stillshimpy

I don't think there's any way I can convincingly fake having read the threads prior to posting, so in the name of House Stark, let me blurt out things not in the best interest of my survival. Works in all directions, both for me, and then also as a commentary on this episode. I think I know why Varys and Littlefinger were the masterminds of the Kingdoms, they knew the value of the occasional private aside. That was a lot of open declaration of known issues. It wasn't the Exposition Fairy as much as it was the Laxative of Plot Obstacles. Sam needs to be up to speed in a flash? One and done, not deftly or with respect to the investment of the audience in these issues, there we go, the most contrived conversation even by the standards of the show, where they were busily knitting up plot threads to making something out of what they had, barest of nods to the source material. Euron, Ewan McGregor after some manic bender, cooing at Cersei's wig, while simultaneously leering at absolutely anything in his sightline was definitely kind of a low point, for me. Between the Bran ex Machina practically ringing a bell like he was reffing a boxing match but the participants were plot-points. He would blurt out the next one, then call time when it had taken enough of a blunt-force beating. I'm primarily unspoiled but I do know some things, and I just don't get the pace of this development. Surely, surely there was room to let some of this shit breathe?

Yeah, this episode was more of a miss for me than a hit. Like almost every single person I know, I let all of my calls go to voicemail. Google has a screener for robocalls as well. It would be great if they all zarked off but mostly it just means I only answer calls from friends and family...who all know bloody well that I would laugh my ass off and hang up if they asked for my social security number "Real quick, just give it to me" ...we're a paranoid people here, I don't think that would work on anyone in the house. I really, deeply, absolutely do not find the current administration amusing on any level. At all. Whatsoever. So mostly, I just sat there seething, "He's not funny." "That wasn't funny, either" "Yeah, that one? Even less funny than the other not funny things." But I did enjoy the FCC finger!

Well, that was hilarious. Alex Bornstein's dancing at the end was laugh aloud funny. Aw, poor Astrid spilled the beans in a low blood sugar moment. As soon as she said "The Company" I was intrigued and sure enough, the CIA proclamation followed it. They might as well have entitled this episode "Down with the Patriarchy!" for how many hits Abe's worldview took there. It was a nice follow-up to his putting pressure on the Art school dean to allow Rose to stay, evidence of the limits of his importance. I think middle age tends to contain a lot of feelings of insignificance for some people and it was interesting to see Abe's condensed into such a concentrated dose of it. I was dying at the cone-of-silence, long parade of legal representation that followed. It's at least a little sad that Abe's natural response was not to be very proud and chuffed, instead, he felt diminished but that makes emotional sense. I do like that Midge ultimately decided that she would not simply obey her father and made it silently clear that she would not. I guess it's Abe's turn for his own existential dilemma. Once again, the actor playing Astrid delivers a really tough set of lines in a way that makes her really appealing as a human being. I'm enjoying the expansion of the Maisel universe here to include details about the other characters and the mournful version of Go You Chicken Fat, Go also made me laugh. Poor Abe, in his entirely altered world: His wife is a full person with emotional needs, his daughter is following her own guidance, and his son is some kind of badass in the CIA. I guess it was a big revelatory year for all of them. Except for Noah who likely just knows every damned thing if he wants to. What a fun detail to include. I liked this episode, it was a good building block episode. In terms of Midge and Joel, I know it is too much to hope for that he will really just be one of her biggest supporters, trying not to stand in her way, but I do like that the energy the actor brings to those "staring at Midge" scenes is not covetous. He's not jealous, at least it doesn't look like it, it's more like he accepts that these are his consequences. Overall, I think the time spent away from NYC this season has been worth it to help reset several stages. I think it was worth risking narrative momentum over. Also, as seemingly the only person in the world who didn't particularly like and also stopped watching Dirty Dancing, I had fun with a different portrayal of the Catskills and found it really worthwhile.

