Oh wow, y'all. Oh wow. Where do I even begin? I truly feel like this is the first This is Us episode in like 2 seasons where I truly was at the edge of my seat and the cliffhanger blew my mind. Remember when we found out that Rebecca was married to Miguel at the end of the second episode of the series? This felt like that. I CAN'T REALLY SAY MORE WITHOUT MAKING A VERY BIG, VERY BOLD SPOILER ALERT FOR "SO LONG MARIANNE". IF YOU CONTINUE READING THIS AND THEN YOU'RE MAD THAT YOU GOT SPOILED I WILL NOT FEEL BAD FOR YOU. K, THANKS. It's Thanksgiving and you know what that means! Randall is hosting! Well, Beth is hosting and Randall is going on a wild goose chase to Jersey for their Thanksgiving decor (i.e. The Pilgrim Rick hat) with Annie and a very anxious Uncle Nicky at his side. Nicky feels uncomfortable in the Pearson home, especially given that Jack killed him off in his life's story. I cannot stress this enough, I LOVE Uncle Nicky. One of my favorite Uncle Nicky moments this episode is when he tries to convince Kevin to let him go with Randall, saying, "It gives me some time to get to know Russell." Only to be corrected by Randall himself, "Randall." Nicky then proves his own point, "See?". As for my other favorite Uncle Nicky moments, well, they come in the form of some flashbacks that we'll get to later. Toby and Kate take baby Jack on a plane to Philly where Kate decides to come clean and tell her husband that their son actually tried avocado for the first time with their neighbor Gregory. Toby is mad, but quickly gets over it, and I've now realized he has no place to be mad. He lied to Kate for MONTHS about going to the gym, getting jacked, and joining Crossfit, but she lets him believe for 24 hours that his first time eating solid food was with his dad and she's the bad guy? I don't love it. And you know things must be bad if I'm taking Kate's side. ALSO on Thanksgiving when Toby asks Kate to take a photo with his phone, she finds a message from someone named "LadyKryptonite" that says something along the lines of "Don't let her get you down." First of all, who puts someone in their phone as LadyKryptonite (No spaces either) and second of all, EXCUSE ME? Toby Damon, go home, you're drunk on Crossfit. In the flashybacks a much younger and pre-Vietnam Nicky and Jack decide to skip their family Thanksgiving because their parents are fighting. They spend some time together, listen to Leonard Cohen, and order five pounds of shrimp. The back and forth between Randall explaining what "So Long, Marianne" is about to old Nicky as young Nicky explains what it means to young Jack is truly heartbreaking. Nicky feels erased, but he also feels his brother's love, all in one breath. I cried, obviously. Nicky brings the 5 pounds of shrimp out again at 2019's Thanksgiving dinner. He says, "It's for Jack. My brother." And then I exploded into a puddle of tears, you know, as one does. Also on the guest list is Shauna, Deja's birth mama, and she's doing fantastic, which should cheer everyone up, but in reality bums them out. Beth is scared that Deja will long for her mom, and Deja breaks down and asks Beth why Shauna couldn't be like that for her. It's hard to watch. Rebecca is still pissed at Randall for recommending that she see a doctor for her memory issues, and when he tries to apologize she shuts him down. She insists on going to a movie alone, and I'm irritated by Miguel's silence in all of this. He just stays out of it, which is weird. I feel like as her husband he should tell Randall and the other kids what is going on with their mother's health. We watch as Becca goes searching for a bakery to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. She mistakes a young black man for a young William, and then loses her phone at the grocery store checkout where she buys flowers instead of cake. Then she goes and gets Chinese food (it's Thanksgiving, sis) alone and finally realizes that she doesn't have her phone which sends her spiraling. Honestly, the whole thing is very difficult to watch and I give props to Mandy Moore for her performance. I wrote in my notes for this episode that the new live action Cats movie looks terrifying. They must've show a commercial for it. I stand by that statement. adorablenessYou guys! Kevin has a really good episode (well, almost)! He is Uncle of the Year by taking Tess out and supportively urging her to come out to her friends at school. He is just so real and honest and grown-up with her and I love it. He also comes to the conclusion that in 9 months time (The Big 3's 40th birthday), he wants to be settled down. He wants to be married, or engaged and he wants a baby. Randall is like "Okay my dude please slow down" but Kevin is like "Nah, enough of this waiting bullshit" (This is exactly how their conversation goes, don't try to argue with me). So guess what? We see into the future, many parts of it actually. Grown-up Jack Damon and his wife make an appearance on a Thanksgiving probably 20+ years from now, where Lucy is pregnant with their child and stressed about hosting. Jack tells her not to worry, eat some shrimp adding, "There's five pounds." MY HEART. (If you don't understand what any of this means: remember the flashback from earlier? The adoreableness?) Do you also remember earlier when Rebecca's dumbass went and got Chinese food on Thanksgiving? Well, turns out she didn't. She actually wandered off on August 31st, 2020, 9 months into the future. On Thanksgiving she really did go to the movie, but by the time she got the previews she forgot what she had come to see. She reluctantly asks Randall to help her navigate whatever illness is plaguing her. But in the flash forward, she's doing much worse. That's where she got lost on her way to the grocery store, left her phone there, and had an afternoon lunch for one. After her meltdown in the restaurant, the police escort her home...to Kevin's home. Yes, Kevin's home where he is celebrating his 40th birthday with his sister Kate and his pregnant fiancée (this mystery woman is offscreen, suffering bouts of morning sickness). Miguel is also there, but I don't care because clearly he is no help with this Rebecca thing. Kate signs the legal documents as "Kate Pearson" which raises several red flags like; Where is Toby? Where is baby Jack? Why didn't she sign it Kate Damon? Do we care? And finally, when Becca asks Kevin where Randall is, he painfully reminds her, "We aren't speaking." FOR WHY, Kevin? FOR WHY? Aaaaaand that's a wrap on the first half of Season Four. What do we think so far? Got any wild predictions? Who is Kevin knocking up and marrying (if it's Sophie, we RIOT)? Why aren't he and Randall speaking? Surely, it's got something to do with Rebecca's health. And are we on the road to a KaToby divorce? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading and happy holidays! XO, Em This Is Us returns Tuesday, January 14th at 9PM on NBC.
