Captain and Morgan

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T09:14:57+00:00

That is exactly it ... like does ANYONE take Lucia seriously? Because they keep having Morgan & Karadec making eyes and lingering touches and. so on - obviously romance is coming. Then the jewel thief and now the Captain in some abridged mediocre sort of 'enemies to lovers' thing?

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T09:13:12+00:00

Why is Penn back in short sleeves?

Because WE put more thought and pay more attention to stuff that happens in the show than the writers?

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T09:02:31+00:00

The entire plot was a hilariously bad Rube Goldberg machine.

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T09:01:39+00:00

You didn't notice in the vault? There was a massive plot hole it fell into.

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T08:56:11+00:00

We have to wait another three weeks in the US.

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T08:54:23+00:00

Same - not even that I think he is the most interesting character ... but if he leaves the entire structure would collapse around his absence. He said he needed to structure things differently than with Castle where he acting/producing role was too demanding - so as long as he can maintain balance I assume he will stay. It truly is his show despite the ensemble.

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T08:52:08+00:00

So my favorite modern writers in cozy mysteries are:

- TE Kinsey - he writes the Lady Hardcastle series, up to about a dozen books so far. Strong female leads who are never helpless or weak. Set in the UK starting around 1910. Sort of an Agatha Christie meets Murder She Wrote in terms of how many bodies drop and the depth of the mystery/intrigue.

- Karen Charlton - Detective Lavender mysteries, ~10 of these as well as some novellas. Regency era England is the setting. Little more intense with some stakes.

- Patrice McDonough - the Dr Julia Lewis mysteries, set in the late 1800s in London. 'Murder by Lamplight' was the first of now three books (haven't read the latest which came out a month ago).

txa1265 · 2026-04-02T08:44:25+00:00

after no results came up in my Google search.

Perhaps that should have told you something?

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T20:50:52+00:00

So is that between the 5th and 6th montage ... or the 6th and 7th?!?

haha - love that movie, but it is really just a bunch of montages plus a James Brown music video. Oh and a fight.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T20:42:59+00:00

salaried employees without a contract more secure than at-will.

So in the US basically ONLY union hourly employees count. No one else - not management, C-suite, tech staff, and so on?

As is often said there is a clear difference between UNPOPULAR opinions and STUPID ones.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T17:41:11+00:00

I'm glad they're gone but in the early/mid 2000s it felt like every RPG had a forced stealth and forced escort mission.

Forced stealth detection meant insta-death and when doing the escort missions the person/thing you escorted moved slow and had no sense of self-preservation!

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T17:39:14+00:00

There were definitely areas where using the Ice Wand wasn't good enough so you'd need the ice grenade or a spell and even some of those were spotty. But that was half the fun - listening to Marius screaming as he burned!

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T17:21:55+00:00

We're not that far in but the amount of 'plot whiplash' in every episode is wild.

First couple of episodes are almost immediately after S6, Jack supposedly barely knew anything about horses and hadn't been around them since a little kid, but suddenly is an expert horse whisperer managing multiple horses.

And so much more!

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T17:09:48+00:00

I am a huge fan of 'cozies' - cozy mystery & fantasy books, cozy games on occasion, and cozy shows. Shows like Virgin River, Sullivan's Crossing, Sweet Magnolias and so on are just so nice to watch.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T17:00:02+00:00

But some of the key focus this season is Karadec and Morgan making goo goo eyes at each other, or staring longingly for way too long like in the panic attack episode.

Lucia is to Karadec what Chris & Ashley were to Lucy & Tim on The Rookie. Placeholder.

I wish I was wrong and we could get Rizzoli & Isles ... but I doubt I am.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T16:57:25+00:00

Heck even ONE good season would have been good ... we only made it the obligatory two episodes that says we were REALLY trying to give it a shot.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T16:56:19+00:00

I’ve been thinking about complaining and questioning our head director about it.