I wonder if we just saw a preview of the thing that will eventually doom Midge's career. After all, she's interacting with some real names from comedy but there must be a reason that Midge does not become a star. I wonder if the same trait displayed during poor freaking knocked-up Mary's reception -- not being able to understand when she's crossed from playfully audacious and into simply hurtful and unacceptable -- is going to be the thing that eventually keeps Midge's star from rising. Sort of like Jackie Mason's hand-gesture that wasn't, but still tanked his career for years. Although it became obvious as it was happening, I didn't realize that Midge would get confused and do a set at someone else's freaking wedding reception. I had a full-body cringe over how horribly it went wrong. In terms of everything having to do with the kids, it is cracking me up that Amy Sherman-Paladino is leaning the hell in making sure we know, "Kids on this show? Yeah, they're mostly props and something to anchor the narrative, other than that? children are deeply uninteresting to me, so let's make a joke about how much of an afterthought the child props are!" And more power to ASP on the "I'll show you equal opportunity, I'll show you Rachel Brosnahan's rack once and raise you a full nude dude for a change of TV pace. Equal opportunity your hearts out!" Rose's reaction was hilarious to me. She's supposed to be a woman who has seen one other penis in person, in her life, and it was fun to see that Rose might have freed part of her spirit but some primness remains. I like Rose and Abe so much as a couple. Joel's parents work mainly because of the casting, lesser actors could not pull that stuff off. All hail the gods of stage comedy. I'm so glad to have something to watch that is just fun, witty, and always so gorgeous. ASP has never been much for realism, it will not be found in her works. She'll do emotional authenticity but not in a realistic setting. All of her worlds are just that little bit prettier, money is almost always plentiful, she digs whimsy but she does deliver it with heart.

You may be right, @shapeshifter because Lenny Bruce was not known to be faithful to his wife...and they divorced in 1957. However, he's only about six years away from a fatal drug overdose, so I think it's more likely that Midge will deal with the loss of her comedian friend in that manner. It looks like Dr. Love Interest and Joel will be the ones to joust for Midge if it comes to that. I think, but I cannot swear to this, it's just a sense I have, that ASP has great admiration for Lenny Bruce. If it was a fictional character, I'd put money on your speculation. He's kind of one of the comic gods though. But yeah, even with that, yes, I can see the "night of drinks after a show leads to..." but I think not, simply because ASP is trying to write something of a unicorn-character here and comedy is her profession, so I don't know. I'm looking forward to finding out if you're right, and thank you, it's good to see your screen name again :)

I like that Midge has a peer/mentor relationship with Lenny Bruce. As written here, he easily treats her talent as something that must be pursued, is never to take a backseat and is in no way threatening to his own. It's a nice portrayal of creative generosity and effortless equality but I don't think it's meant to be romantic as much as good chemistry between the actors. Speaking of which, jeez, way to nail the chemistry on Dr. Love Interest in terms of casting. Way to ensure audience investment. I'm not much for commenting on someone's looks, but yeah, that was designed to get people's attention. Popping into the Catskills from Mount Olympus or something. But also, nice writing and good setup for why these two people that dislike each other (*groan for the cliches*) start to like one another in an interesting enough setting. Plus, I love that Dr. Love Interest (no clue what Levi's character is named...Benjamin maybe?) had zero interest in Midge's looks when they were just her looks. I like that he's written to be intrigued by substance. Also, way to make me feel sympathy for Joel, who did get himself into this mess entirely of his own accord, but that scene where Joel and Ben are watching the fireworks (*groan for the plot anvil and on the nose symbolism*). The actor who plays Joel is a really nice looking guy in his own right, not my type, but jeez. This is likely a weird observation, but I adore Astrid. The actor makes her so sweet and well-intentioned, even as she stinks to the sky of fertility goo and completely cops to having a not-so-fresh odor emanating from beneath her voluminous skirts and I love Midge's brother, who is always incredibly kind about his wife's insecurities. I think that's a valuable story to include though. Astrid's terror that she'll be left because she's likely infertile is played for laughs here but it was such a real thing for women. Plus, she has the lead-footed zeal of a convert in, again, such a darling way and it could have been awful. And I didn't have a problem with Abe getting the heck off the resort and catching a show at a nearby one. They'd taken the time to outline that Abe does things differently in the Catskills and he's also been expanding his horizons. He also wouldn't really have stood out that much as I'm pretty sure Hawaiian nights were going to be a mainstay of the time period. That was exotic and ethnic but still suitably xenophobic for the times. Anyway, they set it up so everyone in the audience knew he was going to be there and they still managed to deliver a nice surprise in the form of what happened. Rachel Brosnahan is really gifted. Amy Sherman-Paladino must have sacrificed many hats to a conjuring bonfire to find the person who isn't Lauren Graham but can still deliver ASP's dialogue. Even Sutton Foster didn't quite have the right banter vibe but then, Bunheads was just doomed from the start since they had five bucks and a pack of Bubbalicious for a budget. I know we're actually just watching the gender-swap for ASP's dad when it comes to some of this but it's Rachel Brosnahan who pulls it off for her.

