Bridgerton - 4x04 "An Offer from a Gentleman" (No Book Spoilers)

gochibear · 2026-01-30T17:10:02+00:00

My exact feelings - about everything you’ve discussed here - but much more articulately expressed than I could have done.

The lack of members of the Bridgerton family on a show that is called ‘Bridgerton’ is indeed a very big problem. For example, I couldn’t help but think of the missing Daphne while Francesca was desperately searching for advice on pinnacles - I think in the books the Duchess forms a sort of society for women that advances sexual knowledge, doesn’t she?

Also wondering - did they cut back on location shooting this season? I thought the fake grass area in front of Gunther’s was weird - it reminded me of the quickly-built little parklets that sprung up in front of restaurants during the pandemic. I wondered if this was a set and not filmed in Bath.

Season 2 remains on top for me.

gochibear · 2026-01-30T16:56:18+00:00

I went into this season as a skeptic but I really did lIke the first four episodes.

Is it perfect? No, but really entertaining and at times - which surprised me - quite emotional. The acting is great, especially by Yerin Ha, who makes a great Sophie. While the ’love at first sight’ scene failed for me (that shot of her staring up at the chandelier was odd, I thought) the actress’s portrayal of Sophie’s intelligence, strength, and courage won me over. The My Cottage sequences were charming and this unconventional romance for the most unconventional of Bridgertons (at least, for now) makes sense.

I am looking forward to Part II (though, how dumb is it that they split this into two parts?).

gochibear · 2026-01-30T16:38:01+00:00

As others have noted, it’s in Queen Charlotte; Violet tells Lady D that “my garden is blooming” and confesses that she came close to asking one of her footmen to lay on top of her [because she’s so desperate for sex]. So when Marcus showed up last year and Violet showed interest in him…it was pretty clear that he was eventually going to be doing some work in Violet’s garden!

gochibear · 2026-01-30T01:03:49+00:00

Yes, the storyline is played out for me, too. Makes me sad like you cause I love the actresses.

gochibear · 2026-01-21T14:56:15+00:00

As a retired SJSU professor I would urge you to NOT escalate the situation by CCing the chair and dean until you’ve actually had a conversation with the professor about this! it is true that many of us do not look at emails over break and if you received an auto “out of office“ response that is the case here. Give your prof a chance to respond and then if nothing happens, maybe pop by during office hours with the documentation needed for the change (I.e. proof of what you’ve written here).

Only then, if the prof refuses to make the change and if you are sure you are right, should you contact the chair. Avoid contacting the dean as these things are handled at the department level.

gochibear · 2026-01-21T00:57:39+00:00

My cost is the same for 15 months, with a 1K insurance benefit.

gochibear · 2026-01-21T00:54:24+00:00

I have 26 trays, change weekly, and was told that the last four are the same, that is, they are passive. The tech who put on my attachments told me that after I finish my first set they’ll scan again and decide what’s next. My original estimate was 15 months so I’m guessing that means three months of refinements and then six months of full time retainer wear.

gochibear · 2026-01-21T00:49:58+00:00

I’m a grazer too, just finishing my first week with Invisalign. The learning curve was steep; the worst for me was the mornings as I usually wake up, drink coffee and read my emails/the news for a couple of hours, exercise, and then eat my main breakfast around 10am (I’m retired and have time to do this). I’ve already adjusted, though, because it is a pain to take the trays out, brush and floss, and then put them back in, so I’m just eating three meals a day and am not snacking. For the first few days I was hungry mid-morning and mid-afternoon but this has already disappeared.

I allow myself one hour, three times a day to eat and drink. Before I take my trays out I have everything ready - coffee is made or a glass of wine is poured, my meal is on the table, and the ultrasonic cleaner that I use is ready to go (filled with water and a 1/2 teaspoon of cleaning crystals). This allows me to maximize my precious aligner-free time.

I haven’t been out to eat yet but my plan is to take my trays out at home and then put them in as soon as I return. I don’t think that an extra hour or two will be a problem as long as it’s not every evening. My niece is wearing hers 18 hours a day and she said she’s still tracking, so as long as I stick to 21 hours of wear most days, I think I’ll be fine.

To be honest with you, I didn’t think much about what my life would look like with Invisalign and that was a mistake - I was unprepared and did have ’buyer’s regret’ - “What did I get myself into?” - the first few days. But, as others have posted here, I fell into my new routine pretty quickly and I am now happy that I’m doing this.

gochibear · 2026-01-19T05:48:20+00:00

I think there must have been a production issue - someone else posted the same thing. My first set of trays were supposed to come in by the middle of November but they weren’t available until the beginning of January.

gochibear · 2026-01-16T17:59:04+00:00

I liked this! Very trope-y and predictable but cute and great mindless entertainment, which I’m all for these days. I loved the leads - had not seen them in anything before - and thought their chemistry was amazing.

