Vee

Oddly enough, Jennifer Cooke ended up a cult favorite of horror fans for her turn in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (I know). She was sort of a spunky, wisecracking camp counselor who won the day against Jason Voorhees. I can see how she'd bomb on a soap, though. I think Kristen Vigard herself did an interview at WLS or somewhere recently where she freely admitted she was kind of a bohemian kid and not suited to the daily grind of daytime - wouldn't show up, etc.

Tell me, am I a good man?

I can't recall. I think so. He takes it off from time to time and seems to cover it with his long hair from what I've seen. My mistake - the time-jump in the comics was two years.

IIRC, the comic just did a time-jump - maybe five or so years into the survivors' new community well-built and sustained, with Rick pretty chill and Carl anywhere between 14-17 (so finally catching up to Chandler Riggs, obviously). Michael Cudlitz was very good in Band of Brothers, so I have a little more time for his character now.

You could've still done the body in the pool, but while I loved Lexi she would not have gotten attention. Other than Amanda there is no one the general audience who hadn't bothered with Season 5, let alone Season 7, would care about that much except Sydney (or Kimberly). You just could've ended it on Syd turning up alive after all - say she'd faked her death, again. Keep Laura Leighton around. I didn't have a problem with them changing David's paternity. It gave Michael a permanent role on the show and a new kind of dynamic for Thomas Calabro, and he was sorely needed at all times. Grant Show and Jake would not have given them much to work with. The less said about Brooke Burns's obvious murderer character the better.

Kyle and Jane ended up together on the show. It was a brief triangle with Amanda, and one I liked a lot. I was happy with that ending. I liked a lot of things about MP 2.0 - the cast was mostly excellent, especially Katie Cassidy and Lauren the soulful hooker/doctor. I thought the Billy/Alison-esque couple, Michael Rady and Jessica Lucas, were incredibly boring people played by incredibly talented actors (and oh my God, Michael Rady looks great naked). I thought bringing back Syd was a great idea that was wasted; I thought Michael and Amanda worked coming back. But killing Syd, and the subsequent Amanda art theft plotline were both pointless and stupid. Still, it was far better than nu90210 that year. It was a waste of huge potential.

I thought Margaery was on enough, really. They killed her new husband and introduced her next objective - everything else was being done above her head, with Olenna and Littlefinger. Her plotline was transitioned out with the second half of the season and I was fine with that, though I love her. She'll be back. I think Margaery is more clever and overall capable than Cersei, actually. But with Tywin gone and the Mountain in her care Cersei now has a lot more at her fingertips than she used to, and while she's far from a tactical genius she is harsh and swift when provoked. With no protection from the dangerous blunderbuss that is Cersei, and with Cersei having enough powerful new physical resources to insulate her from her own lack of acumen, Margaery could be in real jeopardy. I doubt Cersei cares much anymore about whether the Tyrells and their holdings can keep her and hers off the streets. She just doesn't think that far ahead.

Rickon and Osha were originally apparently slated to appear this past season. I was disappointed when they didn't. Loras has always been supporting at best, which is fine with me so long as he keeps his clothes off.

I didn't realize Courtney actually did that Jim Belushi show for eight years. That's good money. And then she had some recurring role on Two and a Half Men for years. Well, it's a living. I'm glad to see she appears to be doing well. I remember how hilarious a sport she was to keep up as best anyone could with Norm MacDonald and Conan O'Brien as they ribbed her about her co-starring role in a Carrot Top movie shortly after exiting Melrose. "It's like 9 1/2 Weeks but with Carrot Top."

It also made her career, for a few years, anyway. Wasn't she on that Jim Belushi show for a decent run? She was always a great comedienne and had such a winning personality whenever I saw her on talk shows.

