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Oct. 29th, 2022 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessSome things that posting about Strictly so much has squeezed out.
Hart of Dixie - 2.5 Walkin’ After Midnight
Bluebell seems to celebrate Halloween like any other small American town shocker!
I was not that sympathetic towards George, certainly not when Zoe maced him for letting himself into her place, even if it turned out he was sleepwalking. Maybe a little more when he got pushed into the water by Wade, because by then we knew George was unconscious. But I mainly felt sorry for Wade and AnnaBeth this episode.
My sympathies started off with Zoe as neither Lavon nor Wade listened to her (founded) claims that someone was sleeping in her guesthouse. But the rest of the ep was Zoe asking Wade to jump (i.e. help her) and him asking how high. He also held her to account and got to hear the sweet, sweet words, ‘You were right’ for it. But still.
George was being harassed by airheads and he was just too much of a southern gentleman to deal with it properly (ok, there were underlying medical reasons). Pressly was introduced as a potential love interest with about as much finesse as Emily had been.
Some business with a clan who supported a college team Lavon hadn’t been in led to AnnaBeth suggesting she and Lavon fake date to make sure of their vote, or something. The main point was that Lemon Did Not Like that, especially when AnnaBeth confided that she actually really liked Lavon and was hoping the fake dating could turn into actual dating.
I got increasingly irked with Lemon for not owning her feelings – I note that Lavon was calling AnnaBeth ‘AB’ and Lemon ‘Lemonade’ as shorthand for how well they’re getting on as they campaign together - although Lemon had a point when she told Lavon that he was stooping very low to gain votes by deceit. He went and admitted what he’d been doing to the clan matriarch without consulting or warning AB, which felt unfair. Lemon glowed after Lavon said nice things about her belief in him.
Zoe/Wade were having some wrinkles – he was working when she set her trap for her stalker, and their fantasies didn’t align – he dressed as James Bond, when Zoe wanted a sexy fireman, which, oh fancy, was the outfit George was going to wear to the costume party at the Rammer Jammer. Zoe avoided wearing an outfit because she was bent on Doctoring somnambulist George except, as Wade pointed out, there were complicating factors to her observing George’s usual night-time routine. Anyway, she fell asleep and lost him, and he ended up at the party unconsciously claiming Zoe was his girlfriend, thus explaining why he’d been sleepwalking to Zoe’s.
Wade was having women throw themselves at him in sexy costumes, expecting a repeat of last year (I chose to read into that that he was overcompensating his attraction to Zoe last year.) He kept having to ’take a break’ from the bar to help Zoe, probably more than he took when he was seducing three women, and did not like what he saw. So he shoved George into the water.
A conscious George then admitted that he was still hung up on Zoe and asked why they weren’t together. As she would later tell Wade, she admitted it was because she was involved with someone else and still thought she shouldn’t be George’s rebound. She urged him to do something healthier, giving him a sedative, which helped clear George’s mind, so he immediately made a move on Pressly who seems challenging. RUN, PRESSLY! You don’t want to get caught up in all these shenanigans.
But Zoe also told George her relationship wasn’t serious, just what she needs right now. Aww, Wade. Not knowing that, Wade accepted her apology and they went right back to fun sex having, but he’s clearly feeling the strain of behaving so differently but not being to explain why because they’re not going public. That camera thing Zoe installed at her place ought to be how George finds out Wade is the person she’s involved with, but I’m not sure that they’ll use it.
2.6 I Walk the Line
I was hoping there’d only be one scene of the chickens picking the winter for the mayoral race. (Subsequently I’ve had THOUGHTS about other unusual ways of conducting leadership races nearer to this time and place.)
Brick’s problems could be reduced by hiring a receptionist/officer manager, (I don’t remember what lame excuse they gave for getting rid of the last one, so I’m just going to presume the position is cursed) but Magnolia had a point that he was letting her down on the driving front after letting her down on the cycling front.
The suggestion that the long-distance relationship was causing Brick stress led to Zade discussing sex, and Wade thinks he couldn’t be with Zoe if sex wasn’t involved. Hmm, well, I’ll watch how you feel when she dumps you if your relationship doesn’t evolve. Zoe tried tackling Brick tactlessly.
