[S3E4] This Is All I Need

Can you imagine for a second that the lesions on your mother's brain make it so that she views you as an imposter? In some ways, it aligns to the difficulties of a loved one deteriorating to Alzheimer's, but this was also so uniquely challenging and tragic.

[S3E4] This Is All I Need

I want to thank the New Amsterdam powers that be for finding a way to incorporate Casey more. He's such an underrated character on this series, and he has been beyond deserving of more screentime for ages.

Lauren's solution was reminiscent of something Max would've done. She put unemployed bouncers in need of health insurance in charge of crowd control, security, and assessment, and it not only falls within their expertise but it provides them with jobs they need.

By the time this is over, Leyla will have a job a non-practicing job in New Amsterdam, but she'll be unofficially consulted or something. I love the addition of Leyla, and her and Lauren's relationship is enjoyable.

This is the episode where we reach a kind of equilibrium. Logan and Kendall are on even ground, equally bad, equally vicious, equally morally vacant. Which really isn't where many of us thought they were heading at the end of last season! Now on the one hand, you could say Logan is worse because he made Kendall this way, but on the other hand, you could say Kendall is worse because he's more self-aware; he seems to be a person who sort of has feelings and a conscience and ignores them, while Logan has neither. And while we are encouraged to feel sympathy for Kendall because he comes from so much pain, who's to say Logan doesn't?

That fact, though, doesn't stop him from ridiculing and mocking his own father for his cognitive and physical decline, or telling Logan everyone hates him, or making fun of him for being old, or making fun of Shiv. And there is also a moment during that lunch scene where Logan's face perhaps registers some distant wish that he meant at least some of what he's saying, but that doesn't stop him from taunting Kendall about how Greg's not on his side anymore, the DOJ isn't coming, the whole family stayed with Logan, and as Logan puts it, "you lost." There is a weird kind of love in this relationship somewhere, probably, or there was, but it does neither of them any good.

This is the difference, for the record, between character complexity and character inconsistency. Kendall seems to both deeply love his father and want his approval while also deeply despising Logan and being willing to do almost anything to spite him. But the thing is, that's always been true. Kendall always seems to be the same person and it seems to be the same relationship, even as it reshapes itself over and over in response to circumstances. That's what you get from good writing and good acting. That's very different from inconsistency, which comes about through a muddy writing where a character changes from week to week based on the needs of the plot.

I've often said that it's when the Roys collide with regular people that their cruelty and villainy really comes into focus. Roman was the one who brought this home in the series' very first episode, and he's the one bringing it back here.

Shiv also finds time to bully Tom about the fact that he needs to bully Ravenhead (the ATN anchor) about going harder on the president at Logan's request. (Logan hopes to gain leverage in the battle with the DOJ by using ATN to hurt the administration.) Tom resists being undermined quite as directly as she's doing, but eventually, he agrees. But when he reports back that Ravenhead isn't really interested in being pushed around, Shiv finds the anchor herself and makes the pitch very explicit: We own the network, my father hates the president, you will say what we tell you to say, regardless of any claims of editorial independence you may be allowed to make in public. And he shouldn't bother going public: "We don't get embarrassed," she says, crystallizing a strategic advantage held by a number of people in contemporary times, not just the Roys.

Tom basically volunteered for incarceration last week, but the more he thinks about this idea, the less he likes it. He's exploring the fine points of lockup distillery, but really, he just wants Shiv to be upset that he might go to prison, and she just ... isn't. She only seems to care what Tom can do for her and her family, what he owes to her and her father, and how well he executes the little tasks she gives him.

As always, Tom gets a little bit of pleasure from trying to torture Greg while pretending to also be his best pal, but even this turns out to be in vain, since Greg has started to assert himself more and doesn't need Tom's advice. Tom cannot catch a break.

Would Connor really do that? It's not clear. It's also not clear what Connor thinks will happen if Shiv passes this along to their dad, with whom Connor maintains an almost entirely conflict-free relationship. But for the time being, he's dealing with Shiv, and Kendall isn't wrong when he says nobody takes Shiv very seriously right now. (Shiv's current position is one of the few times the show has explored something the characters rarely talk about: Let's say one of the siblings prevails, wins, gets the brass ring, and takes over someday. Then what?)