0 Comments
I originally wanted to title this recap "Uuuuuuugggghhhh". Mostly because the list of things to talk about on my notes app for this episode is so long, and also because this show can at times be emotionally draining. That sounds like a bad thing, but it isn't always. It's just a lot to take in, especially last night's episode. SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED SEASON TWO, EPISODE EIGHT "GOODNIGHT" OF A MILLION LITTLE THINGS DO NOT READ ON. LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS ARE AHEAD. I'm going to be very straightforward about the loss depicted in this episode's preview; it's Rome's mom, Renee. She and Rome's father are about to leave for their Alaskan cruise when Renee suffers an aneurysm at the hair salon. For some reason the first person they call is Regina, who then has to break the news to her husband How I Met Your Mother-style. It's heartbreaking and really awful to watch but still doesn't quite hit the emotionality of Lily telling Marshall that his best friend, his father, has passed away. The bright side of this episode being focused on Rome's family is that we see the return of his brother Omar, played by the magnificent Jay Pharaoh. I cannot stress enough how much I love Jay Pharaoh. He's a comedic actor, but he plays this part so well, splitting between being the funny man and grieving son. Rome kicks it into high gear and immediately plans his mother's funeral because his father is dead set on going on the Alaskan cruise as a promise to his late wife. Rome and his father tend to butt heads, but he wants to try to make amends for his mom's sake. I feel as though Walter, Rome's dad, is too calm too quickly about his wife of 50 years dying so suddenly, but alas it is a TV show. PJ comes to the funeral because of course he does, and there's a really special scene where all the men bury Renee together. It made me realize that all the dudes on this show are ridiculously hot, and also that PJ literally never goes away. At Rome and Gina's house later, PJ goes to get a woman's coat for her and finds the DNA test under Rome's bed. He sees the results and ends up running away from home. Maggie and Gary are finally back to normal, but not for long because apparently she applied for a fellowship at Oxford (Britain, not Massachusetts). She was in the process of getting it when she got sick, but reapplied when she learned she was cancer free. Gary is very obviously conflicted because the fellowship is a year long ("That's longer than we've known each other,") but he's still trying to be supportive. I don't want Maggie to move away I'd rather these two lovebirds just play sock basketball in bed for the rest of time. Apparently Gary also got fired for taking so much time off in the last year (between his best friend dying and his girlfriend fighting cancer, this makes a lot of sense). Because nobody tells each other shit, Gina finds out by seeing his work stuff in the back of his car and urges him to tell Maggie, but of course, he doesn't. Instead he decorates her desk at the apartment in English flags and buys her a very posh black wig. He's the best man, but I'm afraid that he's setting himself up for heartbreak. My favorite moment with Gary and Maggie this episode is when they are talking to Jay Pharaoh ("They just have so much chemistry as brothers.") about Property Brothers. Gary has absolutely no idea what they're referencing ("It's a show, you gotta watch it.") and I would like to rewatch that scene over and over again. Ultimately, it convinces Gary to be supportive of Maggie's dreams and express his want for them to grow together. ABC, please be kind to these two, I love them so much. I cannot express how much I hate Delilah Dixon. It's ridiculous really, how much I hate her. She wants to take the kids to France for the Summer and that includes Eddie's baby, Charlie. When Eddie confronts her this, she freaks out and when he asks who is listed as the father on Charlie's birth certificate, she admits that it's Jon. Eddie politely asks that she change it, but she refuses ("You know I can't do that."). It's funny because just a little while ago Katherine literally helped Delilah stay in her fucking house and now Delilah repays her by being a complete and utter bitch. Katherine confronts her and says that she's a good lawyer and will do everything in her power to advocate for her husband ("My husband? Yes, I've been talking to him."). Delilah fights back and says that she knows Katherine is a good lawyer, but she's asking her to be a good person. Bitch what? You yourself are not a good person and you have the nerve to ask that of others? Nope. Delilah gives Gina a hard time too, telling her that she feels ganged up on. Gina says that sometimes being a best friend doesn't always mean telling your best friend what they want to hear. Clearly, Delilah doesn't understand that. At the end of the episode she gets a rude awakening though when she learns that PJ is not only Barbara Morgan's son (something she didn't know previously I guess), but also Jon's son (allegedly, if that Harvard sweatshirt was really his). Delilah is like "Why didn't you tell me?!" (about the Barbara thing, then she finds out about the Jon thing) and I'm like, bitch you're really one to talk, huh? I almost want her to run off to France so I can stop dealing with her. The thing I'm most happy about with regards to the ending is that Walter and Rome finally start to make peace with one another. They watch old home movies and Rome realizes things his dad did for him that he didn't know before. It's very emotional and powerful to watch and I hope their relationship continues to grow. Next week really looks like a lot is happening, so make sure to stay tuned. Also, the creator of the show himself as tweeted that while he is super proud of next week's Fall finale, you should make sure you're in the right headspace while watching it. I'm taking that as a trigger warning, so make sure you're taking care of yourself, friends. Let's discuss this week's madness. What's bothering you? What did you like? Did you expect the death to be Rome's mom? How do we feel about Maggie possibly heading to the UK? Is Delilah the worst character EVER? Where did PJ go? Is it just me or has James Roday gotten really, really hot? Tell me in the comments. XO, Em Sorry. It's both a powerful word and a word with no meaning at all. It depends on the context and the emotion behind it, I suppose. I don't really believe anyone who said "sorry" on last night's This is Us. The word is thrown around so much there doesn't seem to be much truth behind the 'I'm' that comes before it. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SEASON FOUR, EPISODE EIGHT "SORRY" OF THIS IS US I STRONGLY SUGGEST BOOKMARKING THIS POST AND SAVING IT FOR LATER OR ELSE YOU'LL BE...SORRY. PLEASE APPLAUD ME THAT WAS A GOOD ONE. Well, we're one week away from the Fall finale of This is Us and you know what that means? Draaaaaama. No seriously, all the drama is about to come pouring in and I don't know how invested I am in it? I guess we're saying farewell to Jennifer Morrison's character? I guess Randall and Rebecca are fighting now? I KNOW for a fact that Kate and Toby's marriage is going downhill. All the drama is just kinda sad. I want something happy! But I guess you can't always get what you want and that's the truth in this episode. After sleeping with Cassidy a few weeks ago, Kevin realizes he fucked up a pretty solid friendship and Uncle Nicky yells at him so bad he starts imagining that the words are coming from Jack Pearson himself. So what does Kevin do? He goes to the fucking bar. He doesn't drink, but he wants to. Then he gets punched in the face (he totally deserved it). Cass and Nicky come to his rescue, but it's all so manufactured and done before. We've seen this Kevin a million times. Will he ever change? My favorite Kevin is a changed one, and for most of this season we've had it. But he totally blows it every single time. After thinking about it some more, I've decided I'm not happy that Kevin and Cassidy slept together. It ruined their dynamic. I wish they had fallen in love before the sex. I wish it was a slow burn. Instead now it just looks she's another name on Kevin's list. Especially now that she's headed home. Which brings me to Nicky's trial. He doesn't get jail time for throwing that chair through the window. He's just on probation (I think). Afterward, Cassidy, Kevin, and Nicky have a long talk about how Cassidy should try to make amends with her jackass husband for some reason, and so she does. She walks into the restaurant they always go to on Wednesday nights after Matty's swimming lessons and sits down with her family. Kevin and Nicky watch from afar, rooting her on. She hopes that Kevin gets his happy ending. So what exactly was the point of Jennifer Morrison's character on this show? She had like a four episode arc that just led to her getting back with a man who was not kind to her and wanted her to be the old version of herself. I loved her friendships with Kevin and Nicky, but it was so short lived. Is she coming back? What is happening? I'm so confused. Anyway, Kate and Toby are definitely gonna get divorced. They don't communicate well, and Toby is missing all of baby Jack's firsts. Gregory the neighbor who had a stroke but is now Kate's walking buddy is there when baby Jack eats food (avocado!) for the very first time, but Kate allows Toby to think the first time is later that same day. It made me feel icky. That's that entire plot line there. Moving on to my precious babies Deja and Malik. They're having a ~supervised~ date while Beth is in the kitchen but oh no! The kids are fighting! Beth gets Malik to spill what exactly they're fighting about and it turns out it's a pretty mature argument. Deja wants to see her birth mom but doesn't want to bring it up to Beth and Randall, since they kinda swept it under the rug last time. Malik wants her to say something, Deja doesn't want to. Beth confronts Deja and says that they will most certainly make time for her to see her mother. Deja asks if she can invite her to Thanksgiving. Beth says yes with a kind of strained smile. She lets the teens have 30 seconds of unsupervised time to kiss, and it's sweet. I love Beth. I love Deja. I love Malik. Now for the juicy stuff. Rebecca comes to town and wants Randall to show her his office since he's a congress-erhm-councilman. She's super odd this episode. She has a new phone and wants to take pictures of literally everything. When she momentarily misplaces her phone, she acts like it's the end of the world. Becky, calm down. In flashbacks, Randall initiates the very first "R&R" time when he comes home to do laundry and offers to look over Bec's resume so that she can get a job to help with her finances. When her interview goes poorly, he goes in and advocates on her behalf. Randall is son of the year, any year. She gets the job, they laugh and bond and it's so good to see them like that. But in the present day, Rebecca isn't doing so well, and no amount of R&R time is going to fix that. Randall addresses his concerns about her health, but she immediately gets irrationally defensive over literally nothing. She tells him that she is still the parent and he is still the child (who hasn't heard that line before, am I right?). Randall counters, but restrains himself from saying, but still implying that he has been the parent in this relationship for the past 20 years. Rebecca says that he is being cruel and TBH I kinda agree with her, even if she's acting completely irrational. Here's what I think: I think Randall is the BEST son. I think he's done everything right. When Rebecca's world came crashing down, he stepped up. He didn't have to, but he's Jack Pearson's son and he did. Was it a healthy move? Not necessarily. That doesn't mean it was wrong. I do think maybe Bec should've set better boundaries and not relied so heavily on her son, but they had/have a good relationship and it thrived on mutual love and respect for one another. I don't think he became the parent, I think he just matured quicker than Kevin and Kate and did more for his mother. That's not to say she didn't do anything for him. I don't think Randall's argument here is unfair. He has done a lot of heavy lifting for the family since Jack died, and insinuating that he has been the parent for the past 20 years isn't complete bullshit, but it's still really hurtful, and there's other ways he could've said it. He shouldn't have done it right then and there, when Rebecca is obviously going through something. As I've written this, I've realize I've contradicted myself like 20 times, and rather than go through and make a clear argument, I'm gonna let it be. Life and family is messy. There's no good answer to this. It's so many things. I'm worried about Rebecca. I worried about her relationship with Randall. When he goes to say sorry she shuts the door in his face. I wish she had Jack. I wish they had all went to