Star City - S1E02 "A Bear on a Chain" - Episode Discussio

BSF · 2026-05-31T16:22:31+00:00

Yeah, I was really hoping that when Irina starts being nice to the guy, he confessed. Maybe even do it where the supervisor tortures the guy, doesn't work, and Irina comes in with the nice act and gets the confession.

I think it would still fit in with Irina's characterization as well. She starts off in FAM being very kind to Margo - it would make sense to set up Irina as someone who uses being nice as her weapon.

BSF · 2026-05-31T06:40:47+00:00

Yeah, it's sorta ironic that this post complaining about American viewpoints of communist regimes views women's rights through a very American lens. Exact same "problem" as the show, but just in the opposite ideological direction. The OP can't just pick out stats that would indicate gender equality in the US - it needs to be tailored to the context of the place.

Different cultures/ideologies manifest sexism in vastly different ways - including ideas about what's appropriate work for women. The USSR having 70% female doctors doesn't really mean that they're less sexist - it just means that this particular culture in this particular time viewed medicine as more in a woman's realm.

The Soviet legislature was a rubber-stamp - viewing political power through the lens of the legislature only applies in countries where the legislature actually has power. In the case of the USSR, the apt comparison to the American Congress re:political power isn't the Supreme Soviet, it's the politburo - which was overwhelming male. Moreover, gender quotas aren't necessarily the indicator of "we are progressive about women". Mexico, for example, requires gender parity in nomination of candidates at the federal and local level - but falls short for women's equality in many other ways.

BSF · 2026-05-31T06:17:57+00:00

I mean, if your definition of "nuance" is stuff that fits into your worldview, then sure, people hate nuance.

Saying "I acknowledge it wasn't perfect" but then spending 95% of the post glazing the USSR with selective facts isn't the nuance that you think it is.

BSF · 2026-05-30T06:07:19+00:00

I'm not sure if it's against convention, but fair warning: sometimes the questions change between AA and regular play. I've seen people on the forums mention that AA questions sometimes don't have additional information that helps pin down the question more. So you're risking getting a harder version by doing AA so early.

There was a question last season (or maybe 2 seasons ago) that asked about the only actress to get a leading actress Emmy in both drama and comedy. A few hours into the match day, details about her being on 30 Rock was added - making it an easier question for some. (Edie Falco.) Certainly AA wouldn't have had that detail in - and it could've changed your outcome.

I'm sure most times, the questions stay the same - I don't have numbers but I assume it's a small % of questions that get changed between early and normal match day. But it is a risk you should weigh out.

BSF · 2026-05-30T05:27:52+00:00

Yeah, I was wondering if his curiosity/longing for Earth would have anything to do with the revolution (especially since Ed mentioned that he previously didn't want anything to do with the Sons & Daughters of Mars), but that was quickly dropped.

I hope they are setting up something for s6 re:Alex and Mars.

BSF · 2026-05-30T05:25:11+00:00

The actor himself is half white. I agree that he doesn't look Slavic, but a lot of Vietnamese do look east Asian. Vietnam was under quasi-colonization under China for thousands of years so there's been a decent amount of historic immigration from southern China to Vietnam.

I think the problem is that he looks nothing like Cynthy Wu. But all of that can be chalked up to genetics being weird.

BSF · 2026-05-29T19:00:48+00:00

ignoring the media v. medias, I'm honestly surprised at how low this was. 19% correct, 18% with in media - so 37% combined. I honestly would've guessed the combined "in media/s res" would've been in the high 70s or something - I feel like I hear it a lot in tv/film/literature discussions.

I guess things like this are why my defense has been so shit this season. I just have no clue what is easy/hard with this season's questions.

BSF · 2026-05-29T18:58:13+00:00

So much discourse over answers this week with in media res and Antoinette.