Just after Lemon had admitted out loud that she might have feelings for someone, Lavon started tanking at the debate and let slip he still had feelings for Ruby. (Got to admit I wondered where that had come from.) Also his first answer was terrible. I entertained myself imagining Josh Lyman’s reaction if Lavon had been his candidate.
We and George learned that Pressly didn’t vote. George and I were as one in judging her.
The morning after, Zoe and Wade were deeply unconvincing about why she was wearing his shirt, but the campaign team was too busy freaking out over Lavon’s terrible debate performance to much care.
I got outraged with Wade for ignoring Tansy’s (yes, she’s back) perfectly valid choice not to move her moho six meters/do what he ordered, which was commit voting fraud (and really, she probably wasn’t registered to vote.) Then George managed to convince her/bribe her to do it. Ugh! (It’s amusing, but I feel very seriously about voting.)
Wade decided to pull the moho with Tansy and George in it, which meant George’s haircut went disastrous, but, seriously, as George would later rail, they could have been killed! Tansy had just been telling George that she knew from day one that she and Wade wouldn’t work out, hint hint George and non-voting Pressly.
Lemon was trying to buy votes (not so high-minded this ep, Lemon!), while Lavon was drooling all over Ruby. Lemon kind of gave herself and her feelings away if Lavon had been thinking with his brain. Lemon flat-out told AB about her feelings for Lavon and AB was a better BF than Lemon deserved about it.
The other Breelands’ shenanigans led to a missing absent vote while the vote was declared a tie. Sadly, that meant the chickens were back.
Lavon admitted to Wade that he didn’t want Ruby to leave town, and didn’t give Lemon a chance to follow AB’s advice and tell him how she felt.
Pressly dumped George for being bossy about who she voted for (I sided with her. Vote for who you like and live with the consequences! But do vote!)
Lavon made time to talk and smooch with Ruby. Zoe’s driving lesson with Magnolia had taken long enough that she could hand in Brick’s crucial absentee vote before the chickens finally decided for the town. George was graceless, and while he was right to call Wade out, he dumped Tansy in it while doing so. Tansy’s moho was moved just in time for the town to see the newly re-elected mayor snogging his opponent.
Lemon showed she has pride as clueless!Lavon thanked her for her help with a candle. Brick did a slightly better job of thanking Zoe for urging him to rush to Emily’s body double because it was all all right.
SOMEHOW Wade, who deserved to be thrown into the mobile home and driven over the worst roads in Alabama for his behaviour, got to spend the time in a candle-lit bed with Zoe (I doubt he lit the candles). George helped Tansy return to her pitch, thanked her about her advice RE Pressly and got her to try to tidy up his hair. (RUN, TANSY.)
This ep seemed to be about men’s libidos (eyeroll) with many of them disrespecting women’s hard-won right to vote as they choose. Wade was inexcusable. I’d like to pretend most of this ep never happened.
2.7 Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me
Wade was a bit thoughtless over Zoe’s fancy cookies, but he couldn’t know that Zoe would subsequently come across everyone talking about how romantic their lives were and judge him accordingly. Also, Ruby, you did betray Zoe’s trust, you can’t expect her to forgive and forget in two seconds flat. Also Zoe had a whole other plotline.
Saint Annabeth’s halo slipped when it turned out that the real reason she turned down Lemon’s, admittedly rash-seeming, proposition they start a catering company together was because she’d already started one herself. Though I could see why she’d want to do it without Lemon.
Rose was the current receptionist, and she was interested in a new, heartbroken guy at school. Brick turned out to be spot-on about Dr Zoe’s effect on the school football team, as kicker Max got over his broken heart by falling for her. In Zoe’s clueless defence, she patted his head, but a hormonal teenage male wasn’t going to read that sign.
Zoe was soon relieved of her delusions that she’d made Max think of Rose like that in public before Wade (who thought glow-in-the-dark underwear was romantic?) and Rose by a FLASH MOB!
George ended up getting Lemon to help AB cater when the party numbers doubled, and AB had to accept it after some sniping and Cricket as a decoy.