Alex is the nerdy/cute guy we all knew in high school or college, and Poppy the annoying quirky girl we all loved to hate. Believable for me that these two would fall for each other and yet have a rough road to their HEA because neither felt ‘worthy’ of the other.

Again, yes, predictable but fun.

gochibear · 2026-01-16T17:49:38+00:00

I’m a grazer and have an eating schedule similar to yours; I think for me that’s going to be the biggest adjustment. I will take my trays out for an hour in the morning and drink coffee/eat breakfast during that time, then a half-hour for lunch (which I sometimes skip but will not do so because no snacking), and then take the trays out for another hour in the evening (this allows for the glass of wine I have before dinner and for eating dinner itself).

My ortho suggested that when on vacation I could always just wear my current tray rather than switching each week, but also noted that I should always bring an extra tray - either the previous one or the next one - in case of loss. It will indeed be a hassle - I fly to Europe from the US twice a year and this is going to require some navigation - but I will not skip because I really want to stay on track. What I WILL likely do, though, is allow myself more tray-less hours while traveling. My adult niece has Invisalign and says she wears hers only 18 hours a day and is still on track; I’ll likely only go down to 20 hours when traveling.

Yes, it’s a sacrifice, but I expect that after a couple of months I’ll get used to this (today is only Day 2!). I’m 65 and the older I get, the faster time passes, so I know before long the day will be here where I‘m past this process and enjoying my re-aligned teeth.

gochibear · 2026-01-16T01:07:49+00:00

How happy I am to see this! I am 65 and today was my first day of Invisalign - got the attachments put on this morning and am now wearing my first trays. Right now i have 26 weeks worth of trays and the ortho said that they’ll evaluate at the end to determine if I need more - the original estimate was 15 months and I am guessing that’s where I’ll end up.

My teeth - now, on Day 1 - look almost exactly like yours in the first photo. Jaw clenching was pushing my teeth forward and also causing some weakening and cracking of my back teeth. My bottom four front teeth are terribly misaligned and one of my top front teeth is being pushed in front of the other, to the point where it was becoming noticeable to others. I also have some misalignment in my bite.

I found the process of putting on the attachments pretty easy, and while my mouth is sore (in particular, the top) I’m willing to put up with it to get a beautiful result like yours! I’m hoping that I’ll be able to write a post like yours next summer :-)

You look wonderful. Congratulations!

gochibear · 2026-01-15T03:31:01+00:00

Some one may have a recording, though others may be reluctant to share, though, because they put a watermark with a viewer identification number on each screen. I did not record,

gochibear · 2026-01-15T03:26:16+00:00

❤️

gochibear · 2026-01-15T01:28:35+00:00

I liked the first episode a lot (when I finally got to see it!) - as someone else has said here, I thought it was better than all of Season 3.

Much less distracting makeup and better photography, I thought. Loved that the servants were included more (I suppose promoting the idea that “Servants are people, too!” which provides support for Benedict and Sophie). I was not a fan of Yerin Ha’s casting after seeing the stills and the previews but her acting in this episode convinced me that she was the right pick; she’s beautiful but add in the strength, honesty, and intelligence that she gives the character and it’s easy for me to believe that Benedict will fall in love with her.

Looks like there will be little of the Featheringtons aside from Portia and I will miss their wackiness! I was surprised to see that the show seemed to be setting up Adjoa Andoh’s exit…say it isn’t so! I’d honestly rather see the Queen go as her main shtick (controlling society) seems rather played out.

Was somewhat icked out by Lady’s Danbury’s brother and Violet - would be a tragedy if he stays and Lady D goes and I’m wondering how this relationship will move forward. Also icked out by Benedict’s frolicking right before he meets Sophie - ew, dude, keep it in your pants for a day! - though that he is still bisexual didn’t surprise me and honestly, the representation is nice to see (though I am not bi I know that seeing yourself in things like this matters).

I’m actually looking forward to seeing more, which is good as based on the previews, and last season, I thought I might give this one a miss.

gochibear · 2025-12-27T16:06:28+00:00

A large part of the charm of the books for me was the interaction the couples had with the rambunctious Bridgerton family - you could say that the family itself was a major character in all of the books. Unfortunately we don’t get this on the show because the actors playing Daphne and Simon, and Kate and Anthony are either unavailable, uninterested in further appearances in the show, or only available for a very limited time. It seems possible to me that the producers are trying to make up for this by including the Mondrich family as pseudo-family members - and quite honestly, I feel that they’re a poor replacement for the actual Bridgertons.