Jake should've left with Jo. They made a horrible mistake not just reuniting those two, and I was a huge fan of theirs. IIRC, Daphne almost did Season 5 and then something happened at the last moment - I can't recall what. I think Alison did go back and help out at D&D for a hot minute in Season 5, and it was played as this bit of drama for her and Jake as I recall. Then nothing came of it. Let's just hang out at Shooters or in our apartment forever. Boring. I don't know why they kept that going all year long. They gave Alison a great exit with Billy at the airport, but like Jake and Jo, he should've gone after her and stayed gone. Then there was the business with Stacy Haiduk and Jake's gay little son. That was the character Shaun Sipos was supposed to be playing on the new MP - they share the same name - but at the last moment, they changed him to Michael's illegitimate kid to give Thomas Calabro more to do.

I always found Anne-Marie Johnson just plain weird. But her death spiral storyline with Bobby Parezi was great, although it was perhaps a mistake to off Bobby. John Enos was hot. I did feel they wasted Jasmine Guy, to say nothing of poor Vanessa Williams in Season 1. I understood what they were going for with Sam - introducing a 'normal' person back into Melrose to try and reground the show in Season 5. And I thought some of Season 5 worked well; I thought the McBrides as a married couple was good, I liked the restaurant, Kyle and Sydney, I liked Taylor as the tension in Amanda and Peter's marriage. But Peter and Taylor's actual affair was gross, and Jake and Alison and Billy and Sam were snoozes. I was a huge fan of Amanda and Peter at the time as well. I thought most of Season 6 was unwatchable, except the back end when Lexi went nuts and they started tearing up the cast. Season 7 was, IMO, a minor rebirth; Lexi was running the show, Jane and Michael were surprisingly great back together with Jane's somewhat tougher character who wasn't quite a pushover, and I liked the Eve mystery. It wasn't all perfect but it was a helluva lot better than it had been, a much tighter show. I didn't feel it deserved to get cancelled that year, whereas 90210 was running on fumes.

I think Brooke was a great character, but finite. She had a singular, indelible role and purpose, but I think she died at just the right time. What they did with Billy and Alison afterwards was a separate mistake. Kimberly was totally wasted after Season 4. They'd shot their wad when they could've kept her going as a semi-sane vixen like she was midway through that year - the sex advice radio host, the re-empowered nymphomaniac who was all over every man on the show - for countless more seasons.

I'll have to dig through all Tim's posts tonight; I'm working on a deadline and I shouldn't be too distracted. It's nice seeing some old DL lore brought back, but most of this is new to me and really fascinating. Am I wrong or didn't Eddie Drueding(sp?) have a lot of Lemay-era stuff back in the day? I thought he used to sell VHS dubs. Is that stuff going up?

I think Jon and the Wall were far, far from an afterthought this season or last.

When would the show have found the time this season to stop dead, dredge up the old story of Tyrion's first wife, and have him and Jaime have a sit-down over it that ends badly? That spare time certainly did not exist in the finale, or in the onscreen narrative that led up to it. It would've been very kludgily forced in, IMO, if they'd tried to drop it in tonight as Jaime is freeing Tyrion. "Oh, by the way..." They could get to it someday, but it would not have worked last night. As for Jojen, I thought the scene was quick but realistic - and I thought his last moments, as the fire came down, were great. If, as is alleged, Jojen is all but dead in the books now anyway I can see why they'd want to economize and let him have a good death here and now. Especially since, up til now, he's been the much more prominent of the Reeds, whereas I understand in the books Meera has had a larger role as well. And now, presumably, she will take prominence on the show. Books can do those things - they can balance infinite time, they can stop dead for little roundelays. GOT already gives so much time over to character scenes, monologues, etc. but when it's time to move I don't think they can just allow something to drag the plot to a halt.

Maybe Bran will go flying around and they'll have him kludgily voice animals, like in Milo & Otis. He can pop up and check in with everyone. One week he's a raven, the next he's a squirrel or a seagull. "Arya! It's me!" As the animal sort of vaguely moves its mouth in some half-assed fashion. I could watch that for a few months. Speaking of Bran and voice acting, here is his silly-looking new animated film where he plays a boy raised by trolls. I really don't see the general populace ever picking up the mixed critical opinion of the AV Club of late. Given the overwhelming reaction this year that's just not happening with this show.