Lavon didn’t listen to Ruby and tried to get her cranky grandfather to like him and accept their rekindled romance, which predictably ended up with things being even worse.
Lemon stepped all over AB’s feelings in order to get the party started, but AB fought back. Geroge felt guilty and tried to get them to see they worked better together, although, like AB said, it tends to be Lemon’s way or the high way.
The town, Brick and a laughing Wade forced Zoe to have a dinner with Max and lead him on until after the game, until things got so icky that she ended his delusions. Also she’d been needled by Rose and a friend. Obviously, Zoe was tactless about this, but would later point out to Wade that at least Max put himself out there, showed his feelings and that that was the level of romance she wanted. She then went and gave an appropriate ‘buck up, little kicker’ talk to a desolate Max.
Grandpa told Lavon he was being mean to him because …he was afraid Lavon was keeping his grand-daughter in Bluebell and holding her back (although in fairness she’s a grown woman now, it’s her choice.)
Ghosts 4.2
VERY satisfying episode, actually, lots of character work and sympathetic developments, and even a few chuckles. Mary apparently finally told the rest the tale of her death by witch-burning, but all we heard was the plot of two feckless men who got up the rumour against her to save their skins, and what happened after she died. But the tale traumatised the ghosts enough that Pat cancelled all scheduled events for the day. It was meant to be a time of reflection but they all ended up doing something else. We had Kitty trying to teach the captain how to live for the moment, Pat finding his inner prison warder as he and Humphrey’s head tried to help Thomas go cold turkey over Alison, who had felt she was neglecting the ghosts and tried to reconnect with them, ending up spending most time with Robin and Lady Button, who revealed she visits the pet cemetery once a week. Which was oddly touching.
Julian and we, but mainly we, got to hear the tales of Mary’s early years as a ghost. And it was interesting to see her, Robin and Humphrey’s head when she wouldn’t talk and Robin wasn’t speaking much English. (I had always assumed Mary was from an earlier period.) But then Annie died during the time of the Puritans (?) who were mainly depicted as horrible men, and forced Mary to ‘speak as she found’ and finally succeeded, leading to a lovely montage where Mary spoke her piece around the soon to be ghosts (‘I could sneeze better poetry’ at Thomas, indeed) until Annie ascended, and we were reminded that this could be the end of the show, (and it was rather horrid to think of losing one of them.)
It also got fairly trippy with Thomas’s delirium, as he saw Alison in all the other ghosts.
As for the currently living, we could go, ‘It’s going to get worse,’ as Alison and Mike realised they hadn’t accounted for the gatehouse leading to higher energy bills. Old friends of Mike’s turned out to be their latest guests and into something that looked like a cult, smelled like a cult and probably was a cult. The Coopers were too nice to talk their way out of it, until Julian’s mansplaining and Lady Button’s response inspired Alison to reveal she could talk to the ghosts. So she got out of attending the culty do by telling the truth and being herself. Thomas’s cold turkey stint didn’t work, but that was partly Alison’s fault too.
4.3
THE SORRY SONG!!!
I also liked that Humphrey’s head was around. The moment the ghosts decided that whoever Alison liked the most ought to apologise was a major ‘uh-oh’. But THE SORRY SONG. I joined in with Alison to tell Mike he had no idea (how weird what was going on was). Because it was that. And more.
But that the ghosts left the glowing review as her guests was heart-warming. I liked how the episode ended as it had begun, with a lecture, only it was Mary lecturing Alison.
Everything that Mike tried to do for Alison going wrong was only eh, although his contact with the outside world was the funniest, while the ghosts seein him running about starkers twice was…quite something.
I am so behind on this series.
Has anyone seen the tourist ad for Australia? It’s quite the production, mixing animated stuffed toys with real life footage of the country’s stunning scenery. Roo, an upbeat kangaroo who wanted to see Uluru and everything, was voiced by Rose Byrne, and her buddy was unicorn Louie, a sham magician who somehow helped her achieve it. It made sense that he came across as GOB Bluth’s spirit (stuffed) animal, as he was voiced by Will Arnett.