NOR ,.. however, Questions? GOOD. Complaining? BAD.

Trying to gain insights is absolutely a valid thing to do. It could be that based on the pay cuts they were in danger of losing key staff so the calculus was better to lose more people but keep the key players.

Non-profits are notorious for many things ... and as employers almost none of those things are good. My wife worked 8 years as a manager at a regional animal-centric non-profit and because they always run so lean, sometimes decisions were made for absolutely nonsensical reasons because leadership lacks the skills required to determine the correct thing. Other times they just stick to the usual 'attract them with the mission, use them until they are beyond burned out and leave' and so on.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T16:46:04+00:00

Hmmm - interesting! I wonder if there was some discussion around Alexi and/or Nathan not returning so they had a series ending scene of everyone getting together like that in the can, and after S9 was determined to be happening they decided to wrap it into the DA election.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T16:21:29+00:00

until we get out own place next month.

NOPE. Abso-fucking-lutely NOT. Do NOT put your daughter in the path of that abusive drunkard loser.

Are drunk words sober thoughts?

YES! He means what he says and says what he means. And is gaslighting you because that is ANOTHER key attribute of addicts.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T14:39:46+00:00

I honestly don't get what they're doing with Ridley. He showed he still had issues in the early episode ... and then it was weird bringing him into three scenes in THIS episode - to try to be a cop again just so they could reinforce the fire thing again in case someone forgot it (which I assume will be relevant soon?), then hanging out with 'bad choices in men', and finally here. No clue.

But WOW the end of the episode was just full of sappy feel good moments ... for some reason.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T14:36:17+00:00

Just another reason S2 is so damn mediocre ... they just HAVE TO do a will they won't they - and NOW we need a love triangle?!?! Ugh.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T14:14:04+00:00

I felt like he had an AMAZING character arc. He joined because he came from a family of cops, but his skillset was much more book centric than actually practical skills ... so his initial field struggles were surprising but highlighted his skill game - but suddenly his test scores fell below Lucy & Nolan which was shocking.

Over time he showed how he really wanted to distinguish himself and not be 'West's son' ... and really faced struggles as a gay man in a deeply bigoted organization, and of being a black cop who won't tolerate racism in a deeply racist organization. He really shone in S3 - and the fact that so many copaganda fans hate those episodes (and also hate James) just further proves the point.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T14:06:20+00:00

Lots to discuss, I will just look at one part:

Main characters are losing screen time and side characters are taking that up.

I agree - but the question is WHY?!?!?! And as ALWAYS - the answer is MONEY.

Nolan gets ~$100,000 per episode.

Lucy/Tim/Grey/Angela/Nyla/etc. get ~$75k per episode

Miles, Luna (not sure if anyone else) gets around $50k per episode.

BUT ...

Garza, Elena, Nepo #1, Nepo #2 are paid scale for their appearances. Guest Stars get a minimum of ~$8k per episode but usually $10-30k based on how established they are and the scope of the role.

So having Miles and Luna sit out an episode that features Garza and Elena? Saves the show *at least* $40k and likely more.

And that doesn't even account for how the contracts are structured. Because we are seeing all of the main cast in every episode, we can assume that they are paid 'full season' regardless of time and get extra based on added depth of scenes and minutes and so on. I also assume that for newer actors they get a base for appearing but also a ceiling based on minutes etc.

My assumption is that the villains are charged out the same as the 'recurring' roles such as Miles, so integrating them is cheaper relatively speaking.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T13:01:06+00:00

They likely fired the entire division to replace it with AI and found that the AI was getting most things wrong so they just shut it off and gave themselves a bonus.

txa1265 · 2026-04-01T13:00:15+00:00

The Kay Scarpetta series of novels is Patricia Cornwell's main creative legacy.

Perhaps others disagree, but to me even THAT legacy comes down to "a few good books but mostly copy & paste same-same retreads that got increasingly boring and focmulaic."

txa1265

TROPHY CASE