just grasping at anything: the library, becoming a Supreme Court Justice, her book, etc. To me, it was kind of like S6 of Buffy - after her mom died and Buffy herself died, she was trying to adjust to the new phase in her life as an adult and unfortunately some of the more mundane things that can be tough to deal with if it's happening to you isn't very interesting for someone else to watch. Granted, watching some of that stuff wasn't riveting, but I understood why the character went through it.

Similarly, I think that Selina, like many people, has a lot of her identity wrapped up in her job and now that she's no longer VP or President, she is a little lost and trying to figure out what to do next. I also think someone like her who is so well known faces particular difficulties because whatever she does will be scrutinized and since she's so recognizable, she can't just go volunteer at the local library. I'm not saying we should lose any sleep over Selina's post-presidential struggles but at the heart of it, what she's dealing with isn't totally different from when a professional athlete is injured or a normal person retires. It's a period of adjustment and it can take time to figure out what to do next. Of course, most of us don't have a staff to help us through that transition!

As for Jonah getting kicked to the curb, he knew that was going to happen going into this. His uncle was honest from the beginning and told him that Jonah was only getting this position temporarily until his cousin Ezra came back from Afghanistan to take that seat because Uncle Jeff plans on having Ezra become President one day. The fact that Jonah managed to majorly fuck something up this early into his term just gives Uncle Jeff even more motivation to kick his ass off the ballot.

 

Good Lord, Selina is a monster.  Before she was not always great, but she did care about some important issues.  Now she is a beast to everyone and I actually feel sorry for Amy.

I have no idea how Katherine turned out so nice having such horribly mean parents.  Katherine was the one who invited Gary to stay after his heart attack and now her mother had destroyed her beloved grandmother's house for nothing, since the library is going to be at Yale.  Not to mention Selina gives two shits about her having some sort of health issue with her pregnancy.  I so hope she cuts off Selina's allowance.

[Keepitmoving]

Quote

I have no idea how Katherine turned out so nice having such horribly mean parents.  Katherine was the one who invited Gary to stay after his heart attack and now her mother had destroyed her beloved grandmother's house for nothing, since the library is going to be at Yale.  Not to mention Selina gives two shits about her having some sort of health issue with her pregnancy.  I so hope she cuts off Selina's allowance.

Beloved grandmother? Yeah, to her granddaughter, but not to her own daughter, and that's how Selina got the way she is IMO. How Katherine turned out to be such a precious flower who knows, but how Selina turned out, yeah, beloved grandma was a shitty mother and treated Selina exactly the way she now treats her own daughter. And apparently daddy was actually no prize either based on Selina realizing that Andrew was actually her marrying her father.  I guess Katherine will break that cycle. 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Keepitmoving

[Stephanie1216]

I do love this show. Regarding the Jewish so called jokes I understand. My son has Down Syndrome and they have done several chromosome/mongoloid jokes and my husband refuses to watch it anymore. She said 47 Chromosomes last night and last week at Gary's the mongoloid comment. Last week I took the joke as just a joke about the movie Deliverance and if you have seen that I have never known a person with Down Syndrome that can play a musical instrument like a pro so I let that one slid. 

Jonahs physical comedy is good. I liked him and Shawn together, his smile was great when she told him they were engaged. They need to keep her.

 

when Selina was the veep, she did have moments in the public that were "wins" for her. The Ohio interview, the interview at the Veeps house, the hostages (until the leg) usually something embarrassing might happen in public, then private but then she was able to overcome. You aren't a successful Veep without doing something right. So her having all fails actually doesn't make any sense. Last season it was just every cast member saying joke after joke instead of the dialogue being funny.

 

i actually started watching this show when I saw her say the "r" word by accident season 1 and she knew it was a huge mistake and she didn't mean to say it. Now they have written her as if she didn't care about that or about a soldier losing his leg. They need to give her a little bit of caring.  

Her being a bad mother is kinda funny. Her having a bad mother is kinda funny.