I really enjoyed the episode. I'm pretty used to ASP's writing style and her lack of realism though, so the lack of believability doesn't bother me. In this instance, it's almost as if she is illustrating the memory of the Catskills vs. showing what the Catskills were. Super bright colors, the fashion choices, the obsequious staff there to attend to all needs. It came off like a person relating a memory, mundane details are missing. Money seems limitless, children needless, alcohol almost without consequences. It's fun for me. I can completely see how it would be grating but she makes escapism when it comes to life responsibilities unless working is a plot point. Speaking of that, I'm glad to see the expansion of characters from last season. ASP took the time to illustrate Abe and Rose's growth, we've also been given a window into what's going on with Joel. Who I'm actually starting to like even if the man was the architect and builder of his own house of misery. In Gilmore Girls the main character's ex would show up as an everything-ruiner. Chris, in that show, was so underdeveloped as a character, he came across as a plot device and Lorelai's attachment to him was mystifying in terms of his particulars. Enter Joel. I have to hand it to the actor, after being scarred by Chris, my blood pressure used to go up when he was onscreen, and now he's just becoming a character I care about as well. It's nice to see creative growth in a writer. Plus, oh my goodness, ASP is so happy with the Amazon production money! Look at the blast she's having with it! Her background as a dancer makes her favor choreographing the background like it's a dance in those scenes with a great many people. I loved the unpacking scene. I also didn't freak out at the baby being relegated to the luggage. The windows were open, ASP has clearly decided to go big or go home on conveying that this was a different time, people did not focus on their children to the exclusion of their own lives. She's taken it to an absurd degree here but I like that Midge is not maternal despite having two children and it's not in a venomous way. There's no malice or resentment in it, people had kids, it was what was expected of them and some were more focused than others. This is, again, to a cartoonish degree here but I like the central message. Nothing about Midge is really defined by her children. As to the income disparity on display here. Amy Sherman-Paladino is very liberal as is her husband Daniel who wrote this episode. The Weismann's are extremely privileged. I think Abe's job at the lab is also supposed to be very prestigious but it just wouldn't have been this lucrative. I just fanwank family money and move on. Also, I was semi-terrified of what the romper would look like but Shaloub pulled it off. I'm having a blast with his over-the-top performance as well as Kevin Pollack's antics. They are both playing it really broad and I like it. I think mostly because I just love the actors involved.

