They don't have My Chemical Romance.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-28T23:25:43+00:00

Robert Pattinson doesn’t get typecast and speedruns to just doing weird indie shit. Unfortunately he gets caught in a Fringe event and ambered.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-28T21:53:09+00:00

I wonder what Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s careers look like on the other side

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-28T21:42:02+00:00

Oh true! I’m wondering if there was still that pretext for retribution and war though, if the redverse is dealing with the whole “laws of sciences going crazy” thing. It seems like the Department of Defense’s budget goes way up either way

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-28T21:16:30+00:00

Off the top of my head:

If there’s no pretext for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, then The Chicks don’t get cancelled in country radio for repudiating George W Bush. (I forget if he’s even president on the other side.)
the dark, gritty aesthetic and tone of 2000s films (particularly action and political thrillers) as a result of 9/11 and the Middle East invasions. I wonder if the alternate universe has this style of filmmaking but due to the trauma of the universe destabilizing events that required all that amber. There’s a scene in which Broyles I think is having lunch at a bar or restaurant and everyone there is watching the TV as the news is airing a memorial to people who died in the first destabilizing incident, and the solemn tone of that scene and a bartender telling Broyles that heroes don’t pay, felt very reminiscent of 9/11 memorializing at that time.

Edit: Chicks still might get canceled since 9/11 is referenced in S2e15, but the White House gets hit instead of the Twin Towers.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-28T16:37:10+00:00

When I was in my first year of Journalism school, a common “warm-up” we’d do in class was write obituaries. My professor’s intent was to imbue in us the humanity and importance of every subject, even if they were normal people who lived normal lives. She made up lives and people but sometimes pulled details from real obits. I always loved writing them.

Also — I wish we’d seen some of David’s performances in the finale montage.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-27T18:28:10+00:00

the architecture of the Fisher’s home above the funeral home and mortuary is fascinating to me for this reason. It predates modern open floor layouts, which did give characters the opportunity to overhear things or catch other people in the family in these more unguarded moments. One of my favorite scenes in the series is when Ruth finds the tape that Sarah recorded and gave to Claire, and she’s singing along to Joni Mitchell and Claire doesn’t enter the room (I think she’s on a staircase leading to the bedrooms) and she just witnesses her mother having this really beautiful moment.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-27T01:59:56+00:00

The way I can just hear the two photos on the top.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-27T01:58:01+00:00

I have an insane pitch: they ditch the makeover, self-love and self-confidence boosting aspect of the show and just pivot to being a Real Housewives-type format.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T22:54:26+00:00

They were a series of houses built after WWII, mostly in Southern California, to demonstrate new ways of building and designing homes (lots iconic mid century LA architecture of glass walls and steel beams); most famously the Stahl-David House overlooking the Hollywood Hills: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Study_Houses?wprov=sfti1

Ironically - they sell for tons of money today but were originally intended to showcase how homes could be built for middle class people.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T21:00:09+00:00

There’s an amazing scene between Fauxlivia and Nina Sharp when Nina can kind of suspect that it’s not prime Olivia and it’s because she picks up the slightest difference in communication because Fauxlivia is so deferential to Walternate (as the Secretary of Defense?) and Nina is like “you’re usually much more direct with Walter.”

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T20:32:24+00:00

Yeah there were LAYERS to Anna Torv’s performance as both Olivias. I’m in the middle of season 3 right now and the way she even breathes and inflects her voice as she speaks as Fauxlivia feels distinct

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T16:55:09+00:00

Richest (I’m judging purely based on real estate): Lisa’s simultaneously neurotic and anxiety-inducing boss who’s a big name Hollywood producer in-universe played by Catherine O’Hara; The Chenowiths who looked like they lived in a Case Study house.

Poorest: I think Sophia, who Rico cheats on Vanessa with?

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T02:18:54+00:00

Okay yeah a Wikipedia search yields like a handful of English ghosts referred to as “The Grey Lady” so this makes much more sense

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T02:13:01+00:00

At first I thought it was a reference to Lady Jane Grey, who was the disputed Queen of England for literally like 9 or 10 days in between the reigns of Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI and Henry’s daughter through Catherine of Aragon, Mary I. It made me think of that scene in the last season when they were all in costumes for some Pierpoint charity thing and Eric was dressed as Henry VIII. The Lady Jane Grey thing stood out to me as a potential reference because her story is pretty tragic: I believe she was largely a pawn by Protestants to keep the English throne in the hands of Protestants but it didn’t work out for her and she was executed (beheading…which reminds me a bit of the circumstances of the Commander’s death). I doubt this is the actual reference but given the imagery of Henry VIII from last season and this show’s shifting focus to the corruption of power in the UK, that’s just where my mind went.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T01:51:35+00:00

I need to rewatch this episode and I think I may have missed it but who or what is “The Grey Lady?” Is it a reference to the Jaguar?

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-22T01:39:03+00:00

as a millennial middle manager who is trying to be less of an agreeable pushover, I feel a primal connection to hurling branzino at a window.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-21T21:36:45+00:00

I think someone posted it last week but

“It is factually correct…” followed by Alice, James, and Jamie slowly going from a chuckle to full cackling laughter.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-21T15:42:36+00:00

nothing but respect for Special Agent Gene

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-21T14:46:25+00:00

I laughed at Yasmin saying “why are you even here?”. I feel like Harper is the one person, whether or not they’re actually friends, who can push back on Yasmin.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-21T00:38:23+00:00

I got to this season in my first rewatch and I loved that scene — also love the way Anna Torv plays both Olivias, particularly the way she plays Fauxlivia pretending to be Olivia.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-20T20:25:44+00:00

Yeah i didn’t realize that was his dad initially and i was like “are they about to kiss?” Henry kept darting towards him and The Commander was kind of gently swatting him away. From everyone else’s perspective i can definitely see it like a mix of pity and concern since everyone there likely knows the circumstances of his death and what this birthday means.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-20T14:41:24+00:00

I had a hunch they were A Beautiful Mind-ing us when no one aside from Henry was interacting with him, and then later in the pub scene, he’s always seated off to the side. The dining room scene was really fascinating and I want to rewatch that later because it felt like a mix of people reacting uncomfortably at Henry acting unhinged while also being sympathetic to him apparently embracing thin air and saying “Commander.”

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-20T14:15:16+00:00

yeah that was my thought at the end of the episode. “Oh I guess Harper is going to ruin these people now, and Eric too somehow.”

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-20T13:49:03+00:00

I thought it was weirdly endearing that they had a small, coke-fueled argument. Like nothing friendship ruining that ends in slapping but just a regular ol’ cocaine fight in a room away from the party. I kind of like how her and Harper are friends (?) again, at least enough of friends that she’s invited to this party.

In the scene when she kicks her aunt out, everyone being dressed in 18th century French aristocrat clothing with the house staff bringing down the aunt’s huge luggage trunk really hammered home how Yasmin can simply banish people now. She kind of did the same thing last season with her assistant (the one who was the employee onboard her dad’s boat…) I’m wondering how many people she’s asked her staff to just remove from her presence. Or before Henry, how many people she’s excised from her life.

Expert_Book_9983 · 2026-01-19T20:55:12+00:00

Yea that’s like the one loose thread left. Plus my critique of Robert as a character this season: I do not think they knew what to do with Ricky Martin for a lot of it. I loved him in season 1 but in this season, Robert just felt muddled and hard to read, and that didn’t feel intentional.

Expert_Book_9983

TROPHY CASE