[sugarbaker design]

15 hours ago, Keepitmoving said:

Beloved grandmother? Yeah, to her granddaughter, but not to her own daughter, and that's how Selina got the way she is IMO.

Reminds me of my favorite Selina line ever!

Selina (to Catherine):  You have no idea what it was like to be the only daughter of a pathological narcissist.

11 hours ago, Stephanie1216 said:

They need to give her a little bit of caring.  

Oh god, I hope not.

[Milburn Stone]

13 hours ago, Stephanie1216 said:

I do love this show. Regarding the Jewish so called jokes I understand. My son has Down Syndrome and they have done several chromosome/mongoloid jokes and my husband refuses to watch it anymore.

This puts me in mind to say that regarding what I wrote, above, that the pain of the Jew-hate joke made me aware of the all the hateful lines I've laughed at that weren't about me, I realize that can be interpreted two ways. Way #1: Oh, OK, so the Jew-hate joke is cool, because if I laugh at others who are mocked, I have to give the show license to make me the target. Way #2: I think I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with laughing at the jokes that mock others, now that I know from the Jew-hate joke how much it hurts to be the target.

I'm leaning more to Way #2.

[Eyes High]

On 6/20/2017 at 6:40 PM, qtpye said:

That was some amazingly scary and funny laughing.  That uncle really hates Jonah.  I do not understand why he referred to Jonah's ex finance as a knuckle dragging t*****.  There has been some allusion that she is not good looking, but the actress is perfectly attractive.

I don't think it's any empirical reflection on Mary Holland's looks; they were just looking for something to pick on. Look at all the absurd abuse the perfectly attractive Timothy Simons gets on the show as Jonah. To take the dialogue at face value, you'd think Jonah was some sort of freakishly tall, hideous, misshapen monster. I think everyone who's not Selina or Dan has had their looks pilloried on a fairly regular basis, with Jonah getting the worst of it. The writers have also implied that Amy is fat and unattractive, which is of course nonsense. The very cute Mary Holland is tall and has a strong jaw, so predictably they go to the "t*****" well for insults. Not super creative, but predictable.

[sugarbaker design]

20 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I think I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with laughing at the jokes that mock others

That's basically every line of the show or at least every line uttered by Furlong.  This show is like Lisa Lampanelli, it doesn't offend certain groups, it offends everybody.

[ganesh]

I do hope Furlong gets his by the end of the series. 

[Milburn Stone]

5 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

That's basically every line of the show or at least every line uttered by Furlong.  This show is like Lisa Lampanelli, it doesn't offend certain groups, it offends everybody.

No disagreement. And Furlong has always been my favorite character. And the relationship between him and his toady may be my favorite part of a show that offends everybody. I'm saying that now that I've been hurt, I'm taking another look at all that.

[meowmommy]

I thought that even more than the basketball shorts, wearing his Congressional pin over his hospital gown epitomized the dorkiness that is Jonah.

[AllAboutMBTV]

I'm picking nits here: I get why computer-illiterate Mike would have a paper diary, but why would Leon? Plot contrivance?

The whole episode was hilarious, but Uncle Jeff (a character I'd completely forgotten about) was the icing on the cake. As a former actor, I can tell you that being able to laugh like that realistically is So. Hard. And someone upthread (EarlGreyTea) wondered if they'd cast Ezra. I'm pretty sure we saw him in an early season. He's military-poster-boy handsome.

[bijoux]

I don't think Mike is computer illiterate. Wasn't he the one coaching Andrew on smartphone aps when his hook up with Selina's painter got exposed? And I see Leon as a stuck up 'old school' type. Not actually old school, but posing as such.

[CouchTater]

I'm a little concerned for Richard re: his role as the sperm donor.  Once he corrected Selena by saying "father" when she referred to him as the donor. And when Selena lied to the tv show staffer about her pregnant daughter being in distress, Richard asked "what's wrong with my baby?"

And what training was Richard going to with Catherine and Marjorie? Was it dula training?

Either this is going to be a very unconventional family involving 2 moms and a dad, or Richard is confused about his role. 

I'm not understanding the arrangement.