After all of them, I'd put Barrel Bear and Totem Mole at the bottom of my list, while they are still some of the best teevee out there, just because something has to be at the bottom of the list. I think that, for me, Totem Mole was too much of a departure from the arc when I was in a frenzy over it. Maybe the storyline needed an ep to cool out, but I wasn't in the mood for a stand-aloneish ep that close to the end. It was kind of 'The Girl in Question' for me that way. I've only watched it once thus far, so that's all the commentary it'll get from me for the time being .

Barrel Bear, I was kind of all over "Meh" about, but it still had some great stuff. I loved Jaye's asking Eric why the hell he was helping Mahandra steal the barrel, and his straight out "Don't ask me. I really don't know what I'm doing" reply.

Also, Tim killed a Golden Girl. That's ballsy. Or nature. Whichever.

See, Barrel Bear is much more A Girl In Question for me. Totem Mole had a clear purpose to achieve -- putting Jaye's fears of and aversion to the tchotchkes to rest. And it did. I just don't love the "how."

I don't get why people didn't like "Safety Canary" either. I thought it was brilliant. That's my second favorite episode.

I agree that "Barrel Bear" and "Totem Mole" are the worst episodes. They didn't completely suck, but they really weren't that great either. I didn't particularly care for "Wound-Up Penguin" or "Wax Lion" either, though those episodes did have some brilliant scenes.

I hated Safety Canary.

Allyson, I've been pimping the Lost party. When is the deadline for people to sign up?

I can see "Barrel Bear" being more "The Girl in Question" in that it's really more of a stand alone ep, and I don't have a problem with stand alones in shows with big arcs- it can't be all 'plot plot plot' all the time. TGiQ just jumped to my mind because of Totem Mole's placement in the season- a bit of a slowdown when you know the end is coming, and there's a lot still to get wrapped up.

You are right, ita, that Totem Mole served the purpose of showing Jaye the value of the voices. I guess I just wonder why all of the life saving and people reuniting in the previous eps didn't take care of that. I thought that by the end of Cocktail Bunny, she could have been on her way to accepting them. I mean, Dr. Ron did.

But, like I said, I need a rewatch of a lot still.

Til two weeks before the party, Lee, unless it sells out which is doubtful. I expect about 150 registrations total, and we have space for 300.

I still liked "Barrel Bear" and "Safety Canary," though not as much as some of the others. I'm happy to report that although I was pretty meh about "Karma Chameleon" when it aired, I've apparently forgotten whatever it was that specifically put me off it, and it didn't have the same effect on rewatch. "Wax Lion," "Pink Flamingos" and "Cocktail Bunny" are my favorites so far.

I'm going to watch "Caged Bird" tomorrow night and bring things to a close, which probably made me more than usually aware of the local bookstore having a recent re-issue of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings out on display. It's a sign! Though I'm disappointed that Maya Angelou didn't talk to me from the book cover.

Til two weeks before the party, Lee

Thanks.

Well, I had a problem with several things in "Totem Mole," but it was the complete about face that Littlefoot went through. I just didn't believe that she would change that completely, near death/death experience or not. I was able to ignore the tribal inaccuracies, mostly because it seemed like a lot of them were contrived for outsiders, to bring in the tourists. Also, the grandmother was quite chatty, wasn't she? It was just a weak episode, in my opinion. And there were many things about it that bugged. But I loved the guy who owned the store. He was awesome.