Almost all of Mack’s nicknames seem deliberately infantilizing. He calls Flint “Pebbles” and Daisy “Tremors,” both allusions to their powers that severely undersell what they’re capable of. Even “Yo-Yo” is a child’s toy, and this is what he’s hung on a woman he’s fallen in love with? I think Mack has some hang-ups…

30 inches of thigh-slappin’, blood-pumpin’, nuclear brain damage!

I was delighted to discover, when I went on a shopping trip to stock my (brand-new! first-time-owner of a!) mini-fridge that they have started to sell snack packs of applesauce with added flavors — I’ve tried strawberry and pear, and while both are still quite clearly applesauce, they were a nice change of pace from…

I really wish they hadn’t turned him into such a douchebag. It’s fine that he’s a bit weaselly, but they could have left him a little of his early edge instead of devolving him into a parody of a Silicon Valley wunderkind. At this point he’s like a puppy dog wearing big sunglasses so people will think he’s important,…

Regarding the slow, meandering pace of early seasons, I think once the writing team started splitting seasons into multiple arcs of 6-10 episodes each, the pacing improved dramatically. Several other superhero shows at the same time (Gotham being the most prominent example I can think of) found success with that…

I’ve been doing my own rewatch and I agree completely. Top-of-Season-1 Ward was accused of being bland; he’s not. The Whedon is strong in his dialogue; he’s clever, witty, and self-aware. The “case of the week” world-building that they do is effective — and, sure, a couple of tossed-off references to “The Incident”…

This was a fantastic episode, and in retrospect might explain why last week’s was so over-the-top silly: it’s a good idea to let the audience breathe bef0re you start in with the heavy stuff.

As somebody who’s worked in that business for the last 20 years, many cable companies (especially the smaller ones that compete with Comcast and Time-Warner) are looking forward to being out of the TV business and just selling you broadband and letting you stream whatever video service you want. Video is no longer a…

A literal lost plot thread!

A Few Good Men is another prominent example, Jessup’s #2 puts on his dress uniform before killing himself.

I guess I’ve found the person who needs this new book! https://slate.com/culture/2020/07/smells-history-book-review-france-plague-farts.html

I’m doing a re-watch of S5 right now on Netflix, and in Deke’s first appearance he’s a pretty rough customer. He holds his own in a fight with May — admittedly, a critically injured May, but still — and is clever and paranoid, well-adapted to his dystopian environment. Since that first episode he has been gradually…

I giggled at how Mack’s beard got longer and scruffier but he continued to shave his head regularly. The idea behind growing out the beard when you’re depressed is that you aren’t seeing anyone so you don’t want to bother with chores like trimming and shaving.

I am a heretic who likes chopped nuts in his brownies, not chocolate chips. Any recommendations, beyond “repent and quit my sight, foul fiend?”

I was sure they were going to find out the guy Victor talked to was a crank and the wonder drug was just an LSD or psilocybin and meth cocktail; there definitely seemed to be at least a mild hallucinogenic state involved. I’m not a huge fan of stimulants but I haven’t found them to cause one to dissociate/ponder the…

Everybody is OK with leaving Enoch behind because his best friend Fitz isn’t around to stick up for him. Even the fellow robot won’t let him sit at the cool kids’ table.

Spending their money on costumes, makeup and sets is an interesting change after a couple years of heavy CGI, but man does it pay dividends like Daisy’s various outfits so far. After six years of mostly black leather and contusion-smeared mascara, Chloe Bennet really seems to be enjoying her opportunity to glam it up.

T…

I liked his line last week where Pat was upset about Mike’s language and he not-very-apologetically offered up the Pat-approved “golly gee” on his way out the door. And feeding the dog Chee-tos for dinner this week got us the shot of the dog with the orange face, which, any time is the right time for adorable dog face.

I felt that, stacked on top of the scene where Cameron (the boy Courtney likes) is shown to be connected to Icicle/the IJA as well, that business meeting scene primarily existed to show that Icicle is already in a position to threaten everyone important to Courtney (an already-rare scene with Barbara, and it wasn’t…

My vibe on it was “1950s nostalgia with modern tech, so we split the difference and get vaguely 1980s, so make it look like Stranger Things which is hot right now.”