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.

I really like "Barrel Bear." So there. Themes of identity slay me. Hence my love of "Karma Chameleon."

Not a huge "Totem Mole" fan either, though I think I may like "Safety Canary" more than I thought. "Wound-Up Penguin" used to be at the bottom of my list, but maybe I'll like it more now that I love Aaron.

I hated Totem Mole, but I don't want to rehash all the reasons here.

I didn't hate Safety Canary at all. There was lots of Good Aaron in it.

Also, which episode had the monkey reply with "Because you listen" because that was easily my favorite moment of the show.

Cocktail Bunny, I think.

Any episode with Aaron is retroactively my favourite -- I just like some of those more than others. Oh, except for Barrel Bear. It was just wrong. The Jaye/Eric interaction doesn't fit at any point in their timeline.

Barrel Bear reminds me of the Firefly episode The Message. Mahandra's hardline position on Milly Marcus rang false for me just like Mal not telling Tracey the plan and letting the situation escalate resulting in his death rang false for me in The Message. That said, I do like both episodes but those moments brought them down a bit, in my estimation.

Lilty, when you asked why Totem Mole was necessary because

I thought that by the end of Cocktail Bunny, she could have been on her way to accepting them.

If I remember correctly, Jaye complained that "the monkey lied." He was going to tell her why they talked to her and she was expecting some life-affirming message and just got "because you listen." It wasn't enough for her. There was no purpose behind it and she needed a purpose.

Totem Mole gave her that, sorta.