#yes i’m watching s2e20 and s2e21 what of it

[desolate-skies]

omar epps is an incredible actor and he doesn’t get enough credit for the way he plays foreman???this man shoves an insane amounts of nuance into every scene he’s in, and that’s probably why foreman’s the fellow that’s changed the most between seasons one and two? and the changes have felt gradual/realistic?

also, i am FASCINATED by the characterization of foreman as an actor. you can see him adopt the traits he admires from the people around him—house’s cold, unwavering certainty; cameron’s gentleness towards patients; even his father’s emotionless perfectionism. as he gains confidence in himself, there’s this growing sense that the foreman we see onscreen is somewhat detached from the foreman that exists outside of PPTH.

he is PLAGUED by the fear that maybe he really isn’t good enough…not at medicine, not at friendship, not even at running away from his past. so he starts to construct masks, and the viewer can watch him put them on.

in the episode where he tells cameron that they’re “colleagues, not friends”, there’s this incredibly intentional beat where you can almost see foreman stepping into his approximation of house’s casual cruelty. and—if i’m being delusional here, do NOT tell me—once you see through the facade once, you can’t help but continue seeing it.

especially in the euphoria two-parter (which i literally paused to write this post bc i feel insane rn) where he’s truly Going Through It, it just feels like a character study? you see the mask, but more importantly, you see it slip and then crack and then shatter. and through the terror and the desperation, you can still recognize foreman. and maybe it’s even a foreman that’s closer to the one we meet in season 1? and that, i guess, is acting!

(also, his dad is there! which explains a little too much!!! this is why you never let your friends colleagues meet your parents…)

[daymansbingerecapsandrankings]

(Originally written on October 8, 2020)

🎵Bang, Bang Bangedy Bang

I said a Bang Bang Bangedy Bang🎵

My How I Met Your Mother Thoughts

I just spent the last nine seasons in New York with the gang that spends all their time in MacLaren’s Pub. SELF FIVE! I have to say, this binge of How I Met Your Mother brought me so much happiness. I started watching this show for the first time back in high school, and I ended up watching the last six seasons as they aired. I remember loving this group of characters, and now I am reminded why. There’s so much chemistry between the five, and it makes for one of my favorite Comedies/Sitcoms of all time. If you’ve read any of my previous Show Thoughts, then you know I’ve been watching several over the course of this lovely Pandemic That Will Just Keep Going. After this rewatch, I’ve decided HIMYM is my third favorite Comedy/Sitcom, right after Boy Meets World and Scrubs.

Now, I know that the Finale is infamous. It’s in the Mount Rushmore of Terrible Endings, and people end up getting a sour taste in their mouth when they bring up the show. Well, it’s been some years. There’s been time to reflect and look back. And, while I’m not in favor of the Finale, I also don’t hate it anymore with the passion of a thousand suns. I just loved watching and growing with the gang, seeing them experience their highs and their lows, their triumphs and their failures. It just hits harder as an adult, like most of these shows assuredly do, and I cherish so many of these episodes and moments.

And now, my rankings for the seasons!

Seasons Rankings

1. Season One

2. Season Four

3. Season Two

4. Season Six

5. Season Eight

6. Season Five

7. Season Three

8. Season Seven

9. Season Nine

My rankings for the girlfriends, purely on how much I like them as a character

The Girlfriends Rankings

1. Robin

2. Tracy

3. Victoria

4. Zoey

5. Stella

6. Jeannette

And now, a ranking of my favorite episodes. From 1-50, these are the ones that stand out above the rest. I consider every single one of these enjoyable.