therapy (together) back in '98. I wish I wish I wish. What do you wish? What do you think? What's going on with Bec? Was she out of line? Was Randall out of line? Tell me in the comments. XO, Em Hey, y'all! It's time for possibly my favorite blog post of the week, the recap of A Million Little Things. I think it's my favorite because this show literally makes me either so happy or makes my skin crawl (which means it's good!). It makes for good writing about the show, that's for sure, because none of these characters (except Katherine) are likeable. Seriously, they are all such flawed, kinda awful people, but sometimes we all are, so I can't fault them too much. Except for Delilah. I'm faulting her HARD this week. Bitch has gotta GO. SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!! IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED A MILLION LITTLE THINGS, SEASON TWO EPISODE FOUR, "TEN YEARS" STOP READING THIS! BUT ALSO, DON'T STOP READING IT! BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT TO BE FUNNY AS HELL AND BY THE END YOU'LL HAVE FELT LIKE YOU WATCHED IT. It's everybody's least favorite child's 10th birthday (I'm looking at you, Theo). Katherine and Eddie are still talking about having sex in that damn walk-in closet and I'm like, "Y'all, the sex couldn't have been THAT good in that tiny little space but it's also Eddie so go off." Katherine makes a comment about having never been to Arizona and Theo (ugh) corrects her because she did go visit the Grand Canyon for her last case. She's like, "Ahh yes, that big lie I'm telling you, almost forgot about it." This brings her to realize that all this lying is very, very bad for her relationship with Eddie and with Theo, and she wants to come clean to all the kids. Sounds reasonable. Maggie is practicing for her driver's test and I'm getting confused because wasn't she like 22 when Chad died? Did she not have her license then? Oh wait, she's from Chicago, right? Maybe she used public transit? Am I writing this show now? Who knows. Anywho, she goes to take her driver's test but has a panic attack (I get it) so she bails, but Sophie passes and is SO excited. Danny and Delilah surprise her with a car that Jon bought the year she was born (dude thought of EVERYTHING) and the extreme focus on this car has got me thinking that something is going to go terribly wrong. *cue mysterious music* PJ comes to Rome and Gina's anxiously awaiting his DNA test (spoiling it for you now: He just took a DNA test turns out he's 100% Jon's son! Or is he?). He also runs into Delilah and its awkward because Rome and Gina don't want her to know about PJ? I guess Jon fathering PJ wouldn't have been him cheating on Delilah but it would be another secret kept from her and everyone else. Delilah tells Gina (who is babysitting Charlie while Delilah does...something) that Katherine wants to tell the kids the truth about the baby's paternity. At first, Gina is on Delilah's side for some reason("D, you're the best mom I know!" Really Gina? Really?), but later while baking a cake with Katherine, she realizes that Katie is right. I don't know why this line hasn't been uttered on the show yet, but the kids are going to find out eventually! They just are! This cannot be a secret forever and Delilah claims she's protecting her kids but in reality she's protecting herself from being resented and she is only setting them up for more emotional damage in the future. While babysitting, Charlie spits up on her own outfit so Katherine changes her into something she saw at a store across from her work. It's moments like these when Katherine does the opposite of what anyone else would do in that situation that you realize she's the best character on this show. Gina tells Delilah that she is starting to agree with Katherine, and Eddie also tells Delilah that he is beginning to side with his wife. Delilah freaks the fuck out and wants nothing to do with any of them, grabbing her baby back and robbing her child of a meaningful relationship with her father. Delilah's main line of defense here is that she and Eddie decided that this was the best plan prior to Charlie's birth. Remember when she and Eddie also decided they were in love and were gonna run away together and leave all of their children behind but then Jon killed himself and fucked up their plans? Katherine intervenes and says that Delilah and Eddie's decisions didn't give her a say and that isn't fair because her child (Theo) is involved in this too. He doesn't know he has a sister. He doesn't know why his mom keeps leaving. He doesn't understand and never will unless he is told the truth. Delilah remains selfish and angry and storms off. All I can say here is congrats to Katherine just finally standing her ground and for also being a badass bitch. There's a line where a classmate of Theo's comes to the birthday party and the mom brings the kid's younger sibling and says she hopes that's okay. Katherine says, "Of course, siblings are always welcome," while looking Delilah directly in the eye. I was shouting YES from my couch. I give props to Eddie (beautiful, beautiful Eddie) for taking Katherine's side here. It's hard to believe like nine months ago he was such a dumb fuck. It's also hard to believe he would ever want to run away with Delilah's dumb ass. He shuts her the fuck down when she starts coming for Katherine and I appreciate it. PJ comes to the birthday party too as Sophie's plus one. Sophie and Eddie sing a song which makes Delilah raise the point of "Well, if Sophie knows what Eddie and I did her and Eddie's relationship will never be the same." Well bitch, that's kind of the point, isn't it? She's gonna be even more pissed if she finds it out ten years from now and that he was lying to her this entire time. Sophie totally has a thing for PJ who may or may not be (DNA test says yes) her half-brother. She takes him for a spin in her new car and when she tries to kiss him and he stops her, she drives hits a pole. Delilah comes to the rescue and makes a big show of how much her kids need her right now. No! They need you to be HONEST. Trust me they will respect you so much more in the long run if you just do the right thing! Maggie leaves Theo's party early to go do Gary a favor. Earlier in the episode Gary found Colin (Wesley's) old owner, a really sweet old lady who just lost her husband and decides to give her dog back. Maggie offers to do it with him, but Gary wants to do it alone. Maggie later (ubers?) herself to take her driver's test and passes (yay!) and tells Gary that she will be taking Colin back. They say their goodbyes, and it's really horribly sad and the tears