Various things
Oct. 9th, 2025 07:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessSad news to hear of Patricia Routledge’s passing. Her work as Hyacinth Bucket and stage work got mentioned the most on the news, but I am so glad that I saw her turn in the 70s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. Learning that she had a fine singing voice and part of her theatre work was musical theatre makes sense.
In other news, Taika Wahiti may be working on a new Judge Dredd movie adaptation. Not sure what I think of that…
The Better Sister - 1.4 Gazpacho
More about the emotional than the investigation, really. It started with a dream scene that Chloe was having of her father’s wake, with the rest of the episode making more sense of some of it. Nikky went to see Ethan, who’d got beaten up at the correctional facility, where she also learned that he’d barely got any therapy over the years. She also attended an AA meeting where we learned that her (alcoholic) father probably introduced her to booze. After it, another man who was there (who looked like her father) said that in his experience, keeping secrets was poisonous.
Both sisters were reverting to smoking, BTW. The story of Chloe having married her brother-in-law had broken, something she and Adam hadn’t told the people in their lives. Nikky had just been Adam’s ex to them.
According to Katherine, Chloe’s position was being considered by ‘the board’ (we never see her interacting with them, it’s all on Katherine’s word) and she should turn up to a wake Katherine was holding for Adam’s friends that night. Chloe was hounded by paparazzi as she returned to New York. She tried to explain herself – and it sounded as though it had been more about Ethan – to her fancy man, but then she saw something I couldn’t make out on his phone that suggested he’d been breaking confidences.
Prompted by her fellow alcoholic’s advice, Nikky disclosed that their drunk father had attempted to have sex with her, she’d told her mother, who had given him an ultimatum to sober up and that was why locks had been put on the girls’ doors. Chloe had only remembered the last point. She’d been holding on to an idealised idea of her childhood, while knowing that her veteran father was a drunk and blaming Nikky’s issues on a flaw in Nikky’s character, and so she rejected this. Admittedly, it wasn’t the best time to share this, but when would be? (Also, Nikky was totally keeping the fact that Ethan had been beaten up a secret from Chloe, as he’d asked.)
And so the sisters went to the wake, where Katherine said that the board had decided Chloe should temporarily step away (possibly boosted by her not having produced a riposte to the news story, because Ethan’s lawyer said that silence from them would be best for Ethan.) A lot of men wanted to talk at her, while Nikky had started drinking (and flirting with the waiter, it being the kind of intimate wake where you have wait staff.)
Chloe found out that they were bringing forward the date of Ethan’s hearing, tried to get Nikky to stop drinking and leave, and failed. So she went home, somewhat drunk herself, ended up in Adam’s car, and had a flashback of their father drunk driving, and Nikky holding her hand protectively. Nikky was dropped off at the holiday home by the waiter (after having sex with him) and was drawn by the pool, where she not only saw her father’s ghost, but also, boxing her in, Adam – which was most intriguing, that to her he was as threatening as the father who’d introduced her to alcohol and tried to rape her.
We had a bit of the detectives, with him being perturbed that Chloe had demanded Adam’s body for cremation as soon as might be possible. Chloe also saw and talked to Adam’s ghost. (Having both sisters talking to ghosts makes this more supernatural than if it was just the expression of grief of one of them, which is to say I’m a bit dubious of this choice.)
Countdown 1.3 - Happy Birthday Final
The ep started with a glimpse into some of the taskforce’s personal lives: Meacham and his headaches, (really, the man shouldn’t be driving and should be on sick leave) Oliviera being tempted by the drugs she’d kept, and Finau turning 40 and having an adorable family.
The big thing, as trailed, was that once Shepherd had said that the Toaster Repairman/Bomber’s name was Belarussian (way to chicken out on calling an illegal war an illegal war, show), Meacham said he should be put back into prison undercover, because his cellmate, who trusted him and owed him one, was Belarussian and connected to the Belarussian underworld in LA. Cue a conversation between the taskforce leader and the prison warden (who had RIDICULOUS hair). The warden didn’t want Meacham back, so they came up with a fake transfer of their guy Timur.
Meacham and the rest faked an escape – Oliviera was really into it, Finau was not, but that was mainly because Meacham shot live ammunition near his head. Timur led Meacham to his uncle’s place, but didn’t spill much, presumably because he didn’t know much. Meacham would end up wandering around, walking into planning central, not have enough time to take pictures on the stolen phone, get caught, and would have got executed had Oliviera not been worried by what he’d said to her in their last conversation, when he’d checked in. So, back-up arrived in the nick of time!
There was some business about the team leader’s deputy’s grief over his dead son and him lashing out when the ambitious DA came complaining about the taskforce letting loose a dangerous criminal. There was also some business with Shepherd awkwardly trying to arrange a cake for Finau, having invaded everyone’s privacy and found out it was his birthday. Bell got roped into all this, and didn’t know whether to find her adorkable or not, and I can’t blame him. (What was that whole brag about bringing down her corrupt teacher getting her to Stamford?)
