And Just Like That

WARNING - THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!  

Yesterday two episodes of And Just Like That dropped on HBOMax.  I was excited so I watched both episodes first thing yesterday morning.

Since then there has been a lot of chatter about a couple of the storylines that I want to address here.  The first being how Kim Cattrail's character, Samantha was written out of the show.  I didn't do a search for this post but I do recall reading that they were NOT going to kill her off, they were just going to address is as friends who drift apart.  Okay, that's realistic, right?  Well, what they did is they had her get upset because Carrie no longer needed her as a publicist, which I personally don't think is consistent with the character.  Not only that, she apparently also wrote off Charlotte and Miranda in the process and moved to London.  Wasn't it the first movie that Samantha had moved to California for her love interest but ultimately left him because she couldn't be away from New York and "her girls"?  I guess this way of handling it gives Cattrail the option to return to the show but it's completely out of character, in my opinion.  Just saying.

But the bigger story here is that they killed off Big in episode one!  That surprised me!  That said, I did consider an article I had read that said Chris Noth was reluctant to return to the show (found an article here - not the one I initially read though).  The article I originally read (but couldn't find) indicated that he was unhappy with how his character was handled in the second movie.  But after a sit down with the powers that be, they convinced him to sign on.  Given how they "handled" the situation, I'm guessing that he was told that they didn't want him to die off camera but that they could kill him off and he wouldn't be expected back for future iterations of the show.  Mission accomplished.

As a side note, I think it's sad they handled Big this way, considering Willie Garson recently died.  They couldn't know that would happen and I get that but I watched the shows with that in mind (and watched Willie for any indication he was as sick as he obviously was during filming).  But I digress.

People blew up about Big being killed off.  Peloton stock is falling because Big had a heart attack right after his one thousandth ride on his bike.  

But the most outrageous thing I've read about it is Peloton's response to the episode.  In the statement you will find that Peloton's cardiologist made a statement about Big's death.  She reminds us that Big had previously had a cardiac event and lived an "extravagant" lifestyle.  She suggests that maybe there was a family history of heart disease in his family.  And . . . AND she suggests that his riding the Peloton likely delayed his fatal heart attack.

Do I really need to point out here that Big is a FICTIONAL CHARACTER and that Chris Noth is still alive and well?  I mean, I get that Peloton might be a little ticked off at how the role their equipment played in what happened in the show but the cardiologist sounds like she's defending a case in court where someone sued the company because they died right after their Peloton workout.  I mean COME ON!  IT'S A SHOW!  NO ONE REALLY DIED!

That all said, I was kind of disappointed with the show overall.  I'll still continue to watch and hope it gets better but right now, the bigger entertainment - for me anyway - is seeing how people (and Peloton in particular) are spinning out of control over what happened in the first two episodes.

I will also say, I heard that Big's death will be at the center of this season, which makes sense.  I think that explains why when the actors on the show have done interviews, they don't talk about specifics and they don't bring clips.

Have you seen it?  If so, what did you think?  Inquiring minds want to know!  :)

Book Review Club November 2021 - State of Terror

This month I will be reviewing three books.  Here I will be reviewing State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It's been a while since I've read this many books between book club meetings, much less like them all and want to review them!  Having said that, I really liked this book.

I saw interviews with Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton talking about this book.  They said they wanted to write a realistic book about being the Secretary of State, particularly when you were coming into a new administration that follows an administration lead by an incompetent president.  Their jabs at Trump aren't even remotely subtle.  The former president's name is Eric Dunn - nicknamed Eric Dumb.  He withdrew from the Iran nuclear treaty, negotiated a withdrawal from Afghanistan without a plan or conditions on the Taliban, demanded loyalty, called press conferences for the sole purpose of telling lies and calling the press "fake news", among other things.  Oh, and after he lost the election, moved to Florida while his "followers" planned coup that would put him back into office while in league with terrorists and dictators.  Sound familiar?  I thought so too.

Anyway, Ellen Adams is the Secretary of State and the president who appointed her doesn't much like her but she was a vocal critic of him during the campaign so he figured the best way to shut her up was to give her a place in his cabinet.  His goal is to make her look bad so he can fire her but she's not going to make it easy on him.

A bomb goes off in a bus in London.  While the US is trying to get intelligence on it a second bomb goes off on a bus in Paris.  A staff member under the SOS receives an odd email that her supervisor tells her to delete as spam.  The staff member does so but not before she copies what the email said.  She later figures out it's a code and that there is a third bomb scheduled to go off, and soon.

The events that follow and their determination to find out who is behind the bombings. lead them to the conclusion that these bombings were intended as just a distraction, that the main event is much larger and will happen on American soil.  The SOS and her team are frantically working to figure out who is behind the threat and trying to eliminate the threat before it is too late.

This is a fast paced, page turning thriller that I didn't want to put down.  It was very well written and given the situation we find ourselves in after the last administration, all too realistic.  The thought that went through my head is that we shouldn't be putting these ideas out there for people to copy!  But it was a good story and a book I would recommend highly for anyone who enjoys thrillers, or just good books in general. 

For more reviews, go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html.

Book Review Club - December 2021 - The Boys

 This month I will be reviewing three books.  Here I will be reviewing The Boys by Ron and Clint Howard.