And on top of all this, Logan's health has chosen a bad moment to get wobbly. If the family is trying to convince everyone it can steady the ship, what's going to happen if the captain collapses again?

So, I have a vague understanding of what those things really mean. But in the early days, anthropologists would essentially drop into a society, drop into a community. They would record the language, chart social relationships or kinship, and document folklore and customs and then they would also document material culture like art carvings, pottery. And then they would also document anatomy and measure anatomy. If you think about those old school images of people walking around measuring heads. And so this blossomed into the four fields of anthropology which are: linguistic, cultural, biological or physical anthropology, and archeology.

So, this theme. I think is something that contributes, that like continues throughout her work in Wayward Lives as well. She is kind of looking; she is looking at these stories that have gone untold. She is trying to tell these stories of young women and girls who have just been disappeared to the archives or whose lives were not worth saving or being told or being written about.

So, I think it was really cool to see that progression. I was like, oh, this is, you know, Wayward Lives is kind of this progression of what she was talking about. Her interest is like a progression of the interests she was talking about in Lose Your Mother.

So, all of this begs the question, what do descendants of enslaved African people have to lose in assuming an African identity? These losses underscore violence of colonization and chattel slavery. This is also, I mean, who does this go back to exclusion and inclusion? Those are like key to identity, and I think we are going to talk a little bit about identity, which is one of my preoccupations; and you have an interesting theory about it, so I look forward to hearing that.

[01:33:17] BT: Thank you all for your support. If you like this episode, please share it via social media, WhatsApp, or even you know broken telephone! We get the message out, hunny! We would love to hear what you have to say about this episode, so be sure to follow us on Instagram at zorasdaughters and on Twitter at Zoras_Daughters. For transcripts, syllabi, and information on how to cite us or become a Patron to access exclusive content, visit our website zorasdaughters.com.

Back on the bridge, Picard enlists Jack to help him inch the Titan through an asteroid field and, at the eleventh hour, their plan works. The nebula manages to give them just enough of a power boost to not only get them out of the gravity well, but supply them with enough power to kick-start all of their systems. When they emerge they come face-to-face with the Shrike, yet again, but this time they show them a taste of their own medicine by chucking an asteroid at them, the same way Vadic threw a ship at them.

Welcomeback to "Game of Thrones," or as I alternately call it, "Who Are We Burning Today?"I thought this week's episode rocked, including all of the best elements of theshow (minus sex, boo). A lot happened so we're just going to jump right intoit.

We'llstart at the end, as we got a lengthy uninterrupted segment set in Slavers Bay,with Daenerys experiencing one of the most pivotalmoments of her life as she traded one of her dragons for thousands of highlyskilled slave warriors. We learned a few things here. First, that the budgetfor this season must have been significantly upped, because that whole sequencelooked like something out of a big-budget film, not a show on HBO. From thesoldiers to the special effects to Dany's wig,everything looked amazing. Second, the viewers and the slave masters discoveredthat Daenerys can speak fluent Valyrian,which means she understood every word - and insult - thrown at her the previousthree episodes, and didn't so much as flinch. Andthird, the masters discovered that dragons are no man's slave. Dany did indeed trade her dragon for the Unsulliedwarriors, but a dragon does what it likes. After a quiet "Dracarys"from Dany, her biggest scaly baby torched the slavemaster head to heel and Dany led a revolt against allthe slave masters of Astapor. After the bloodybusiness Dany then freed all of her slave warriors,and asked which of these now-free men would willingly fight for her cause. Theyall agreed. So basically, Daenerys Taragryen just became fully awesome, and I suspect we'llall be seeing a lot of queen bitch Dany costumes comeHalloween this year.

Severalinteresting developments occurred in King's Landingthis episode, many of them unique to the show. First, we got a greatconversation between Tyrion and Varys.The former wanted proof that his sister was trying to have him killed during theBattle of the Blackwater. The latter used theopportunity to explain to Tyrion how he became aeunuch, and also make a point about the importance of influence. I loved thatentire scene -- Conleth Hill as Varysis one of this show's unsung acting heroes -- except the part where Varys opened the crate and revealed what was inside. Thatwas a totally unnecessary and frankly goofy way to make his point. It suggestedto me that the show thought it was being clever (it wasn't), or that thewriters don't trust the audience (and they should). 041b061a72