Hil! Thank god. I thought I was the only one still watching this show.

I don't know, either. Some kind of renovation, I guess?

GA: I think Thatcher has too many lingering issues with doctors and trust. His ex-wife was pretty abusive, the man she cheated with is still at that hospital, his daughter knocks on his door after 20 years and the first he sees of her she's pissed. He's having Ellis flashbacks. And, yes, he's in shock and grieving.

Not that I'm defending him or anything. But, poor Meredith. And Derek has suddenly turned into an unavailable jerk.

Oh, they have to break Derek and Meredith up because it's the end of an odd numbered season. Then they can spend all of the even numbered season getting them back together. It's high school, without the football.

GA: I had this thought that the woman in the bar was Meredeth's half-sister who was finishing med school.

But Derek kind of made a conscious decision to be less involved with Mere, right? On the advice of the Chief.

Traveler - that was fun. And it has William Sadler -- I didn't know that. And was the FBI guy Bree from DH's dead husband?

Yeah, Traveler shows some promise. GA, I'm so over the soap aspects of the show, which I guess is most of the show, huh. I liked the characters, but not so much the mix'n'match.

and I'm a bit surprised that it's airing in the UK.

It got picked up in February when the American networks did their usual pony show to sell them into syndication over here. There's been a fair bit of critical buzz.

Gilmore Girls: I cried when Rory graduated. I was just there, man, a year ago. I know exactly how that feels. And her freaking out from the previous two weeks and all the highs and lows--that's so true, man. The uncertainty, the exhileration, the fear.

She definitely made the right choice about Logan, and I think he kind of exemplified the sort of prat he so often is when he said goodbye instead of respecting her decision and trying to make it work. Despite everything he and they as a couple have been through, he still has the rich boy mentality of, "I want it now. It should be mine." and that seems to be the attitude with which he went into proposing to Rory. I can't align this dude with the guy who said, "Don't take me into your plans, we'll work it out." But apparently that was only good for when she actually had firm plans, and not when she was still working out.

Actually, the thing that ticked of most about the whole proposing thing was the sheer inappropriateness of Logan's timing. I don't know if it was some kind of meta reason, to write him out before the finale, or if it was just touching on the charactersation I see above, but you don't freaking propose in front of a room full of people at your girlfriend's graduation party. The party was supposed to be about her, you asshole, not about you as a couple. And making her think about that, when she should be thinking about moving out and graduating and being happy? Makes you that much more of an asshole. And then walking away when you should have sucked it up, taken the hit, and supported your girlfriend on the day of her graduation makes you primo, top shelf asshole.

Augh. I never liked Logan, but I am disgusted with him now.

Also, the fabric softener thing was cool, and made me think the writer had recently done some site visit to a real lab where they actually do that, and Booth's reaction was the same as the writer/visitor's.

It's funny, in Kathy Reich's most recent book (Break No Bones) they did exactly this thing--stick a finger into a solution to plump it up for a fingerprint. Book!Tempe uses TEC solution, which is apparently difficult to google, but I assume it has similar components to fabric softener.

Bones: Sometimes, I think this show is designed to just deliver me super-hot Boreanaz every week.

I absolutely *adored* the exchange between Jack and Angela with the love message in luminescent bacteria on seafood. Once I figured out what he was going to do, I knew it was the perfect weird quirky expression of love that Angela would adore. I love also that *she* asked him to marry her, and how it freaked Jack out; and how she said it had to be a big wedding in a week. A week! Bless.

The mystery was engaging enough, and I didn't figure it out until Jack and Zach did the re-enactment. "Why do I always have to be the victim?" was very funny. Booth eating sushi the dude they're questioning had made was both funny and kind of callous, which was perhaps the intetion.

But, being the ridiculous B/B shipper that I apparently am, my absolute favorite scene was the end with the mac and cheese. The way they're both feeling out each other, without necessarily realizing it, and changing their opinions based on what other people say and the questions they ask...it's a slow moving ship, my ship, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

YAY for FNL being renewed. That is fantastic news. Why would they remove the football? It's an integral part to the context of their story.

You know, it was obviously too much to ask that Derek be a, you know, good human being for the one freaking season he and Meredith were together. I mean, Meredith has her faults, but Derek runs hot and cold like a broken faucet, and frankly, if I were Meredith (or Meredith's friend) I would tell her to kick (continued...)

( continues...) him in the balls and have a few cutting words of her own to say.

Obviously this is the point in the denouement when all of the work Meredith has been doing for herself, her family, and relationship get unraveled in an evil twist of fate that will send her down the season two roads again, but it's so disappointing to watch all that great characterization flushed down the toilet. I don't know if the GA writers think that Meredith is somehow more interesting to watch when she is in pain, but she's not. It's just more painful.

And also, I know it's a drama or whatever, but surely we could have some problems that happen when the characaters are, you know, at least somewhat well-adjusted? Why on earth do you kill off two mom-figures in the same season, within eight episodes of each other? Why make all the men treat the women in their lives so poorly, and why do the women just take it instead of standing up for themselves? This show, as much as I generally enjoy it on a casual-watching basis, has some shitty things to say about love and marriage and male-female relationships.

SA, I'm 100% with you on GA. I don't quite know what has happened to the show. I realize that I liked watching the show initially for one particular reason: I wanted to see them grow and develop as doctors. I really liked that element. For all intents and purposes, this element has GONE from the show this season. The first 6-8 eps was the Denny aftermath, which wasn't at all about their development. And the rest of the season has been tragic.

Shonda said earlier that she wanted to explore what it means to be in a relationship - and use Meredith and Derek to show highs and lows. Well, why is Derek acting like such an asshole? I get that Meredith's near death experience fucked him up, but what happened to showing them be happy for a little bit. That couples argue and he will come back? That Meredith has had the worst year of nearly anyone in the city of Seattle and he can't give her some slack.

I can't wait for the Psychiatry Attending to show up and cut Derek a new asshole (note: this is a dream, I doubt that such a person will show up).

BTW, no reason for Burke to become an even bigger asshole than he already was. Damn. Who schedules a wedding the day after a major exam if you have ultimate flexibility? I would never ever marry a man who did that shit to me. Fuck that. I would have moved my shit out during his shift at the hospital gone to Kinko's for special cards to send out to guest list (or to [link] - which has my favorite card that Diane Farr herself sent out when her fiance broke the engagement) and have been done with it all.

Setting aside the fact that Christina really likes jackasses (see former professor), would she really want to spend her life with THIS jackass?

I'm just now watching last weeks GA, and I kind of liked the pilot show. The script wasn't great, but I like the characters.

Okay, this week's Six Degrees is also Josh Charleseriffic.