Aww, I didn't hate Big Mike so much. Gokey, on the other hand…..I still have nightmares about his "Dream On" performance. His scream haunts me to this day….

I don't see the personality you see in Phillip. He seems so "blah" to me. I sometimes get the feeling he doesn't really want to be in this competition, he just wants a record deal and knows this show got him discovered and now he just wants it to be over already.

I'm totally with you, Claire. I just don't see why everyone loves Phillip. All I hear is moaning, growling, and strained sort-of-notes. The faces he makes while singing are just bizarre. And that weird head-bobbing thing he does where his neck disappears in his shoulders then pop out again like a freakin' owl….that…

At the same time, 95% (if not 100%) of Scotty McCreery's performances last year were all pretty much the same thing. Look where he is now.

I agree! This sort of elimination route is the only way this show could win back any credibility. If you're not the "cute white male with an instrument" you have no chance of winning. Ever.

I mean, you have to cut her some slack. A lot of "sing for your life" performances sound shitty because the contestants are trembling and shocked and are basically told "this could be the performance that makes or breaks your entire career—GO!"

I actually do think they would have used it on Elise. They love her voice. A lot. And they put a lot of effort in their comments to her to try to get America to like her too. They spend a lot of effort trying to get her out of the bottom 3 almost every week.

To me, Hollie is someone who I'll always wonder how good she would have been if she had waited 2 or 3 more years to audition.

Well said!

What is another example of gay/lesbian villain duos on TV? You guys keep saying it's such an offensive trope, but I can't think of anything else. And regardless of how many examples you come up with, I don't think you'll come up with enough for it to be considered such a widespread prejudiced trope of television.…

By the way, I loved this episode!

Ok, here's the thing. I LOVE Community. But I also love Big Bang Theory. And it really irritates me when the Community fandom comes onto these threads purely to troll and comment obnoxiously. Newsflash: you are NOT helping out the show Community by being an asshole. You're just making yourself an asshole, plain and…

I just can't see what people see in Phillilp. His constant growling while he sings, as well as the ridiculous expressions he makes with his face while he sings, is just so off-putting that it gives me a headache.

"And, really, after going through all that trouble, are you telling me that a well-seasoned convict like Tommy Madsen wouldn’t have thought to look in Ghost’s pants cuff for the key?"

So I just zipped through the entire first season in 1 day. Because I'd seen the pilot back when it started last year, but being that I'm in college I just didn't have time to continue on. Personally, I'm glad I watched it. Here's why.

Jessica can do no wrong, in my eyes. <3

I don't think it's really fair to knock the whole Conspiracy thing just yet. It's only episode 2. Let's see where this goes before we start on how bad it is.

Can we all agree for a second that Debra Messing's son in the show is the WORST actor?! Every scene with him involved makes me cringe. Can't they just TRADE him for another baby instead of going through the adoption process?! Oh, wishful thinking….

This was one of the few episodes I felt really engaged with start to finish. In other episodes, storylines got dull and there were highs and lows for me. This episode's heart-wrenching, doomed from the start love story kept me going all the way through.

I thought the entire sequence of scenes at the bar was FANTASTIC! And finally getting some raw, real emotion out of these characters on the beach was refreshing and wonderfully done. This was my favorite episode yet.