Well, good for Rahul. He's got the goods, he apparently had an amazing sense for flavors and self-esteem issues notwithstanding for a moment, he seems a remarkably kindhearted person. I'm glad he won and I end up sniffling when he did although I would have been just as happy with Ruby or Kim-Joy , I didn't have a clear favorite as I liked them all. The bakers that is, the challenges are becoming increasingly convoluted and strange for the sake of it. Here's the thing: if you try to hire a professional to do something they clearly can't do due to weather or equipment availability, they're going to say no. I've had bakers and caterers say no. Real pros aren't going to say, "Sure, I'll cook breakfast for 40 over a candle in a wind tunnel and I'll bake up some challah bread in an oven I constructed out of tin cans to go with it!" No one is really going to go out into the woods with a sack of flour, a slab of stone, a bunch of sticks, a can-do attitude to attempt freaking pita bread while camping. Also, naught for nothing, but hand-smooshed babganoush made by someone with zero access to a sink to wash her hands didn't make me say "Yummy!" either. They were good sports but what a ludicrous thing to insert into a baking show that is supposed to be about celebrating the expertise of amateurs in pursuing a passion. It's not about grinding said amateurs into a defeated paste while taunting them with their own inadequacies, then giving them an Easy Bake Oven and telling them to get busy with the fishes and loaves. I like Noel and Sandy, I also don't miss Mel and Sue in terms of tone, as people, sure they're lovely but so are Noel and Sandy. Prue continues to hit the wrong note for me, she leans into how much of a jackass Paul Hollywood is naturally, and together they're just the raincloud set to ruin any picnic. It's kind of a pity the show doesn't understand why it was an international success. It's because it was different in a good way. People helped one another, didn't dissolve into sobs and self-recrimination and in a weary fucking world, we all got to feel happy and sad in the right proportions. It was the most realistic of the reality shows. Decent-to-the-bone people making primarily sugary confections that remind everyone of the joy of indulging in something bad-for-you that is so delicious, it's worth it anyway. It's now sort of a commonplace cooking show where people do things under circumstances that pros would laugh their damned asses off if you tried to hire them to do the exact same thing because part of expertise is not merely being able to do things but also knowing ahead of time whether it can work. Too many challenges where the results were doomed by the weather, too little time or here by the innately unappetizing prospect of making contestants paw through every scrap of available food while broiling in the sun, over a fire and then present it to others to put in their mouths with a "Mind the ash! I think the fire likely killed the germs! Here's hoping!" It took me months to watch this entire season despite its availability on Netflix. I'm glad for Rahul but between the campfire ash, hand squished food (oh, barf) and then the weirdness of watching people try to make pastry look like rocks in great abundance...well, I guess a show that thought having people make gray food and didn't get that it might not be telegenic is either desperate for ideas or cares nothing about why the show was such a raging success in the states. I like the people, I love the older seasons, but it's becoming a commonplace reality show.

Jeez, show, way to lose the plot. People aren't watching this for Top Chef style smackdowns "not your best" was unnecessary as hell and it is not actually the first time Prue was unnecessarily snide to Briony. Yes, Prue, she knew. The whole world knew. Maybe Briony used the flippin' salt instead of sugar so that you'd have less of the substance to rub in her wounds. The tone of the criticism was just not warranted. It is not a test of someone's baking skill to give them inadequate time to prepare something, it's a test of their organizational skills which are key to baking professionally, but despite Paul's "It's the semi-finals! You have to bake like professional bakers!" Dude, no. This shows charm lies in watching people who are amateurs stretch themselves and achieve, not rubbing their noses in the gap between a professionally trained pastry chef and their own efforts. Fairly joyless affair that, and another week where tears were found in abundance. I think Paul just needs someone who is innately kind to balance out the fact that he is, quite simply, not. Briony was a lot of fun, she handled her own implosion with such good nature and grace, then I felt like heaving a vat of icing at Prue for her unnecessarily shaming remarks. I also agree that watching Rahoul can be sort of stressful. He's like a bunch of negative emotion emojis brought to life in a lot of instances. Dude, I'm sorry the world feels like that to you, sincerely. Find a therapist. The baking occupational therapy has helped the man discover a deep well of talent, but his emotional interior seems a wreck. I feel for him but he makes my blood pressure rise because he looks so uncomfortable, he almost seems to be in physical pain. Nice dude, talented man, but I brace myself for whatever raw nerve energy is going to be coming off of him whenever the camera cuts to him. Ruby is awesome, Kim-Joy had her existential dilemma and talked herself 'round it admirably. I miss when this show was a refuge of kindness though. Paul and Prue are far too prone to being jerks and they seem to feed off of each other.