[Edited for typos 10/2/25.]
Hart of Dixie - 2.5 Walkin’ After Midnight
Bluebell seems to celebrate Halloween like any other small American town shocker!
I was not that sympathetic towards George, certainly not when Zoe maced him for letting himself into her place, even if it turned out he was sleepwalking. Maybe a little more when he got pushed into the water by Wade, because by then we knew George was unconscious. But I mainly felt sorry for Wade and AnnaBeth this episode.
My sympathies started off with Zoe as neither Lavon nor Wade listened to her (founded) claims that someone was sleeping in her guesthouse. But the rest of the ep was Zoe asking Wade to jump (i.e. help her) and him asking how high. He also held her to account and got to hear the sweet, sweet words, ‘You were right’ for it. But still.
George was being harassed by airheads and he was just too much of a southern gentleman to deal with it properly (ok, there were underlying medical reasons). Pressly was introduced as a potential love interest with about as much finesse as Emily had been.
Some business with a clan who supported a college team Lavon hadn’t been in led to AnnaBeth suggesting she and Lavon fake date to make sure of their vote, or something. The main point was that Lemon Did Not Like that, especially when AnnaBeth confided that she actually really liked Lavon and was hoping the fake dating could turn into actual dating.
I got increasingly irked with Lemon for not owning her feelings – I note that Lavon was calling AnnaBeth ‘AB’ and Lemon ‘Lemonade’ as shorthand for how well they’re getting on as they campaign together - although Lemon had a point when she told Lavon that he was stooping very low to gain votes by deceit. He went and admitted what he’d been doing to the clan matriarch without consulting or warning AB, which felt unfair. Lemon glowed after Lavon said nice things about her belief in him.
Zoe/Wade were having some wrinkles – he was working when she set her trap for her stalker, and their fantasies didn’t align – he dressed as James Bond, when Zoe wanted a sexy fireman, which, oh fancy, was the outfit George was going to wear to the costume party at the Rammer Jammer. Zoe avoided wearing an outfit because she was bent on Doctoring somnambulist George except, as Wade pointed out, there were complicating factors to her observing George’s usual night-time routine. Anyway, she fell asleep and lost him, and he ended up at the party unconsciously claiming Zoe was his girlfriend, thus explaining why he’d been sleepwalking to Zoe’s.
Wade was having women throw themselves at him in sexy costumes, expecting a repeat of last year (I chose to read into that that he was overcompensating his attraction to Zoe last year.) He kept having to ’take a break’ from the bar to help Zoe, probably more than he took when he was seducing three women, and did not like what he saw. So he shoved George into the water.
A conscious George then admitted that he was still hung up on Zoe and asked why they weren’t together. As she would later tell Wade, she admitted it was because she was involved with someone else and still thought she shouldn’t be George’s rebound. She urged him to do something healthier, giving him a sedative, which helped clear George’s mind, so he immediately made a move on Pressly who seems challenging. RUN, PRESSLY! You don’t want to get caught up in all these shenanigans.
But Zoe also told George her relationship wasn’t serious, just what she needs right now. Aww, Wade. Not knowing that, Wade accepted her apology and they went right back to fun sex having, but he’s clearly feeling the strain of behaving so differently but not being to explain why because they’re not going public. That camera thing Zoe installed at her place ought to be how George finds out Wade is the person she’s involved with, but I’m not sure that they’ll use it.
2.6 I Walk the Line
I was hoping there’d only be one scene of the chickens picking the winter for the mayoral race. (Subsequently I’ve had THOUGHTS about other unusual ways of conducting leadership races nearer to this time and place.)
Brick’s problems could be reduced by hiring a receptionist/officer manager, (I don’t remember what lame excuse they gave for getting rid of the last one, so I’m just going to presume the position is cursed) but Magnolia had a point that he was letting her down on the driving front after letting her down on the cycling front.
The suggestion that the long-distance relationship was causing Brick stress led to Zade discussing sex, and Wade thinks he couldn’t be with Zoe if sex wasn’t involved. Hmm, well, I’ll watch how you feel when she dumps you if your relationship doesn’t evolve. Zoe tried tackling Brick tactlessly.