won't stop coming. On the way there, Maggie decides she needs to make a pit stop and does but we don't see where she goes. Gary meets her at the lady's house and decides to do it for himself (these people are really back and forth with their decision making skills) and says a tearful goodbye to Colin/Wesley. When he gets back in the car, he sees Colin/Wesley again. He's like "wait what?". Turns out Maggie went to the animal shelter and adopted the lost dog from last week's episode that looked exactly like Colin/Wesley and gave THAT dog to the old lady, thus letting Gary keep Colin because the woman would never know the difference. Now, I don't know if I condone this because it's very, very wrong. HOWEVER, it's so savage and incredible and really just magnificent to watch. I love this side of Gary and Maggie. Not the malicious side of course, but the fun side where they do things (get their driver's license, switch out dogs) for one another. "You've done everything for me," Maggie tells Gary as she offers to do the big favor for him. It's true love. Finally, the cake Katherine made earlier turns out not to be for Theo, but for Eddie! He's celebrating ten years of sobriety, so congrats on that! The day Theo was born was one of the best and worst days of Katherine's life because Eddie wasn't there to see the birth of his son, but it was the day he decided to go to rehab and get sober. Things are definitely heating up between this two, and I'm happy about it but also sad that so much has come between them in their time together. So! What do we think? Is PJ REALLY Jon's son or did that DNA test go wrong? Are you Team Delilah or Team Katherine? Is there even a Team Delilah? Was the dog thing really morally wrong or perfect? Tell me in the comments! XO, Em Hey, y'all! How goes it? I'm just sitting here, writing this post as the snow falls down outside and honestly it's kind of relaxing. Last week's This is Us took a break from flashbacks (okay, there's still SOME flashbacks) and nostalgia and instead turned its focus onto two of its younger characters, Deja and Malik. The funny thing is, if you would've told me 3 years ago that this episode would be about Deja and Malik I would've said, "Who?" because Deja didn't come into the picture until Season 2, and Malik is new to the cast this season. It's so funny how much this show has expanded beyond just the Pearson family (I love it for expanding, sometimes the Pearsons drive me mad). Without further ado, here is your SPOILER ALERT WARNING for the Season Four episode, "The Dinner and the Date". So let's catch up on the Deja and Malik story, shall we? Deja is Randall and Beth's adopted daughter, she's a freshman in high school so let's say she's probably 14 going on 15. Then there's Malik. He's charming, he's adorable, he's a...teenage father. He's a junior, he's 16, and he has a six month old daughter named Janelle. He also is smitten with Deja, who is smitten right back. Randall and Beth found out about Malik and thought it was cute that Deja had a crush, but then they found out he puts babies in people and they were like "nope nope nope". However, everyone knows that telling your child, let alone hormonal TEENAGER that they can't do something only makes them want to do it more. Obviously Deja and Malik still like each other, so with a little coaxing Deja agrees to skip school with him for the day. Look, I'm not saying I condone this but...their parents won't let them hang out! And they're young! And she hasn't seen all the historical parts of Philly! It's not like they're skipping school to have sex, it's very wholesome. They have the absolute sweetest day and talk about really ~deep~ things. They get cheese steaks and ice cream and lay down in the grass in the park holding hands but then Deja gets scared, but then Malik runs after her and it's SO DRAMATIC. She's trying to remember the last time she was in Philly when she was young with her grandma and mama and he takes her to see these lights that complete the memory and then they KISS. AHHHH. Obviously Beth and Randall and Mr. and Mrs. Malik's parent find out about this day of skipping and are NOT HAPPY. But we'll talk about that later. For now, let's discuss the past, more specifically 1992, which we seem to be stuck in lately, huh? We're still rolling along with this Randall's teacher storyline, and I have no idea if I like it or not. Apparently Jack doesn't know his son is black and that he can't relate to him on certain levels. This kind of checks out for Jack because he always wants to be the best at everything, but I also feel like he's more well rounded and insightful enough to know better. Oh god, y'all. I just realized that Jack and Bec are boomers. Nope, this all DEFINITELY makes sense now. So they have Randall's teacher, Mr. Lawrence, and his wife over for dinner, and it's so awkward that I want to stop watching it immediately. Kevin is wildly inappropriate the entire time, and when Randall suggests going to this Black History Festival with his teacher and his wife, Jack is like "no Randall we will go as a FAMILY". Rebecca pulls him into the kitchen and is like, "Ew, you're being really gross" and he apologizes to Mr. Lawrence who tells him that the Pearson's need a little lesson in Black history. He then also tells Jack that he's the one that will get to meet Randall's children which is just so sad because it's not true. Back in the present day, Randall and Beth decide to invite Malik's parents over for dinner to discuss what they should do about these damn kids! Beth wears open toed shoes for an open mind (she's the best character, y'all) and Annie makes a ton of inappropriate but very valid comments throughout the night ("It's crazy that you have a baby" and "We never say grace"). Beth also sneaks away for some wine that she hides in the pantry when said dinner gets a little tense. Randall is the less open-minded one, but he ends up getting along with Malik's dad swimmingly! It's Malik's mom that we have to worry about. She thinks Deja is trouble to which I say...ma'am your son has a whole ass child. Beth is having none of it, Janelle the baby keeps crying during dinner making things chaotic, and the rising tension makes this dinner possibly more awkward than the one from 1992. There's a whole debate about how both sides are not seeing these children for who they really are. Malik is a great student and Deja is a great sister. Malik's family leaves and Beth and Randall go see a disappointed Deja in her room. She apologized to The Hodges for skipping school, but not for liking their son (awww) and B and R tell her she's grounded, but she can still see