I don't think anyone is really giving major critical weight to the AV Club's take on this show at this point - they've sort of been dog-paddling towards trying to create some sort of furor since before the show returned this year. And I mean, it only matters to me as much as I let it.

I really don't think anyone who isn't hidebound about the books is going to say that sucked. I think that is the absolute last thing on the general public's minds after that episode, which was a showstopper. I think the show is firing on all cylinders and I think the general reaction to this year bears that out as well. I haven't seen even a hint of that kind of reaction to this year, at least among the general public - most people I know IRL don't read the books, and those that do don't have a problem AFAIK. The most I heard from my most obsessive friend was that she hoped they would mention the last of the giants, which they did.

I don't mind the Daenerys story - I just like watching her struggle to learn to rule, I like the nitty-gritty of that process. I know it's not the most exciting thing for some people but it fascinates me. And of course her arc has left her a hypocrite; she must chain her own children. I don't think Arya ever belonged with the Hound. She should've gone off with Brienne, but of course I can't have nice things so off she goes to Braavos with some other brilliant tweenage idea. I had expected the Children of the Forest to be sort of homunculus-like and less human; more sort of tree goblin children, as depicted in some of the art on the Blu-Ray sets. The kid who turned up was surprisingly human.

Yeah, that started out by the book and then turned into a streetfight. Raw [!@#$%^&*]. So did they get the cash from the Bank to get ships and go North? I think adding the Dragonstone crew in with Jon Snow and the boyz (a.k.a. Jon Snow featuring the Ice Kold Krew) is a pretty brilliant move, story-wise. And assuming Arya, Varys and Tyrion are all headed to at least different points on Essos, well, that's very interesting too. To say nothing of Littlefinger and Sansa - where the hell were they going? Who the hell is the next Hand of the King? Pretty slim pickings now. Who are they leaving in charge, assuming Jaime can't break his Kingsguard vow? Tommen and the idiot Tyrell father? Cersei's going to have to take charge by default. And she's not terribly good at governing.

Yeah, I can't unpack all of that right now. It was all fantastic. Just a few things now: I had a feeling about Tywin, but the rest was a shock. And the stuff with Jon and Mance, and Stannis went in a different direction than I expected - great stuff from Kit Harington and Ciaran Hinds, who makes a meal of just a few appearances. Was this why Stannis went to Braavos? To get more ships or men? Or just funds? I can't recall. The fight between Brienne and the Hound started out badass and turned out just awful and difficult to watch, which is what it was supposed to be. Not awful in a bad way, just awful because we care about both people and it's a terrible thing they had to do. Brienne and Arya did have great chemistry, it's too bad about that whole thing. Now what the hell are those two supposed to do? I would assume Tywin picked up Shae after they turned her. I was amazed they had the balls to do that to Tyrion's character, but I was very impressed by all those scenes. Incredible work from Lena Headey as well. And all I could think when that renegade maester (name?) started talking about how the Mountain would be "different" was, they're about to make the worst White Walker possible. I half-expected the Three-Eyed Raven (or whoever) to warg Bran into Daenerys's errant dragon. I would've sooner Jojen and Bran continued their quiet little teen crush and lost Meera, who I think has little character so far, but I suppose this is to set up her as Bran's eventual love interest, which is what I had pegged her for when the Reed kids first turned up on the scene. She's a fine actress so seeing her more of her in a bigger role is fine by me. I loved that whole Army of Darkness fight. Poor old Jojen. I had half-expected to see ride up on a cliff as Arya sailed away - I got spoiled for who that is, sadly - but I wonder if they're saving it to shock next year. If Melisandre isn't there to, ultimately, either ice (ohhhh!) Jon Snow like she intended to do to Gendry, or throw over Stannis and call him the one true King when this is all over, I'll eat my hat.

I can't wait for the Telltale Games RPG coming up - they've done such a wonderful job with the Walking Dead license.

The moment is coming

I had people reciting his lines from the duel to me all night. And our drunk friend could just barely contain herself from spoiling the books, but at least we bonded over our hopes that Bran would join Jon and Daenerys in winning the day.