Yikes. Welp, here's hoping Rahul never takes up poker playing. He'd be flat broke in the first half-hour...or he'd clean up because he'd have the same expression with a winning hand as he does a losing one. I take it back, he'd be a brilliant bluffer. Poor Manon, but it made sense, she had a really bad week. I liked her a lot, she looks so much like my son's girlfriend, I pretty much had to cheer her on. I'll miss her. I don't know, this season doesn't really have the right balance of personalities for me. Or maybe it's the challenges, which have seemed to be getting a tad desperate for variety (mobiles/chandelier made from cookies...baked selfies...) and then I feel like the editors play up moments of emotion. Or maybe it is that it was really just not fun to watch people I like reduced to tears en masse. Either way, great group, I don't care who wins, they're all good bakers. I don't mind Kim-Joy's look. I assume she's going for a Raggedy Ann type of vibe or as I saw someone put it for someone else Eccentric Toddler Grandma, where you put outfits together like a toddler would with lots of color, not really with an eye towards matching patterns or anything. It wouldn't be my personal choice but I can see why she made it. She's got real talent, I like her things even if many of them are works that would be purchased for the birthday party of a fairly sophisticated eleven-year-old, I really dig that for baked goods so it works for me. I don't know, this was sort of a bummer of an episode. Everyone cried, a really nice, talented and gracious person was eliminated, there wasn't a lot to love. Plus, the judging felt unnecessarily mean to me. That's what I've always liked about the show in the past, that it wasn't unnecessarily unkind in criticism, but I just found Paul to be kind of an ass in this one without anything to counterbalance him. The bakers are still lovely, but the judging has taken a turn for the snide too often here, for me.

Midge hasn't been able to pluck up the courage to tell her parents what she does. When we met her she was going to bed in full makeup, waiting for Joel to fall asleep, rising, washing it off...etc. She was pretty interested in projecting the perfect image. When Joel left her she referenced having done everything right. We know she went from her parents' house to college, back home to her parents' house, to two floors above them. She's witty, but prior to this, we've been led to believe and shown that she was conforming to a lot of societal standards, trying to be perfect. Trying to project the perfect image. She seemed to pretty rigidly conform to a lot of things, but that's not the same thing as being spiritless, it makes sense that she'd study something interesting. Russian anything doesn't, to me, because it really wouldn't fit with the history. Plus, honestly, it would be more likely to get a mention when Midge's arrest came up during Abe's background check. It may have and I just missed it as a detail. Anyway, it caught my ear solely because I thought it was odd with the other details about Rose and Abe, Rose, in particular, seemed to care what other people think or did. The characterization seems to be branching out, so maybe that was deliberate.

Okay, that was just adorable. ASP is so giddy about her budget, she really went to town for the Paris scenes. It was a little paint-by-numbers of Parisian scenes but it was meant to be so and I thought worked because of that. Also, I really enjoyed the scene in the apartment as Abe realizes that Rose isn't just play-acting, living some role-playing fantasy. I thought it was a good setup for a storyline in which their relationship grows. It looks like ASP is planning on developing all the characters this season and I appreciate that. Weirdest detail caught my eye: how clean the Gaslight was in closing scenes with the lights reflecting off the clean floor. It must have been the mood I was in, but I loved that. I love that there's always something just a tiny bit surreal about ASP's eye. That note of artifice but in a way that's pleasing. Knock me over with a feather but I finally enjoyed scenes with Joel, I think because we finally left his awfully-close-to-whining discontent behind for a bit. I did like that when he chooses an apartment for Midge, it's practically a dollhouse with pink carpeting to boot. That was very fitting staging for this person, trying to do what he thinks is the right thing, but in doing so trying to make Midge's choices for her and again, almost placing her in the Barbie Manhatten Dream Apartment, expecting her not to work and the whole shebang. I think that's the first time I really appreciated the actor playing Joel because whereas it's infantilizing Midge, he managed to imbue that whole scene with his primary intent being to make amends...while illustrating why he's not really a good partner for someone trying to find their own full identity, at least at this time. I liked the echo of Abe doing the exact same thing only in reverse: facilitating growth rather than trying to determine it.

I'm sure. However, it seems an unlikely choice for someone so obsessed with conforming to acceptable standards that she measured every inch of her body, constantly, to make sure she was within rather punishing standards. It's not that people wouldn't have studied Russian literature, history, etc. it's that it was a choice that came with a type of scrutiny it's hard to believe Midge would invite or rather, that her parents would allow her. That said, it's fine, it works. Most of the Paris material is all rather ...cliched isn't the right word...it's almost like it's an homage to the stereotypes of roaming around Paris. The detail was included to explain how Midge wouldn't speak a word of French but it also doesn't quite fit with the girl who did absolutely everything right except for including shrimp in the egg rolls. It's not a big deal, it's just an example of the type of writing ASP likes. She likes a fair amount of hyperbolic flourish to go along with her extraordinary characters, many of whom seem to just be embodying different incarnations of Amy Sherman-Palladino's own personality. I remember listening to a podcast in which her casting directors were talking about working for her -- it was all positive, by the way, it wasn't unkind -- and describing the shirt Amy was wearing when she met her. It said, "I fucked your boyfriend last night". ASP incorporates fairly outlandish things into her characters that I think strike her as being completely natural because she is that person. Knowing that made it easier to kind of shrug and decide to go with it for Midge.