Malik. They want to know more about this sweet father and straight-A student. I love them. So that's the episode! Do we ship Deja and Malik? Are we onboard or do we want a more organic love story (I haven't decided, truthfully)? What do we think of Kelly and Darnell, Malik's parents? Why is Jack so bad at regonizing that his son is black? What's gonna happen next? Tell me in the comments! XO, Em So clearly I've been struggling to keep up with all of my shows because of midterms and a trip across the country, but I'm happy to report that I am back and ready to blog again in a timely fashion! Instead of writing three separate posts for the episodes of Riverdale I missed, I figured I'd just put all of my thoughts into one messy blog post that is literally just going to be filled with questions because I truthfully have zero idea what is going on. THIS IS A SPOILER ALERT, BUT HONESTLY IT'S ALSO NOT BECAUSE EVEN IF YOU DO WATCH THE SHOW NONE OF THIS WILL PROBABLY MAKE SENSE TO YOU AND FOR THAT I AM SO SORRY. Okay so here goes it: 1) Why is Archie's storyline always so disconnected from the other members of the group? Like oh Betty, V, and Jug are all fighting off cult leaders, felon parents, and gargoyles but Archie is going to open a gym! For kids! But oh wait, oh no, he also is boxing! Lots of boxing! And there's crime! So much of it. Why is he never with his friends*? Isn't he the main character? *He does manage to make time for sex with Veronica though in between the saving the kids and owning a business and punching things. 2) So Betty definitely needs to change her phone number because she's always getting this creepy ass calls. Why does she even answer the phone anymore? In one episode Edgar (RIP) is harassing her, in the next "Polly" is. And then Charles is listening in on her phone calls too! Like honestly girl just make people text you instead. 3) Why do we trust Charles? How do we know he really works for the FBI? Can we please get some more backstory on this man like HOW THE HELL DID ALICE FIND HIM after thinking Chic killed the real Charles back in Season 2? Like are we just gonna overlook all this? 4) Speaking of Charles, why did he make Betty diffuse the bomb on her (their) sister? Like a 17 year old girl is gonna know how to do that but your FBI agent ass isn't. FAKE NEWS. 5) Why do these writers INSIST on having Veronica say "daddy" every other line? It makes me so incredibly uncomfortable. Please stop. Also, her parents are absolute TRASH. Also, I don't think Hermosa is her sister. They can't just give her a random sister like they gave Polly, Jug, and Betty a random brother. I don't accept it. 6) ALSO, how weird is it that Betty and Jughead's parents are back to banging AND they share a sibling? Like this whole thing is so incestuous. I'm missing the good 'ole Season 1 days when Betty was crushing on Archie and not dating her kind of brother. 7) Jughead's storyline is pissing me off. Why are there only 5 students at Stonewall Prep? Why are they all giant dickheads? Where did Moose go? How does this Brett kid not get in trouble for extreme hazing? They fucking buried him alive and nothing happened. What in the hell. 8) I've missed Kevin's commentary, but WOW did we forgive him for dragging Betty across the floor of the farm cult and forcing her to almost get a lobotomy. He apologized like twice. Why are we okay with this? Is it because it's like the least crazy thing going on right now? I don't know. 9) How come Jason's corpse hasn't decayed after TWO YEARS. Also how come the twins are still infants when they should be toddlers? And all this talk about 'Julian' has me thinking that Cheryl didn't swallow him in the womb and that he's alive and going to come back because surprise siblings are all the rage on Riverdale these days. 10) AND POOR TONI. Like what the hell the poor girl is being gaslit by Cheryl and Nana Rose (the MVP of every episode if you ask me). GET OUT OF THERE, GIRL. Go join Stonewall Prep or something I'm sure they have openings only like 5 kids go there! What are you still doing when Jason's corpse and the spirit of Julian within a doll is haunting you? 11) How did Alice get away with the murder of Edgar? Did nobody realize he got shot? I am realizing as I type this that he died and then that was it. No more of that. Okay. 12) Are serial killer genes real? And how would Charles have them too if he isn't related to Hal and Hal was the serial killer? Also how fucked up was that thing with Betty and her cat? Like I am scarred for life after watching that. 13) How did Veronica know that murderer man was going to have a lighter? Was her backup plan to just throw alcohol at his face and run ('cause that's also not a bad idea)? I'M SO CONFUSED. 14) Who is Dodger and why does he have all these little kids working for him? Also what is happening with this community center? Is Archie ever at school? I know Algebra 3 is kicking his ass but like so are these bad guys. I would also like him to stop wearing that costume because it freaks me out a little bit. And how does he get his voice to change when he is stalking Dodger and Co.? 15) Regarding these flash forwards...this is all just like Jughead's book, right? Because none of this makes sense. But that also seems like a cop-out. But also...I don't know. I'm so confused. I was even more confused to see the kids in biology class together. Okay, those are the questions I have for now (I think). Do you have any? Let me know in the comments! XO, Em I forking love The Good Place! Every episode I watch my heart breaks because we're one step closer to the end, but gosh darn this is just such great television. This episode is no exception, as the Soul Squad's experiment is put to the test when the worst person EVER Brent Norwalk publishes a book that basically just roasts everyone else while praising himself. THIS IS YOUR SPOILER ALERT WARNING. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN "A CHIP DRIVER MYSTERY" YOU SHOULD STOP READING THIS MAGNIFICENT BLOG! THANK YOU! Simone is finally starting to believe in The Good Place and John is slowly becoming less gossipy and gross (more on that later)! Yay! But oh no, Brent is regressing. How? You may ask. By publishing a novel entitled "Six Feet Under Par: A Chip Driver Mystery". Chip is obviously just Brent reimagined, while his lead female character Scarlett Pakistan is an ode (or a dig?) at Tahani. Chidi is declared rigid and unfun in the novel, and Simone finds insane amounts of sexist, racist, and ridicuous content in the book that she can't seem to put down. John's betterment is put to the test when he walks in on Jason (who he believes to be Jianyu the silent monk) having a dance party with Chidi (who is all bummed out because he's referred to as lame in Brent's book). Chidi tells John that he HAS to keep Jason's secret just that, a secret. John struggles, but ultimately comes through. We love personal growth! As far as personal growth goes for Brent, we've got none. Instead of walking around on tip-toes around him, Eleanor, Tahani, and Simone decide it would be best to confront him and make him realize how he's hurting people. He calls them the PC police. He calls Simone a condescending bench. His apology is nothing more than a very passive aggressive "I'm sorry if YOU were offended". It is infuriating to watch because we all know that person that Brent is being. We've all interacted with him or her (but probably him). So then Chidi punches him in the face for all of us. Who's the rigid killjoy now? This whole time Michael has been retelling these events to Bad Janet, who is being held hostage in Good Janet's void. She is uninterested and just wants her phone back, but Michael insists that she hear him out. He says that the moral of this story is not whether or not humans are good or bad (Bad Janet claims that all humans are trash) but whether or not they are trying their best to be better than they were yesterday. With that, he lets her go with a manifesto that he and Good Janet created documenting the journey Team Cockroach has been on so far. I'm curious as to whether any of this will get back to Shawn, and what he'll think of it. I'm sure only time will tell. So what did y'all think? Could you watch an entire episode of just Michael and Bad Janet interacting? How bad did you want to punch Brent in the face? How happy were you when Chidi did? Tell me in the comments! XO, Em Ugh. Y'all. Why is this show so depressing sometimes? Like why do we have to have an entire episode about a precious little innocent dog going missing? Then why does the episode have to take a really twisted, awfully sad turn? WHY?!? Anyway, clearly I'm fine with the events that took place on this week's A Million Little Things (I'm not okay). I guess I'm now going to talk about it. So, ya know, SPOILER ALERT *SIREN NOISE*. Maggie and Gary seem to be doing okay following last week. We learn pretty early on that Maggie didn't actually perform at open mic night, instead she went to her old apartment and played the piano there. Eric was at the open mic night though, and he did really see Gary there (who came assuming that Maggie was also there). This love triangle is hurting my SOUL. After taking Colin the dog for a walk, Gary goes inside while Maggie takes him off the leash to follow Gary upstairs. While doing so, she takes a phone call from...Eric. He has sheet music to an Oasis song and wants to drop it off for her. He asks why she wasn't at open mic night, and then tells her that Gary came and Maggie is like "Shit! He saw the flyer I left out in plain sight!". Then Gary asks where Colin is, and he's nowhere to be found. Naturally Gary is all sorts of pissed and Maggie feels really bad because SHE SHOULD. Gary calls his hot bff Eddie and asks him to come help and look for his dog, but Eddie is babysitting, ehrm, parenting his newborn daughter while Delilah goes and does a podcast about suicide. Eddie says that he can't help, Gary is pissed but undrstanding, and then Katherine steps in and is an unrealistic angel on Earth sent from Heaven above and says that she will watch baby Charlie. What. The. Fuck. Gary (or Eddie, can't remember exactly) calls Rome and Regina and urges them to help on the dog search party too. And guess what? PJ is there, just hanging out. He wants to help too! This not weird at all. One thing I like about this sequence of events: The people on this show use their phones! They're not just constantly going over to each other's houses which must take a ton of time but instead just have phone conversations. Thank goodness! One thing I dislike about this sequence of events: Does nobody have to work? Are y'all your own bosses? You can just dip in and out of work as you please? Sounds fake, but okay. Also: I guess they're all pretty decent friends to one another, despite the affair between Eddie and Delilah that resulted in a child. They definitely always step up. It's just still weird. This friendship dynamic is just strange. Maggie goes upstairs and Eric shows up at the door to drop off that Oasis sheetmusic and comforts her. Gary walks through the door and blows up at Maggie and Eric because their relationship is one that should not be anything! He says some really hurtful words, only about half of which are probably deserved. Eric leaves and agrees that he should've never responded to Patricia's letter. He ain't wrong, just because he has Chad's heart doesn't mean he can fill that void. Since Katherine is apparently a Charlie's babysitter, Eddie, Rome, Gina, and PJ (???) meet up with Gary and Maggie to look for Colin. Gary is like "Who the hell are you?" to PJ which is totally fair, and then Maggie (being his therapist!) has to pretend like she doesn't even know him! This! Is! Weird! PJ talks about how his dog ran away when he was little, and Gary is like "uhhh does this story have an ending?" to which Rome is like, "Yup, they found him still alive and everyone's happy." I LOL'd. They split off into groups and Eddie and Gary get stopped by a cop because Gary breaks traffic laws. Eddie explains the situation and the cop lets him off on a warning which I think is dumb and unnecessary but whatever I guess it was a sweet moment because then Eddie is like, "That's what Jon would've done." Aww? Awkward subplot where PJ ("New guy, he probably has a name, he maybe even mentioned it earlier" - Gary) tells his dad that Sophie is his girlfriend and holds her hand and it's really bad because like, he might be her half-brother. SOMEBODY COME GET THIS CHILD. Rome tries to get him, but Gina thinks it's cute because she doesn't know all the details. So. awk. Katherine takes Charlie to the park and they have a bonding moment because some lady asks if it's her daughter and Katherine is like "nope, it's my husband's daughter from the woman he cheated on me with who we're still friends with for some reason" and it's badass but also really odd once she puts it into words out loud. Delilah does this suicide/depression awareness podcast because I guess that Andrew (Nathan as I call him) arranged it. Delilah realizes that lying to her kids is a terrible parenting move, but decides to continue to do it anyway. Andrew then unleashes a secret of his own; his wife isn't dead, she's just been on life support for a long ass time. So like...is