Favorite Episodes

1. Slap Bet (S2E9)

2. Come On (S1E22)

3. The Limo (S1E11)

4. The Best Burger in New York (S4E2)

5. Ten Sessions (S3E13)

6. The Pineapple Incident (S1E10)

7. Bachelor Party (S2E19)

8. Game Night (S1E15)

9. Oh, Honey (S6E15)

10. Glitter (S6E9)

11. The Duel (S1E8)

12. The Pilot (S1E1)

13. Arriverdverci, Fierro (S2E17)

14. The Over-Correction (S8E10)

15. How Your Mother Met Me (S916)

16. Intervention (S4E4)

17. The Magician’s Code, Part II (S7E24)

18. The Autumn of Break-Ups (S8E5)

19. The Ducky Tie (S7E3)

20. The Best Man (S7E1)

21. The Leap (S4E24)

22. Blitzgiving (S6E10)

23. Three Days of Snow (S4E13)

24. The Scorpion & The Toad (S2E2)

25. Bass Player Wanted (S9E13)

26. The Final Page, Part 2 (S8E12)

27. Duel Citizenship (S5E5)

28. Happily Ever After (S4E6)

29. Farhampton (S8E1)

30. Bro Mitzvah (S8E22)

31. Robin 101 (S5E3)

32. The Magician’s Code, Part I (S7E23)

33. Last Words (S6E14)

34. The Playbook (S5E8)

35. The Time Travelers (S8E20)

36. Splitsville (S8E6)

37. Subway Wars (S6E4)

38. Showdown (S2E20)

39. Drumroll, Please (S1E13)

40. Front Porch (S4E17)

41. Twin Bed (S5E21)

42. Who Wants to be a Godparent? (S8E4)

43. Girls vs. Suits (S5E12)

44. Something Borrowed (S2E21)

45. As Fast As She Can (S4E23)

46. The Wedding Bride (S5E23)

47. The Bracket (S3E14)

48. The Sexless Innkeeper (S5E4)

49. Third Wheel (S3E3)

50. Spoiler Alert (S3E8)

And now, just some thoughts on the show and on the gang!

Ted - I know people don’t like Ted. I don’t actually like Ted all that much. And yet, I found myself rooting for Ted just like I did the first go around. He’s not the worst person in the world, and I would be scared to see half of the decisions we’ve made in the dating game stringed together into a TV show. I know people wouldn’t like me very much for those decisions. Then again, I also don’t get super crazy about details about buildings, I don’t pronounce encyclopedia that way, and he tends to stick his foot in his mouth with this White Man confidence that I just don’t have. With all that being said, I still find Ted being a great friend, a man who is just trying to find the love of his life, and someone who really drives this story with great tales and narration (Bob Saget is the Sixth Man of the Show for just always bringing it). I think Ted does stupid things and he pretty much admits it after the fact. He learns, sometimes, and also doesn’t much like most of us. When he finally found the Mother, when he finally found Tracy, I cared. I cared so much, and I still do. Even though they just shit on her character and don’t give us enough time with her, I almost wonder if that’s a metaphor for the fact that you won’t always have enough time with your loved ones.

Robin - Let’s go to the mall! Yeah! Robin Sparkles is a Canadian Treasure, and so is Robin Scherbatsky. She is one of the best things about this show, and I love her so. Played by Cobie Smulders who I need to see in more stuff, Robin is who we all wanted Ted to maybe be with first. Then we go through all the loops of the HIMYM roller coaster, and a lot of us still wanted them to be together. I was one of them. Yet, she was more than just a romantic plot line for Ted. She was a part of the group who we got to see join it and evolve into a member of their family organically. Robin is fun, loud, full of fun quirks that we get to learn over the course of the series. I was heartbroken when we found out she can’t have children. I was loving the back and forth between her and Barney (the first time), and kind of mad at Barney about being such a crazy ass prankster the second time. Robin shows us just how amazing some gun loving, hockey obsessed Canadian news anchor can be, and how much she cares for her friends.

Lily - Justice Aldrin ends up being one of my favorite characters, even if that gets some curious looks. Yeah, she left Marshall for a summer. Yeah, she had some hesitancy with the marriage and everything. That happens. Lily was also always there for her friends, even if she ends up going a little overboard. She wants Ted to find happiness, and does whatever she can to help. She is there to listen to Robin at all times, and her and Marshall are easily one of the best relationships in TV I’ve ever witnessed. Then we have Lily and Barney which is honestly super underrated. Barney trusts Lily, even though she can’t keep a secret, with all of his emotional problems. Lily is who thought Barney could change before anyone else, and I love seeing their friendship grow from eye rolls to eye tears.

Barney - Oh, Barney. He honestly brings so much annoyance and fun to the show. He’s the friend of the gang who everyone tolerates. He’s the one in the gang who everyone ends up loving just as much as everyone else. Barney shows such a terrible face to the world, sleeping with over 250 women and lying to most of them. He has all these rules that aren’t very ethical. He gives us most of the Misogynism in this show, which is definitely prevalent and makes the show not as strong as it was in the first watch. Still, we get to see Barney grow into someone who wants real love and a happy life. Sure, they show us that his marriage to Robin only lasts three years, but at least they tried. Barney just couldn’t make it work, and that’s honestly who Barney really is. A person who just enjoys sleeping with different people. I was very warmed to see the baby reveal and that Barney becoming a dad was what would change him more than anything. Barney is an underrated friend, and his importance to the gang is legendary.

