DRW50

Steve and Jessie! That's a nice photo for the anniversary.

So...finally watched today's (yesterday's) episode. I knew they wouldn't let Finn be mad at Val for long - I guess I should be pleased it lasted for nearly a full episode! She let him see over and over how insecure she was and his heart is too big to resist. I think Joe Gill did a good job in balancing Finn's hurt with his anger. I just hope this isn't back to Finn being a total supporting character again, but oh well. I'm not quite sure where they're taking Emma. Clearly they knew they'd set her up as such a psycho that fans would have expected her to be the vandal. I was genuinely surprised that she was able to get over her own issues with her kids not loving her enough to work things out between Finn and Val, instead of taking the opportunity to drive a permanent wedge between them. There was a very interesting choice of words when Aaron told Adam to forget about his night with Vanessa. He said "delete." I couldn't help thinking back to when Robert deleted Katie's photo. Adam didn’t seem happy at all with Aaron telling him to just drop it. I wonder if this was another way to tell us that he and Aaron are becoming more and more different. I also wonder if this was a way to tell us that he’s going to be furious when he finds out about Aaron and Robert. Is it bad of me to say that when he said “it could have been anybody, and vice/versa” instead of saying, “It could have been any bird/girl/etc.” that I immediately filed that away for my headcanon of Adam having had sexual experiences with men? Kerry is always such great entertainment. I loved her prank on Dan. Laurel - well, we all knew that was coming, although I wasn't expecting to see her vomiting up or that she would fall down the stairs (!). Surprised they didn't take her for medical attention. Doug's shame and dismay at her just about broke my heart. I knew Scott wouldn't be back, obviously, but I sure wish we'd gotten to see him at the wedding, likely with Kelly, both of them having a lengthy bitching session about Laurel.

I hope so too - have we heard if they've bought any more episodes? I guess the ratings must be OK if they're still airing two a day. I'm somewhere around late August, still in disbelief over them having Maggie sing the Theme from The Graduate in her head.

Didn't Russ leave town to follow Olivia Delaney?

More idiots who brag about how they can't wait to discriminate. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/memories-pizza-indiana-anti-gay-law

I kind of wonder if they may be better off having Lisa Rinna as a one and done.

I think it was good, and I think Eileen was great casting. I think they would be better off next season trying to expand storylines. Kim's story was obvious drama and Kim is fascinating to watch but it was also so heavy and draining.

It's not so much that I actually think she's going to be violent with people as I'm not sure where the show is supposed to go with this. It's just basic crudity at this point and while I get that Kyle is annoying and not likeable, it's just not something I think is entertaining to watch. Last season Joyce had this role, where Joyce was a fake bitch who played the victim. Now it's Kyle. Next season, my guess is Eileen will be the fake bitch who plays the victim. Rinse and repeat with Brandi stories. Brandi seems to have no other role on the show now beyond simultaneously being a truthteller and telling everyone to stop being mean to her. I think they need a big overhaul of the cast because this season should have been a lot better than it turned out to be.

I know this franchise has always had crazy outbursts and it's supposed to be wild and fun, but I don't really know how much longer Andy can head-pat and tee-hee a woman who calls another woman a c***, talks about how she wants to beat her bloody, and tells another woman she'd better "watch her back." It's not a "truth cannon" as much as a drunk waving a loaded gun.

He's only supposed to be about 2-3 years older than Finn. She tried to kill him when he was 2 or 3 and Finn was a baby. James banished her. She would watch them from afar until Pete was about 11 or 12, and he told her to steer clear for good.

I wonder if Scott will ever be back...at least he still exists. I never knew he was on a show with Priya. I know Adam Thomas gets a lot of stick for his acting, some deserved, but I thought he was good in the scenes with Victoria. Adam's always had a big ego and always been self-absorbed, and babied, and Victoria chose the worst possible time to tell him the news. I think if James or Victoria had gone to him, he wouldn't have slept with Vanessa (whom I like a lot - although is it me or does she seem like a character who belongs on another soap?), but Chas took care of that! I kind of wish we'd seen a little more between them. Adam is at his best when half-naked and making out. So Bright Eyes what do you think of the stories at the moment? Oh, and if people want me to spoiler tag my posts for the day, I guess I can. Sorry.

Bright Eyes, did you hear the Scott mention today?