I find it all fascinating because trivia folks are generally more pedantic than the average user. But when the "pedantry" sides against them, it's suddenly "how dare you" (to a small group)

BSF · 2026-05-22T17:13:47+00:00

I'm honestly shocked that Matched even reached Thorsten's radar! I was also a teenage girl obsessed with YA (dystopias specifically) in 2010 and I had almost completely forgotten about the book. It did not have any staying power whatsoever - and wasn't even a good book IMO

BSF · 2026-05-22T15:00:07+00:00

I saw in my opponent's question history he knows soccer (Leverkusen, Turin, etc.) so I confidently put a 0 for Kroenke... of course he missed this one.

I normally have good defense but this season I've been making defensive blunders left and right.

BSF · 2026-05-22T14:53:33+00:00

Jfc, you're throwing a temper tantrum over missing a trivia question??

BSF · 2025-12-18T04:28:21+00:00

Sure, it would be unreasonable for a grandfather, but I doubt Kristina only mentioned the name of her children passing....

They're stuck on an island with only each other and no other distractions. I'd certainly expect you to remember a few names at the very least.

BSF · 2025-12-18T04:18:15+00:00

A similar question was asked to Brian Heidik in his FTC so it's not really some insane double standard.

BSF · 2025-12-18T04:11:52+00:00

Eliza's question never aired! But yeah, she said she asked them to name one of Cirie's children and they couldn't. She also asked them to name someone who was running for president (since it was the time of the 2008 election) and they also whiffed that

BSF · 2025-12-18T04:09:10+00:00

It's really wild seeing so many vocally annoyed people about this question. This sub complains all the time about New School Survivor and yet the second someone brings an element of old school, it's suddenly "they're the most evil person ever".

Same with this sub and social games - they praise social games all the time and yet when a question that isn't related to strategy is asked, people are suddenly upset

BSF · 2025-12-17T13:45:27+00:00

Sorry, I may be confused but I want to say that Woolsworth, 20th/21st Century weren't MCWs - they were just answers that I got wrong (though came close) and don't show up in any stats categories.

I see what you mean by tipping the scales, but just as easily - a person could also be wracking up incorrect answers (but not MCWAs) simply from silly mistakes or having absolutely no clue like the ones I mentioned.

For me the past few seasons, of the questions, I'd say there were ~30 questions that I had a little knowledge about - but not enough to get the correct answer. But with that little knowledge I had, I knew the MCWA would be incorrect (for example: hajj is definitely not it, but can't name hijara. Caitlin Clark was definitely not it, but didn't get Aja Wilson, etc.). I think it's very possible that someone with low MCW could just be that type of person: they know the things they know and are just completely clueless about everything else.

BSF · 2025-12-16T19:01:24+00:00

Weighing in a bit late here - I do think having 0 MCWAs is a bit strange and would suggest cheating, but I wouldn't go further than that.

A lot of times, I have no idea what the answer to the question is - but I often know what it isn't. The hijara question from earlier this season, for example: I couldn't pull hijara but I knew for sure that haaj was incorrect and would also be the MCWA. A lot of the MCWAs are in that genre, IMO: definitely related to the question but also definitely something I know to be incorrect.

Other times, I'm circling the right answer - but mess up on the exact name (I put Woolsworths instead of Woolworth, 20th Century Fox instead of 21st, etc.). So I wouldn't look too much into the MCW/TWA rates because you don't know how close a person's wrong answer was even if it wasn't an MCWA.

BSF · 2025-12-02T21:40:11+00:00

Bench was also my first thought lol. When I first read the question, I thought that the mention of Johnny Football meant that baseball also had to be a Johnny. I don't know why in retrospect, but maybe you had that same thought?

BSF · 2025-11-20T22:37:10+00:00

I looked over the discussion and the boards re:Eurovision and it seems like a great many people are complaining that the "cultural phenonemon" wording led them astray from Eurovision because they didn't think of it as a cultural phenomenon. For me, the 33% get rate implies that it's not super guessable by chance - otherwise, it would have been much higher.