Just after Lemon had admitted out loud that she might have feelings for someone, Lavon started tanking at the debate and let slip he still had feelings for Ruby. (Got to admit I wondered where that had come from.) Also his first answer was terrible. I entertained myself imagining Josh Lyman’s reaction if Lavon had been his candidate.
We and George learned that Pressly didn’t vote. George and I were as one in judging her.
The morning after, Zoe and Wade were deeply unconvincing about why she was wearing his shirt, but the campaign team was too busy freaking out over Lavon’s terrible debate performance to much care.
I got outraged with Wade for ignoring Tansy’s (yes, she’s back) perfectly valid choice not to move her moho six meters/do what he ordered, which was commit voting fraud (and really, she probably wasn’t registered to vote.) Then George managed to convince her/bribe her to do it. Ugh! (It’s amusing, but I feel very seriously about voting.)
Wade decided to pull the moho with Tansy and George in it, which meant George’s haircut went disastrous, but, seriously, as George would later rail, they could have been killed! Tansy had just been telling George that she knew from day one that she and Wade wouldn’t work out, hint hint George and non-voting Pressly.
Lemon was trying to buy votes (not so high-minded this ep, Lemon!), while Lavon was drooling all over Ruby. Lemon kind of gave herself and her feelings away if Lavon had been thinking with his brain. Lemon flat-out told AB about her feelings for Lavon and AB was a better BF than Lemon deserved about it.
The other Breelands’ shenanigans led to a missing absent vote while the vote was declared a tie. Sadly, that meant the chickens were back.
Lavon admitted to Wade that he didn’t want Ruby to leave town, and didn’t give Lemon a chance to follow AB’s advice and tell him how she felt.
Pressly dumped George for being bossy about who she voted for (I sided with her. Vote for who you like and live with the consequences! But do vote!)
Lavon made time to talk and smooch with Ruby. Zoe’s driving lesson with Magnolia had taken long enough that she could hand in Brick’s crucial absentee vote before the chickens finally decided for the town. George was graceless, and while he was right to call Wade out, he dumped Tansy in it while doing so. Tansy’s moho was moved just in time for the town to see the newly re-elected mayor snogging his opponent.
Lemon showed she has pride as clueless!Lavon thanked her for her help with a candle. Brick did a slightly better job of thanking Zoe for urging him to rush to Emily’s body double because it was all all right.
SOMEHOW Wade, who deserved to be thrown into the mobile home and driven over the worst roads in Alabama for his behaviour, got to spend the time in a candle-lit bed with Zoe (I doubt he lit the candles). George helped Tansy return to her pitch, thanked her about her advice RE Pressly and got her to try to tidy up his hair. (RUN, TANSY.)
This ep seemed to be about men’s libidos (eyeroll) with many of them disrespecting women’s hard-won right to vote as they choose. Wade was inexcusable. I’d like to pretend most of this ep never happened.
2.7 Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me
Wade was a bit thoughtless over Zoe’s fancy cookies, but he couldn’t know that Zoe would subsequently come across everyone talking about how romantic their lives were and judge him accordingly. Also, Ruby, you did betray Zoe’s trust, you can’t expect her to forgive and forget in two seconds flat. Also Zoe had a whole other plotline.
Saint Annabeth’s halo slipped when it turned out that the real reason she turned down Lemon’s, admittedly rash-seeming, proposition they start a catering company together was because she’d already started one herself. Though I could see why she’d want to do it without Lemon.
Rose was the current receptionist, and she was interested in a new, heartbroken guy at school. Brick turned out to be spot-on about Dr Zoe’s effect on the school football team, as kicker Max got over his broken heart by falling for her. In Zoe’s clueless defence, she patted his head, but a hormonal teenage male wasn’t going to read that sign.
Zoe was soon relieved of her delusions that she’d made Max think of Rose like that in public before Wade (who thought glow-in-the-dark underwear was romantic?) and Rose by a FLASH MOB!
George ended up getting Lemon to help AB cater when the party numbers doubled, and AB had to accept it after some sniping and Cricket as a decoy.