It all ended up in a gunfight against the backdrop of a fire to get rid of evidence, and they set it up to look as though Finau would get shot on his birthday, when he was missing the dinner his wife had arranged for work. BUT! It was the already tragic deputy who got shot. (I didn’t see it coming, but I’m not watching this with my brain fully engaged.)
In other news, Taika Wahiti may be working on a new Judge Dredd movie adaptation. Not sure what I think of that…
The Better Sister - 1.4 Gazpacho
More about the emotional than the investigation, really. It started with a dream scene that Chloe was having of her father’s wake, with the rest of the episode making more sense of some of it. Nikky went to see Ethan, who’d got beaten up at the correctional facility, where she also learned that he’d barely got any therapy over the years. She also attended an AA meeting where we learned that her (alcoholic) father probably introduced her to booze. After it, another man who was there (who looked like her father) said that in his experience, keeping secrets was poisonous.
Both sisters were reverting to smoking, BTW. The story of Chloe having married her brother-in-law had broken, something she and Adam hadn’t told the people in their lives. Nikky had just been Adam’s ex to them.
According to Katherine, Chloe’s position was being considered by ‘the board’ (we never see her interacting with them, it’s all on Katherine’s word) and she should turn up to a wake Katherine was holding for Adam’s friends that night. Chloe was hounded by paparazzi as she returned to New York. She tried to explain herself – and it sounded as though it had been more about Ethan – to her fancy man, but then she saw something I couldn’t make out on his phone that suggested he’d been breaking confidences.
Prompted by her fellow alcoholic’s advice, Nikky disclosed that their drunk father had attempted to have sex with her, she’d told her mother, who had given him an ultimatum to sober up and that was why locks had been put on the girls’ doors. Chloe had only remembered the last point. She’d been holding on to an idealised idea of her childhood, while knowing that her veteran father was a drunk and blaming Nikky’s issues on a flaw in Nikky’s character, and so she rejected this. Admittedly, it wasn’t the best time to share this, but when would be? (Also, Nikky was totally keeping the fact that Ethan had been beaten up a secret from Chloe, as he’d asked.)
And so the sisters went to the wake, where Katherine said that the board had decided Chloe should temporarily step away (possibly boosted by her not having produced a riposte to the news story, because Ethan’s lawyer said that silence from them would be best for Ethan.) A lot of men wanted to talk at her, while Nikky had started drinking (and flirting with the waiter, it being the kind of intimate wake where you have wait staff.)
Chloe found out that they were bringing forward the date of Ethan’s hearing, tried to get Nikky to stop drinking and leave, and failed. So she went home, somewhat drunk herself, ended up in Adam’s car, and had a flashback of their father drunk driving, and Nikky holding her hand protectively. Nikky was dropped off at the holiday home by the waiter (after having sex with him) and was drawn by the pool, where she not only saw her father’s ghost, but also, boxing her in, Adam – which was most intriguing, that to her he was as threatening as the father who’d introduced her to alcohol and tried to rape her.
We had a bit of the detectives, with him being perturbed that Chloe had demanded Adam’s body for cremation as soon as might be possible. Chloe also saw and talked to Adam’s ghost. (Having both sisters talking to ghosts makes this more supernatural than if it was just the expression of grief of one of them, which is to say I’m a bit dubious of this choice.)
Countdown 1.3 - Happy Birthday Final
The ep started with a glimpse into some of the taskforce’s personal lives: Meacham and his headaches, (really, the man shouldn’t be driving and should be on sick leave) Oliviera being tempted by the drugs she’d kept, and Finau turning 40 and having an adorable family.
The big thing, as trailed, was that once Shepherd had said that the Toaster Repairman/Bomber’s name was Belarussian (way to chicken out on calling an illegal war an illegal war, show), Meacham said he should be put back into prison undercover, because his cellmate, who trusted him and owed him one, was Belarussian and connected to the Belarussian underworld in LA. Cue a conversation between the taskforce leader and the prison warden (who had RIDICULOUS hair). The warden didn’t want Meacham back, so they came up with a fake transfer of their guy Timur.
Meacham and the rest faked an escape – Oliviera was really into it, Finau was not, but that was mainly because Meacham shot live ammunition near his head. Timur led Meacham to his uncle’s place, but didn’t spill much, presumably because he didn’t know much. Meacham would end up wandering around, walking into planning central, not have enough time to take pictures on the stolen phone, get caught, and would have got executed had Oliviera not been worried by what he’d said to her in their last conversation, when he’d checked in. So, back-up arrived in the nick of time!
There was some business about the team leader’s deputy’s grief over his dead son and him lashing out when the ambitious DA came complaining about the taskforce letting loose a dangerous criminal. There was also some business with Shepherd awkwardly trying to arrange a cake for Finau, having invaded everyone’s privacy and found out it was his birthday. Bell got roped into all this, and didn’t know whether to find her adorkable or not, and I can’t blame him. (What was that whole brag about bringing down her corrupt teacher getting her to Stamford?)
It all ended up in a gunfight against the backdrop of a fire to get rid of evidence, and they set it up to look as though Finau would get shot on his birthday, when he was missing the dinner his wife had arranged for work. BUT! It was the already tragic deputy who got shot. (I didn’t see it coming, but I’m not watching this with my brain fully engaged.)