Marshall - I. Love. Big Fudge. He’s just so fun, caring, goofy, loyal, and everything that I aspire to be in life. For some reason, when watching the show the first time, I related to Ted the most. I was definitely a bit more selfish then. But now, I see that I am a Marshall. He wants to do good in the world, and it drives him so much. He only loves Lily, and his loyalty to their relationship is just Goals. He is also the most fun to watch having a crisis. He gets the big eyes and covers his mouth and just gets obviously super uncomfortable. Some of my favorite moments of the show are also Marshall’s talks with Ted about his feelings for Robin. Any one-on-ones with Marshall and someone else are probably my favorite moments. And yes, I will always root for him over those damn machines!

Last Thoughts:

Sure, the writing wasn’t as sharp or as witty in the later seasons, but I loved the story lines and seeing the gang just live.

Tracy was an amazing character as The Mother, and I truly wonder what could have been if they had given us two full seasons of story with her instead of any episodes of Jeannette.

I really can’t believe Ted told his kids all those stories. A fun premise for a show, but really, not very realistic telling them all that jazz.

Ranjit and Carl are such fun recurring characters that I always enjoyed seeing every time they popped up.

Out of all the recurring jokes and gags, which there are many (y’all said Community has so many, but HIMYM really swings for it), I love the Major/General salute joke. Idk if I just didn’t care for it the first time around or forgot about it, but I just love how silly it is and how they kept it through to the very last episode.

Watching the gang sit at their table in MacLaren’s just hanging out will always make me smile.

[feliciasink]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme originally from Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things I have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on my blog.

Hey you all, I’m so sorry for being absent these past few weeks. I haven’t been in my writing mood for a couple of months, but I been completely absent the past few weeks… So I’m gonna give you a recap of how these past 3 weeks have been for me…

So I started the week, 3 weeks ago, with going back to my speech therapist again. Yes, I stutter and yes, it will never go away completely… No big deal for me, but the techniques I learn there, help me in my daily life. I also went to the doctor’s for the pain in my right calf muscle.. He didn’t see anything, gave me painkillers and said it would go away… I got a bit irritated again, because it was blue, swollen and that’s the answer I almost always get.

School that week wasn’t very excited, I didn’t have a model so I had to train on my exercise head again. Did break my own record in doing a perm. We have to roll a complete perm in an hour max, and I did it in 50 minutes, my record was 52 =]

Thursday I had my last Taekwondo training before my exam on Friday. It was good to go over everything I had to do like kicks, techniques and walking my daeguk. Afterwards we went for a drink in town. It was really fun to socialize with the group and build my friendship with them. They told me the sweetest thing!! They said I was a really good and fun addition for the team =] To hear that makes me feel really good. I’ve lived in this area for three years now and still haven’t got any friends. So it really did do me good =] I’m happy to have found that group of people and really like them =]

So Friday was the big day for me. My first Taekwondo exam. It was really tough on my stamina hahahahah… I did make a few dumb mistakes. Like with the sparring part, I don’t have any protection yet, so I kicked against an elbow, it hurts like shit, and guess what��� a minute later I kicked with my other foot against the other elbow.. So it gave me two very blue feet, a few bruises on my arms and shins and the worst part to tell you guys… Before sparring I had to show kicking techniques on pillows my friend [she’s a black belt] held up. But she held up two for a jumping kick and because of my calf muscle I calculated my jumped kick to land on my left leg. But in the heat of the battle I had to do a double jumped kick aaaaaannddd landed on my right leg… So I have a tear in my MCL- or more commonly known as my inner knee ligament [just found that out last Tuesday by the way] – I felt it snap and had to spar after that… whoops… But all in all it was worth it and I passed!! Check out the picture above!!

That weekend we visited mu aunt and her wife. I was sore, bruised and tired, but most of all sad… It was the first time being there and Simba not greeting us… She was their dog and child.. She was 14, but 4 in spirit… I got the news while doing groceries the weekend before. It broke me, I grew up with Simba. Think about it she was 14, I’m 24 years… So that was a weird and emotional weekend….