Plus, studying Russian anything at Bryn Mawr in the early fifties seems a little "let's all choose to hum and ignore that implausibility while we're at it too!" The latest she could have graduated for the timeline of the show is '55-56 and it's more likely '54. Midge is supposed to be audacious but prior to taking the stage, she was also dutiful about fulfilling parental expectations to a very closely measured inch. I couldn't see Rose agreeing to quite that much "let's draw the attention of the FBI, shall we?" level of following her safely-rebellious bliss, but maybe I'm selling her short? What would the Rabbi say? Rose, upon being woken in the middle of the night, "What, what is it? What are you wearing? It's not slimming!" all within the same breath doesn't really seem like the type to invite "Is she a socialist?? questions. But that's actually a writing foible of ASP's -- apologies, I assumed the acronym would have caught on here, it's handy, but yes, the showrunner Amy Sherman-Paladino, she of many hats -- has always been a bit of hyperbole even within the narrative that the world of the story pretends is unremarkable but is as actually so extraordinary as to be outlandish. ASP makes outlandish work in a really charming way. It's a foible that this show is making work well for her. It would be so fitting for Midge that it's best to just breeze past the likelihood.

Both of my parents speak/spoke French fluently. It was part of the reason I opted for Spanish, personally, but my brother isn't fluent either. My mother, in particular, is prone to saying things in French for no discernible reason. In her defense, she's in France fairly often, as she's Scottish and still lives in Scotland part of the year, so she goes to France often. But I did think it a little odd that Midge didn't speak a word of French solely because she had to have studied some other language and I'm thinking freaking German would be out for a variety of reasons, including the time period of the show. That was such a fun episode and such a visual treat. ASP is clearly over the damned moon to have such a substantial budget and seems to be having the time of her life with it. It made perfect sense that the story went to Paris, ASP loves the idea of Paris and may actually love Paris itself, for all I know. I just know she has a fondness for making creative use of Paris as a destination for characters, whether or not we go with them. Sadly, she also has a fondness for women being in love with the worst types of guys, forever and ever. It looks as if we're going to be in for yet another irritatingly tortured romance. I wish I liked Joel even a tiny bit, but I absolutely do not. I also don't like that living with another woman is something that Midge thought they'd just move past as a blip. ASP, she loves Paris and the thought of overly privileged, primarily weak-willed men with oddly fragile egos. Having just trashed Joel (I've nothing against the actor, he's doing a good job with what he's given) I was pleased that she apparently has a story in mind for him that won't simply be embodying the thing that holds Midge back from ever moving forward to other relationships. Besides, ASP added self-awareness to the characterization of Joel and made him far more likable just through that. I adore Tony Shaloub but I hope they give him something to do other than flap around the perimeter of scenes, explosively declaring things with just a shade too much emphasis. I think he's right to play the character broadly, in some ways, he's playing a bit of an archetype, but he's a good actor and capable of more shading and subtlety. Like the scene when he finds out Midge was arrested, nice, subtle work last season. I hope they give him some room to grow but both Joel and Shaloub's character had a good, nicely earned backseat position to the very dynamic women in their lives and when he was telling Rose that the chair is broken, I just loved how absolutely horrified he was. He put a fair amount of emotional elasticity into that frustrated, aghast, concerned, loving, confused line read. I'm rationing these episodes rather than binging them. Good lord, it's nice to see something fully diverting, that also gives us a kinder view into the past than something like Mad Men, that gave such a cynical rendering of the time periods it touched, I was amazed that the generations before us hadn't perished from despair death in greater numbers (references to Plath notwithstanding). I understand that the truth was probably uglier than Mrs. Maizel but less unrelentingly grim than Mad Men. I'm up for the primarily diverting at present, so this fills that category nicely.