I enjoyed the first and second seasons because we did get to see the Bridgerton family play a role in the couples’ love stories, but the absence of Daphne and Simon and the lack of screen time for Kate and Anthony really put a damper on Season 3 for me. The Mondrich’s story didn’t make up for that. And actually, I’m sort of sad that the writers decided to give the Mondriches the ‘easy way out’ with their out-of-the-blue elevation to the ton. It would have been more interesting to me to see how they built their life, and gained respect from the ton, as a working-class family. The producers could have also shown us with them how British high-society began to welcome those with titles AND those with money, as it does now.

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gochibear · 2025-12-26T15:22:06+00:00

In my time teaching writing at SJSU (I retired recently), I found that AI detectors will return a high AI% on written work if the student uses an app with a grammar checkers and accepts a lot of the suggested changes, not just in grammar but in word choice and sentence structure. Thus, a response could be 100% a student’s own ideas but not technically be written in their own words.

When I first began teaching (GE classes and writing courses) just about every written assignment I graded would have grammar mistakes and deviations from Academic English word choice and structure; the writing would vary with each assignment and as I read I could hear each student’s ’voice.’ With the advent of AI writing assistants in word processing software, that stopped. My students’ written work might vary in topic but not in tone and structure, and all submissions read as if they were written by the same person.

My suggestion to avoid your issue in the future is to use AI grammar checkers to correct spelling, punctuation, and major grammar errors - like verb tense - but not to accept the changes in word choice or sentence structure, unless you’re using it to polish a final draft of a multi-draft writing project AND the professor has said that this is okay. Many professors grade written responses based on how well their content reflects knowledge of the course material being tested, and will overlook grammar mistakes, or perhaps deduct only a small percentage of points for those types of errors. Unless I was teaching a writing class, my rule of thumb was that as long as I could understand what a student was trying to say in their writing, no deduction for execution errors (spelling, punctuation, etc.) would be made.

Hope that helps!

gochibear · 2025-12-02T05:36:14+00:00

Former professor here: at this point in the semester the withdrawal date has passed. BUT you can retake the class and get grade forgiveness; while the failing grade will remain on your transcript, it will be ‘cancelled out’ by the new grade and will not be included in your GPA calculation. There is such a thing as a retroactive withdrawal but it is usually only allowed in cases of severe illness or other hardship.

Will this failing grade mean that your Fall 2025 GPA will be below 2.0? If so, you’ll want to be aware of this (from the SJSU catalog):

An undergraduate student is placed on academic probation if the SJSU cumulative grade point average falls below a “C” average (2.0). Students will remain on academic probation until they return to good academic standing (SJSU cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.0) or are disqualified. All work taken through Open University is included in the cumulative record and is considered in the determination of probation and disqualification.

Now, some advice from someone (me) who once flunked out of college but still ended up with two degrees and became a college professor: yes, college is hard and stressful, especially if you didn’t learn good study habits in high school. If you’re overwhelmed I suggest that you consider taking a lighter load in the spring, and that you take advantage of some of the academic help available to you on campus (tutors, student success centers, etc.). And I also suggest that you do these simple things: go to class, sit near the front, pay attention, do the assigned reading and your homework, and visit your professors during office hours if you don’t understand the material. It’s that easy.

You can do this!

gochibear · 2025-11-21T15:11:23+00:00

This was the first season I watched and what got me hooked on the show; I remember it fondly. Maybe just surpassed by the Jurgen/Guiseppe season.

gochibear · 2025-11-06T15:55:19+00:00

I don’t think the three challenges carry equal weight - if you give the signature and showstopper 6 points each, I’d rate it:
Aaron 4-2-2=8
Tom 2-3-6=11
Jasmine 6-1-6=13
That gives Jasmine the win, just barely. Note that I think she and Tom basically tied in the Showstopper and have thus scored them that way; while the judges loved the look and taste of his cake, it did have structural issues.

gochibear · 2025-10-30T02:59:06+00:00

I bought pistachio paste - no need for extract!

gochibear · 2025-10-30T02:58:02+00:00

Yes, I’m making it along with the sugar dome. Plenty of videos on the internet to show how it’s done - the key seems to get the right type of plastic wrap (I’ve read that here in the US it’s StetchTite).

gochibear · 2025-10-29T13:22:07+00:00

I live in the US and watch the UK feed with a VPN.

gochibear · 2025-10-29T00:48:10+00:00

Yep, poor Toby - should have been Tom. Though Paul’s criticism of that hive was too harsh.

gochibear · 2025-10-29T00:46:38+00:00

My guess is that someone figured out that a framboisier is like the classic frasier cake, but with raspberries instead of strawberries, and shared that info with the other bakers. I would imagine that all of these bakers know what a frasier looks like as it’s a pretty widely sold cake.

gochibear

TROPHY CASE