After this busy week it got boring and painful… I couldn’t go to Taekwondo for a while [that while ain’t over yet, sadly] and that made me miss my friends and my two occasions of getting out of the house in the week… It also screwed my schedule.. I just got used to working out twice a week, and that made me feel good.. Now that’s gone for a while and that makes me sad and restless.. I feel stuck in my house, especially with my knee… So no Taekwondo, a lot of job hunting and school this week was with my exercise head again. This wasn’t for the fact I couldn’t find a model, but because we got a colouring demo and a test run with water mixed with a hair mask on our exercise heads…. It was a lot of information, but exciting to start colouring other’s hair =]…

Then the real fun began.. Hello to having a fucking fever for four days =/ it was good for my bingewatching as you can see from Thursday through Sunday hahahahaaa… So that wraps up the first two weeks…

So last week was kind of exciting for the family. On Monday my father-in-law got a new pacemaker. That’s always a tricky thing in my opinion… But it went very well and he’s doing better after having the surgery.. So the rest of the week was me limping, me job hunting, me doing a mini makeover with a haircut on my model [and she’s going for another haircut and a perm in april woohoo], me giving my father-in-law a haircut after the hairdresser didn’t do a great job and asked me to do it. He was happy with it and so was I. I haven’t had training in cutting a man’s hair [will cover it in the second year] and he was my first male haircut =] I’m glad I can learn from the saying ‘Monkey see, monkey do’ hahahaha..

Today was a slow day. Had a tough night sleeping.. Because of the stinging pain in my leg and my bf woke me up twice. He couldn’t sleep so the first was because of the light of the TV [my mask had slipped from my eyes] and the second time because he felt like eating Oreo’s and ripping the package. And I can guarantee you, plastic ain’t silent xD So I had a tough time falling asleep again after the Oreo incident and that kept me up for 45 minutes again… Finally fell asleep and got some more hours luckily.. But I’m still tired as shit and so today wasn’t a very quick day… Watched some Grimm episodes, prepped some review posts to finish them – hopefully tomorrow – and made fresh tomato soup… Guess what.. I forgot my soup veggies =/ the most essential ingredient… So I had soup with meat and pasta today and will buy the veggies and add them tomorrow hahahaha… I am glad I finally caught up with my blog again and have the motivation to write my reviews again… Not in the same speed as before, but I’m getting there..

So I hope you have had a great time and will have in the coming week =]

XoXo Felicia

So because of all of the above, no posts since my last Sunday Post =[ But I’m trying very hard to do some posts next week and catch up with my Top Ten Tuesdays. I hope I can do them all, but I’m not going to promise anything. My game hasn’t been good the last few months and it’s taking me a while to get it back. I hope you will forgive me for posting so little, but as I’ve explained in the Life section of this post, life ain’t easy these days…

Coming next week – in no particular order of reviews or memes and such:

#73 First Year.

#74 Non-Heir.

#75 Apprentice.

#76 Caraval.

TTT#21  Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books I’ve Read In The Past Year Or So.

TTT#22 FREEBIE.

TTT#23 All about the visuals: Top Ten Favorite Graphic Novels/Comics or Ten Comics on My TBR or Top Ten Favorite Picture Books.

TTT#24 Top Ten Books I Wish Had (More/Less) X In Them.

TTT#25 All About Romance Tropes/Types.

TTT#26 Ten Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would (recently or all time).

Most Anticipated Releases January 2017.

January Haul.

January Wrap-Up + February TBR.

I did do a lot of reading these past few weeks. =] Good books will keep you reading on hahaha… So I finished Carve the Mark on January 29 and The Tales of Beedle the Bard on February 4. Since then I’ve read The Gender Secret and The Gender Lie by Bella Forrest, Haven by Katherine Bogle from a review copy, Caraval by Stephanie Garber and First Year, Non-Heir, and Apprentice by Rachel E. Carter. I’m really excited by and in love with The Black Mage series by Rachel E. Carter =] It’s sooooo good!!!!

My next reads will be Candidate, and Last Stand by Rachel E. Carter, Passenger, and Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken and if I make it this month The Gender War by Bella Forrest… The Gender Secret series is also really, really good!!!

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2017 Update: 18/100 books

The Backlist Reader Challenge 2017 Update: 9/50 books, 0 reviews yet

What are you reading??