he cheating on his wife? Are him and Delilah dating? I couldn't tell ya. Maggie calls Gina about the fight with Gary about Eric and I'm pissed because GET YOUR OWN FUCKIN' FRIENDS, MAGGIE. Then this really bad Oasis cover plays while Eric looks longingly at a picture of his dead fiancé (it's Sutton Foster! I love Sutton Foster!) and Eddie and Gary go check to see if Colin's at a shelter but it's not him it's just another dog that looks like him. When leaving, Eddie finds a flyer for a lost dog from last October and it's...wait for it...Colin. Fuck. Katherine drops Charlie off and Delilah gives her Jon's old office scotch set that he left for her. Instead of just leaving like a normal person, she has a drink with Delilah and it's dumb. Katherine wants to tell the kids the truth. Delilah doesn't think it's a good idea. That's it. They find Colin (yay!) but Eddie shows Maggie the flyer and tells her that he doesn't know how to tell him. She's like, "You don't. I do." And I'm like WHY THOUGH? Let Eddie do it! Anyway, Maggie and Gary make up and he apologizes and says he "broke the rules" by attacking her like that and I'm crying even though she kinda deserved it. She tells him about Colin and the flyer and he gets so fucking sad and now I'm fucking sad and I hate this show for making me so sad. I don't have questions for y'all this week. Just tell me you feel sad though in the comments. Thanks. XO, Em It's all about sex and golf on this week's This is Us. Think I'm kidding? Think again. The plots go as follows; 70s Jack goes golfing with Rebecca's dad, Randall goes golfing with work folks, Toby and Kate are just tryna bang post-baby, and Kevin has a date and a spur-of-the-moment hook up. Let's talk more! SPOILER ALERT: I'M SO LATE POSTING THIS BECAUSE I'M ON A TRIP THIS WEEKEND BUT IF FOR ANY REASON YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SEASON 4, EPISODE 6 "THE CLUB" I'D ADVISE YOU TO STOP READING BECAUSE A LITTLE PLOT ADVANCING STUFF HAPPENS TOWARD THE END OF THIS PARTICULAR EPISODE. In the early days of Jack and Rebecca, the two lovebirds wake up in bed and are so gorgeous it's sickening. They look so happy too! Bec gets a call from her mama about going to brunch, and she asks Jack to drop her off because her car is with her sister. Jack obliges, but is cornered by her dad asking him to play golf at the ~country club~. Jack is like "No thanks, man" and Bec is like "Please this could be IMPORTANT and good for BONDING". So Jack says fine and embarks on a very, very awkward day. Randall has a political storyline in the present day, which means I'm slightly confused and mostly bored. The moral of the story is that he's playing golf, and flashbacks from '92 show him learning how to play from Papa Jack. There's a very important scene where Jack claims he doesn't see Randall's color, just him as his son. But Randall says if he doesn't see his race, he doesn't see him. Daaaaamn. Truthfully, Jack has become jealous that Randall is really getting along with his new teacher (the one who wrote him a yellow slip for wearing shoes outside the dress code). Jack seems uncomfortable that Randall has found a potential father figure in someone who isn't him, and someone that he shares a race with. By the episode's end, Jack realizes how important he is for Randall, and invites the teacher and his wife over for dinner. It's sweet. 70s Jack has a few too many drinks at the club under pressure to do better at sports and ends up kind of embarassing himself in front of Mr. Malone. Jack then tells him off and says that he is going to marry his daughter, and that he is good enough for her. Hell yeah! But also lay off the booze, Jack (please). Grown-up Randall takes some time alone on the golf course to hit a ball into the water just like Jack always used to. He says, "This one's for you pops," and then I ugly cried. That's the end of that. Toby and Kate haven't had sex since before baby Jack was born, and are having a hard time connecting due to the demanding needs of their newborn. Additionally, they haven't had sex since Toby lost weight, which makes Kate feel self-conscious. She pleads with him to keep an old pair of pants, and they argue over her motivations. They plan a night out with Rebecca and Miguel babysitting. But it's awkward because Toby can't get up and Kate thinks it's because of her and they sit in a romantic hotel room in silence. When they go home, Kate rips up a pair of pants (not THE pair of pants, much to Toby's disappointment) and they finally get something going. Yay! Happy married couple sex! We love to see (hear about) it! In the adventures of Kevin-and-Nicky, the trailer park boys are enjoying the outdoors and looking at pictures of Kevin's ex, Zoe. Her documentary finally premiered, and Kevin shows Nicky a picture of her and a male friend and asks if he thinks they're dating. He says, and I quote, "They are just friends," PAUSE "Who are definitely having sex." Welp. Poor Kev. He asks Nicky if he wants to go on a hike, he respectfully (well, as respectful as Nicky can) declines. Kevin goes to the gym with Cassidy where a young woman who knows Kevin's order by heart gives him her phone number. This woman's role is so insignificant I don't even remember her name. Anyway, Kevin tells Cassidy that they say you shouldn't enter a new relationship within the first year of sobriety, but he goes out with what's-her-name anyway. They are bored with each other, and when Kevin asks what there is to do in her small town, she says all anybody does is do drugs and have sex. Beat. "And I don't do drugs," Kevin reluctantly takes her back to his trailer but finds Cassidy there waiting for him. She's fighting with her jackass ex husband and wanted to talk about it. Kevin sends what's-her-name away and then tells Cassidy that just because she's made mistakes that doesn't mean she's unloveable, it just means she's human. Awwww, I guess. Then they hook up. Nicky seems to know, and he tells Kevin that he wishes he had taken that hike with him today. Is this sad foreshadowing about Kevin and Cassidy rushing into a relationship (while they're both still struggling to get sober and she's ya know, still married)? I don't know, but I'm tired of Kevin having meaningless season-long storylines with women that just turn into nothing. Introduce us to Kevin's future wife, dammit! (Kinda secretly hoping it's Cassidy, kinda unsure of how I feel about them right now). So what did y'all think? Are you a fan of Kevin/Cassidy? What do you think the future status of Kate and Toby's marriage is? And did you ugly cry when Randall swung one out for Jack? Tell me in the comments! XO, Em |