Today was one of the first days I thought they got the story with Finn and Val right. Finn was appropriately hostile and dismissive toward Ross and Emma after their attitude, it made sense for him to blame Emma, and it made sense for him to be simultaneously sickened, hurt, and furious with Val. I hope he won’t forget this for a long time. This isn’t the type of material I think most suits Joe Gill, but it was a strong performance from him (and I’m glad they let his hair be more natural). I still don’t think anything justifies Val’s behavior, but I’m glad we got to hear her explanation, and we got to see Eric (the person who knows her best) be so disgusted as well. He pointed out what had to be pointed out - that she was hurting her supposed cause, that she was a hypocrite, that she had no right to act this way. I love that Finn is adorkable and awkward and all the rest, but I hope this episode is a start of him becoming tougher, because he’s been so alone throughout this with Darren, even when he was accused of vandalizing a car and for all his family knew, being arrested, that it has to leave a mark.

I don't understand. Wouldn't Bravo be the ones to pay her?

"I couldn't be me" What does that mean? They wouldn't let her go on anti-vaccine screeds? Or they wouldn't let her scream and smell her armpit?

I didn't invent it (I wish I had...), but it fits this show in particular. There's a lot of random whoring that goes on, as we saw again today.

Nikhil and Jai Sharma moved to the village in 2010, buying a factory off Eric Pollard and turning it into a toffee place. Their wild child sister followed (and quickly left, as the show seemed baffled at what to do with her; she returned after a while with the current actress and did what most women on the show do - let Cain lay pipe in them), then their parents, who split a while after joining them (at one point Rishi lied about being the father of Jai's son with Rachel...). Nikhil was involved with Home Farm princess Maisie Wylde, Chas, and then Gennie, Chas' sister. They had a baby. After Gennie was murdered by Chas/Debbie's boyfriend Cameron, a heartbroken Nikhil left town. Most of the cottages in the village have been there for a long time. I think they were revamped in the '90s by the Tate family, who owned most of the village in those years. Home Farm has been around for a hundred or two hundred years, or however long. Until the late '70s it was owned by the Verney family. When the last Verney died, it was sold to a conglomerate, and Alan Turner, a lonely, abusive drunk, lived in it for about a decade. In 1989 it was bought by the Tate family. There tends to be a curse on the place - patriarchs will usually die violently. Sons or young men tend to be village pariahs and smarmy schemers. Young women in the family tend to be the ones who survive, if anyone does. At least 3 of the men who owned it were killed or died on premises.

Wow.

I keep forgetting whether Alicia is supposed to be white or not. I forgot about Leyla. I love her. And I love her even more now that I know Roxy Shahidi is a big Twin Peaks fan. I do wish they'd do more with Priya. I really like her relationship with Rakesh so I don't want that broken up just so she can throw herself at Pete or Ross or Adam or whoever, but I wish they'd give her more to do. I also like Rishi, even if his story with Georgia doesn't do much for me.

Blackburn seems to have made a genuine effort - the Nazirs, Steph, Tony. It's just that the execution is awful (Nazirs). No real excuse for EE, Ellen Thomas or not, as DTC goes to the press back-patting for tokenism and racism. I think it would be nice if ED did try for more diversity, realism or not, but it does seem like they have always struggled at making it work. Even the Sharmas, who have been around for nearly 5 years - the only really popular Sharma was Nikhil. I really liked the idea of giving Aaron a black boyfriend (but again the casting was wrong). Doing the same for Finn, or Aaron again, wouldn't be a bad idea, especially someone who could stand up to the Bartons or Robert or Chas.

I loved that when she yelled that she'd force the pill down her throat. I love that side of Diane. You mostly just missed her smashing the car windows.

Emma set it in motion, although I don't think she knows how far Val is going. There are less black people in the UK than the US, especially in that area of the UK, but they've had black families, black characters. It's just that the show has often done a poor job writing for black characters. The last were Gemma and her father Dom, who dated Chas. You may remember Gemma because Belle hears her in her head after accidentally killing her. The most popular black character on the show was probably Danny Daggert, part of the otherwise not all that popular Daggert family. He worked with Rodney for years and had a fling with Val.

It's not just his being bigoted about Darren, it's that he was pretty callous about the whole thing even when they split and Finn was upset. Ross loves Finn but for this story he's mostly treating him like some annoying guy he shares a house with.

I'm so happy for Arthur! I'm still not sure I will watch one of those shows but that's great news for him and I hope he gets a big hit out of it. Maisie's a huge catch for DW - she has a real following online and she's a great actress. I wonder how they managed that.

Scott seems to exist only so that Sinead can get whatever she wants without viewers blaming it on her.