Monday Jan 30, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E11: Ted

Monday Jan 30, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E12: Bad Eggs

Monday Jan 30, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E13: Surprise (1)

Monday Jan 30, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E14: Innocence (2)

Tuesday Jan 31, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E15: Phases

Tuesday Jan 31, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E16: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Tuesday Jan 31, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E17: Passion

Tuesday Jan 31, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E18: Killed by Death

Tuesday Jan 31, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E19: I Only Have Eyes For You

Wednesday Feb 1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E20: Go Fish

Wednesday Feb 1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E21: Becoming (1)

Wednesday Feb 1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E22: Becoming (2)

Thursday Feb 2, NCIS S2E1: See No Evil

Thursday Feb 2, NCIS S2E2: The Good Wives Club

Thursday Feb 2, NCIS S2E3: Vanished

Friday Feb 3, NCIS S2E4: Lt. Jane Doe

Friday Feb 3, NCIS S2E5: The Bone Yard

Friday Feb 3, Brooklyn Nine-Nine S2E2: Chocolate Milk

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E6: Terminal Leave

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E7: Call of Silence

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E8: Heart Break

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E9: Forced Entry

Monday Feb 6 NCIS S2E10: Chained

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E11: Black Water

Monday Feb 6, NCIS S2E12: Doppelgänger

Tuesday Feb 7, NCIS S2E13: The Meat Puzzle

Wednesday Feb 8, NCIS S2E14: Witness

Thursday Feb 9, NCIS S2E15: Caught on Tape

Thursday Feb 9, NCIS S2E16: Pop Life

Thursday Feb 9, NCIS S2E17: An Eye for an Eye

Thursday Feb 9, NCIS S2E18: Bikini Wax

Thursday Feb 9, NCIS S2E19: Conspiracy Theory

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S2E20: Red Cell

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S2E21: Hometown Hero

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S2E22: SWAK

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S2E23: Twilight

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S3E1: Kill Ari (1)

Friday Feb 10, NCIS S3E2: Kill Ari (2)

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E1: Thanks for the Memories

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E2: Octopus Head

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E3: The Last Fight

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E4: Dyin’ on a Prayer

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E5: Cry Luison

Friday Feb 10, Grimm S4E6: Highway of Tears

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E7: The Grimm Who Stole Christmas

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E8: Chupacabra

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E9: Wesenrein

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E10: Tribunal

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E11: Death Do Us Part

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E12: Maréchaussée

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E13: Trial by Fire

Saturday Feb 11, Grimm S4E14: Bad Luck

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E15: Double Date

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E16: Heartbreaker

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E17: Hibernaculum

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E18: Mishipeshu

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E19: Iron Hans

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E20: You Don’t Know Jack

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E21: Headache

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S4E22: Cry Havoc

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E1: The Grimm Identity

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E2: Clear and Wesen Danger

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E3: Lost Boys

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E4: Maiden Quest

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E5: Rat King

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E6: Wesen Nacht

Sunday Feb 12, Grimm S5E7: Eve of Destruction

Tuesday Feb 14, Grimm S5E8: A Reptile Dysfunction

Wednesday Feb 15, Grimm S5E9: Star-Crossed

Friday Feb 17, Grimm S5E10: Map of the Seven Knights

Sunday Feb 19, Grimm S5E11: Key Move

Sunday Feb 19, Grimm S5E12: Into the Schwarzwald

Sunday Feb 19, Grimm S5E13: Silence of the Slams

With the bf:

Tuesday Feb 7, Last Man Standing S1E1: Pilot

Tuesday Feb 7, Last Man Standing S1E2: Last Baby Proofing Standing

Tuesday Feb 7, Last Man Standing S1E3: Grandparents Day

Sunday Feb 12, Last Man Standing S1E4: Last Halloween Standing

Sunday Feb 12, Last Man Standing S1E5: Co-Ed Softball

Sunday Feb 12, Last Man Standing S1E6: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Sunday Feb 12, Last Man Standing S1E7: Home Security

Wednesday Feb 15, Life in Pieces S1E1: Pilot

Wednesday Feb 15, Life in Pieces S1E2: Interrupts Prison Breast Movin’

Thursday Feb 16, Last Man Standing S1E8: House Rules

Saturday Feb 18, Last Man Standing S1E9: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Saturday Feb 18, Last Man Standing S1E10: Last Christmas Standing

Saturday Feb 18, Last Man Standing S1E11:  The Passion of the Mandy

Sunday Feb 19, Last Man Standing S1E12: Moon Over Kenya

Sunday Feb 19, Last Man Standing S1E13: Take Your Daughter to Work

In case you’ve missed these:

Sunday Post #26. January 29

Sunday Post #25. January 22

Sunday Post #23 & #24. January 8 & 15

#72 The Diabolic.

TTT#20 Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To (But TOTALLY plan to).

Sunday Post #27 & #28 & #29. February 5 & 12 & 19 The Sunday Post is a weekly meme originally from Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News.