I've always liked Ron Howard.  I haven't held Clint Howard in much regard though.  My opinion has kind of been that Clint got his career by being in Ron's movies.  Reading this book though I came to realize that Clint had his own career as a child actor.  The difference was, after a brief stall, Ron's career continued into his teens while Clint outgrew his "cute" child star self and from what was revealed in the book it does seem that with little exception that Clint has been riding Ron's coattails for employment.

That said, Ron was interested in directing from very early on in life.  While he didn't say this, I feel like a lot of the acting opportunities that came to Ron were won because he approached them from a "nothing to lose" attitude.  If someone didn't want him or if he felt they weren't treating him with respect or dignity he could walk away because his true dream was to be a director anyway.  He did a lot of short films growing up and learned camera angles as he went.  He was also like a sponge on set, getting to know crew members and what their jobs were, all while making good money.

They also told the story of their parents.  They truly came from loving and supportive parents that taught them compassion and respect.  That isn't to suggest that everything was always rainbows and unicorns but they led a good life, made a lot of money early in life but were pretty grounded despite all that.

The story is told by alternating between Ron and Clint (with an occasional "interruption" from the other one, in a cute way).  It is a sweet story about family, hard work and always being there for each other when needed.  There's also a lot about how Ron met his wife Cheryl.  I knew they married young but don't think I knew that they had already been together for years when they got married.  He fell in love quickly and that was it for him (she liked him a lot early on but to fall as hard as he did took more time).  A very sweet love story there.  :)

By the end of the book I had a much deeper affection and respect for Ron than I had before (and I really liked him before) but also came away with the opinion that I was also right about Clint.  He came across as an entitled jerk - even when he got to direct the narrative! - so my opinion didn't really change on him but very much improved on Ron.

Overall, I felt it was a very good book and would highly recommend it.  For more book reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html.

 

Book Review Club - December 2021 - I'll Take Your Questions Now

 

This month I will be reviewing three books.  Here I will be reviewing I'll Take Your Questions Now by Stephanie Grisham.

I want to start by saying I don't normally spend time on this type of book because we lived the events in real time and it was traumatizing enough the first go round so why put myself through it again.  That said, I did read Bob Woodward's book Rage and Mary Trump's first book, whatever that was called (Too Much and Never Enough?).  I thought given his journalist background that Woodward's book would have more credibility and be unbiased.  And I'm not saying it wasn't those thing but to be honest, my take away from the book was that he had a lot of input on the book that wasn't from Trump, even though it was promoted as being written almost exclusively based on interviews he had with Trump himself.  He also ended it by stating he didn't think Trump was fit for office, something I didn't need to read to know to be true.

As for Mary's book, I think I thought there might be some juicy gossip about the family in it.  And while I believed all the stories she told, at the end of the day she came off as skeevy as her uncle.  It may be the only time that Trump was right in saying that the author of a book about him was only in it for a payday and to hurt him - not that I felt any sympathy for him, because I didn't and don't.  I just don't think Mary came across how she probably thought she did.

As for I'll Take Your Questions Now, I don't remember why I wanted to read it.  I think it was the book that I sent a link to a friend of mine about and said it could be interesting and that I might make an exception and read it, and obviously I did. 

You know how you read a mystery or thriller and don't want to put the book down because you just have to know what happens next?  Well, I kind of had that reaction to this book in that I didn't want to put it down.  I knew how it ended though, no mystery there but the storytelling was great and Grisham is actually a good writer.  She came across as sympathetic in her telling of events.  I had seen her on a couple of interviews where she commented on how she didn't hold back or spare anyone - including herself - and I think that's accurate.  I hadn't expected to like the book - or her - but I did.  I also believed her telling of the stories because they were consistent with what we saw play out in real time.

What I find ironic though, the Trumps (Donald and Melania) both put out statements when it was announced this book was coming out that it was filled with lies, that she wrote it for a payday and that she was just trying to cash in on the Trump name and was a loser and incompetent, etc.  That's pretty standard fare for what they say regarding books that they believe will be damaging to them, right?  Here's the deal, she says very little bad about either one of them!  While she does allude to the fact that things weren't always great between them, she talks about how charming, funny, supportive and welcoming the former president and first lady were with her.  She basically blamed Trump's advisors for some of the worst decisions he made.  It was roughly three quarters of the way through the book before she talks about seeing the bad side of Donald and she basically praises Melania for the entire book!  But hey, maybe they were right and it's all lies, right?

She did make it clear though that she did NOT like Jared or Ivanka - at all.  There was never a honeymoon stage with them, she didn't like them from page one and that didn't change - it only got worse from there. So there's that.

She did address why she stayed at the job for as long as she did.  Aside from the power felt by holding a position in the White House, she had a family, saw that former staff from the administration couldn't find work when they left, and really she wasn't seeing the bad side of things - she was kind of insulated from that in a way.  She seemed to attribute the bad side of things to the fact that it was a highly stressful job, given that it was within the White House.  And I can actually get on board with that because, I worked temp jobs (by choice) for more than ten years because I loved the flexibility it afforded me.  Then one day I woke up and decided I needed more stability and accepted a job in the single most toxic work environment I had ever had the displeasure of working in, and yet I stayed there for almost sixteen years.  So I get trying to adapt and make the best of a bad situation so that you can pay the bills.  It's easy to sit in judgment and say "this is what I would've done" but you never really know what you would do until you're put in that situation, do you?

So, as far as books about the Trump administration go, this the only one I could recommend.  The material is not really new but the perspective is.  In my opinion it was interesting and very well written.

For more book reviews go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html.