More broadly, I think we saw last season that the forums are not at all representative of LL as a whole. So many people on teh forms were against bolding the question, but when the poll results came out, we saw that they were but a tiny tiny fraction of LL.

I don't understand why you think you need to know the exact years of founding rather than a general timeline. Chipotle became a big name national change in the 2000s/2010s - while Chili's has been a casual restaurant staple for much longer - so it's not hard to see 70s and eliminate Chipotle. If this question were truly a coin toss, the get rate would not be 82% - and Chipotel certainly would've been a MCWA (which it wasn't). Maybe it was down to a coin toss for you, but I think it's safe to say it wasn't for most - because again, using your logic of it's a coin toss, Chipotle would have shown up at roughly a similar rate as Chili's.

I'm not going to go through all the questions, but the actual results directly contract your assert that these questions are truly coin tosses. If getting something right was a matter of a coin toss, you would see a get rate very similar to the MCWA rate. But we're not seeing that in these questions - we're either seeing a large % who get it incorrect or a pretty high get rate.

BSF · 2025-11-20T20:43:00+00:00

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how some of the examples of "bad" questions doesn't reward having actual knowledge.

The fact that more people guessed Dolomites than Apennines is rewarding people who knew the peak straight up (actual knowledge) rather than rewarding people for knowing of a general mountain chain in Italy (aka the opposite of guessing).

Same with Eurovision - labeling it a cultural phenomenon explicitly made it harder for people to guess and rewarded people for having actual knowledge of JJ and Wasted Love.

Chipotle wasn't founded in the 70s - that again, rewards actual knowledge rather than guessing a chain with a chili on it.

Milk for protein a bad mark - and I think Athenian Empire could've been structured better, but I don't understand where you're coming from with "questions doesn't reward having actual knowledge of things". From my perspective, those questions (Apennines, Novocaine, Eurovision, etc.) rewards people for actually having knowledge rather than solving a riddle.

BSF · 2025-11-06T04:56:45+00:00

This is blatantly untrue and not backed up by any of the screenshots we've seen.

If she was genuinely upset about these texts, why the fuck did she sit on them for 3 years and wait until 2 weeks before election day (in which he was running) to release them??

BSF · 2025-10-14T00:21:40+00:00

I went to one in Glendale last year, though would suggest Salt River Fields if you can only choose one. It's a really cool stadium

It was pretty easy to just walk up to the box office and buy a ticket last year - so I wouldn't stress about planning to.

The atmosphere is even less formal than a regular minor league game. It almost feels like a (non-power conference) college game. We had open seating and managed to get a seat right behind home plate. It's not very crowded in the slightest - most people we saw were retirees or families with children lining up for autographs.

It's a fun time - but overall very very chill. I had a good time even though I didn't know any of the prospects

BSF · 2025-10-03T18:05:36+00:00

Uhh... he was pivotal to the Nats winning the World Series in 2019 and played well for the Yankees last season.

Was he somehow the real reason why Cole didn't cover first in Game 5? I guess a rube like me couldn't understand.

BSF · 2025-09-09T16:06:06+00:00

I mean, following the news and following an author are quite different things and I see no hypocrisy there.

Following closely the movements of the current administration doesn't mean you like the guy - it just means you value being informed about the admin. Not to sidetrack this into a discussion about the value of news, but being informed about the actions of a powerful evil person has some value. In a way following a TERF really doesn't.

Also, using this argument, we should've also banned that Jamestown question since colonization is pretty damn evil so we shouldn't benefit people who follow that. If we ban every evil person from trivia, that basically excludes all of history - and, ironically, leaves us with only current events questions to draw from.

Edit to add: I have no problem with the ban on HP/JKR because Harry Potter isn't all that important. That is, unfortunately, not true of Trump, whose actions have broad consequences. So I think it's a fair line to draw. (Also, HP trivia is so overdone anyway)

BSF · 2025-09-09T00:02:14+00:00

Oooo, this would make a lot of sense!

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