I feel seen

“Gerard Butler looks like his own videogame avatar” is the top note here.

And I always thought that was an interesting element too, that the authorities just keep giving the Martians the benefit of the doubt and hoping for a rational solution.

Quick quibble. The Martians don’t initally attack “in response to a cultural misunderstanding.” They’re complete bastards from the start, and get their kicks from screwing with us.

When did La Sirena get a magic mind-reading Universal Remote? I swear I didn’t sleep through last week’s ep.

Re: that cocktail dress. I love that it’s a subtle story point, in that the doppelganger aliens don’t understand clothes very well. (Check out that scarf on not-Carlson.)

Rosa’s “HAH” has been a highlight of this season in general.

Fun experiment if, for some reason, you’re stuck at home with nothing to do: Watch E.T. back-to-back with REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Check out all the themes and visual strategies they have in common.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an amazing film. But I’ve re-watched STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN many many more times.

Rosa laughing into her coffee mug at “You know another Zeff?” was the big one for me.

I was 200% expecting that twist.

I love EXPLORERS and hate GOONIES but neither is better-made than E.T. More re-watchable, maybe, but only because they don’t require the same level of emotional engagement.

E.T. isn’t really built for re-watch. Not because the seams start to show, but because it’s emotionally exhausting. It isn’t the kind of film you can just run in the background while folding laundry.

As they say, “homage” is French for “ripoff.”

Odd that we jump from side-scrollers to present day without mentioning the obvious ALIENS influence on seminal first-person shooters. DOOM, obviously, but anyone else here remember MARATHON?

“I got a Community notification for this?”

I’m entirely prepared to be the only (edit- second!) person here old enough to recognize the “floating corpse facility” as a lift from Michael Crichton’s COMA (1978).

Anyone else feel that this ep absolutely squandered the potential dramatic impact of Seven reviving the Cube? The cross-cutting of storylines this week seemed particularly unmotivated.

“I don’t wash the towel. The towel washes me!”

I guess it was too much to hope for that SWEET LIBERTY would make the cut here.