Lavon didn’t listen to Ruby and tried to get her cranky grandfather to like him and accept their rekindled romance, which predictably ended up with things being even worse.
Lemon stepped all over AB’s feelings in order to get the party started, but AB fought back. Geroge felt guilty and tried to get them to see they worked better together, although, like AB said, it tends to be Lemon’s way or the high way.
The town, Brick and a laughing Wade forced Zoe to have a dinner with Max and lead him on until after the game, until things got so icky that she ended his delusions. Also she’d been needled by Rose and a friend. Obviously, Zoe was tactless about this, but would later point out to Wade that at least Max put himself out there, showed his feelings and that that was the level of romance she wanted. She then went and gave an appropriate ‘buck up, little kicker’ talk to a desolate Max.
Grandpa told Lavon he was being mean to him because …he was afraid Lavon was keeping his grand-daughter in Bluebell and holding her back (although in fairness she’s a grown woman now, it’s her choice.)
Ghosts 4.2
VERY satisfying episode, actually, lots of character work and sympathetic developments, and even a few chuckles. Mary apparently finally told the rest the tale of her death by witch-burning, but all we heard was the plot of two feckless men who got up the rumour against her to save their skins, and what happened after she died. But the tale traumatised the ghosts enough that Pat cancelled all scheduled events for the day. It was meant to be a time of reflection but they all ended up doing something else. We had Kitty trying to teach the captain how to live for the moment, Pat finding his inner prison warder as he and Humphrey’s head tried to help Thomas go cold turkey over Alison, who had felt she was neglecting the ghosts and tried to reconnect with them, ending up spending most time with Robin and Lady Button, who revealed she visits the pet cemetery once a week. Which was oddly touching.
Julian and we, but mainly we, got to hear the tales of Mary’s early years as a ghost. And it was interesting to see her, Robin and Humphrey’s head when she wouldn’t talk and Robin wasn’t speaking much English. (I had always assumed Mary was from an earlier period.) But then Annie died during the time of the Puritans (?) who were mainly depicted as horrible men, and forced Mary to ‘speak as she found’ and finally succeeded, leading to a lovely montage where Mary spoke her piece around the soon to be ghosts (‘I could sneeze better poetry’ at Thomas, indeed) until Annie ascended, and we were reminded that this could be the end of the show, (and it was rather horrid to think of losing one of them.)
It also got fairly trippy with Thomas’s delirium, as he saw Alison in all the other ghosts.
As for the currently living, we could go, ‘It’s going to get worse,’ as Alison and Mike realised they hadn’t accounted for the gatehouse leading to higher energy bills. Old friends of Mike’s turned out to be their latest guests and into something that looked like a cult, smelled like a cult and probably was a cult. The Coopers were too nice to talk their way out of it, until Julian’s mansplaining and Lady Button’s response inspired Alison to reveal she could talk to the ghosts. So she got out of attending the culty do by telling the truth and being herself. Thomas’s cold turkey stint didn’t work, but that was partly Alison’s fault too.
4.3
THE SORRY SONG!!!
I also liked that Humphrey’s head was around. The moment the ghosts decided that whoever Alison liked the most ought to apologise was a major ‘uh-oh’. But THE SORRY SONG. I joined in with Alison to tell Mike he had no idea (how weird what was going on was). Because it was that. And more.
But that the ghosts left the glowing review as her guests was heart-warming. I liked how the episode ended as it had begun, with a lecture, only it was Mary lecturing Alison.
Everything that Mike tried to do for Alison going wrong was only eh, although his contact with the outside world was the funniest, while the ghosts seein him running about starkers twice was…quite something.
I am so behind on this series.
Has anyone seen the tourist ad for Australia? It’s quite the production, mixing animated stuffed toys with real life footage of the country’s stunning scenery. Roo, an upbeat kangaroo who wanted to see Uluru and everything, was voiced by Rose Byrne, and her buddy was unicorn Louie, a sham magician who somehow helped her achieve it. It made sense that he came across as GOB Bluth’s spirit (stuffed) animal, as he was voiced by Will Arnett.
[Edited for typos 10/2/25.]
