Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Gata got got." -Sam Phalen This was a genuinely thrilling episode of Survivor  and none of the excitement had anything to do with people losing their votes.  Take notes, Jeff!  I was really annoyed at the prospect of having four people lose their votes.  Luckily, it only ended up being one.  But the chaos at camp and Tribal Council was a blast.  I'm bummed Sol went out as he was my favorite person left in the game, but it was an entertaining journey.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Played Well: I gotta give Andy some major props for the damage control he did in this episode.  We saw him having good conversations with both Sam and Rachel after betraying them in the previous episode.  As far as the episode tells us, he still has working relationships with both of them.  In fact, his relationship with Rachel may be stronger than ever.  He also ended up on the right side of the vote after all that chaos. Sam did a really good job of keeping his cool and

 "Have you figured it out yet?" -Mr. Reed Two young, Mormon missionaries visit the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) to give him more information on their Church.  What starts as a theological discussion turns into a game of belief, disbelief, life, and death. What Works: I love the turn that Hugh Grant has made in his career.  He's been playing strange and wild characters more often as of late.  This is a role that is certainly against type for him, but it's obvious he had a blast in the role.  For being the antagonist, Mr. Reed still manages to be a fun character and shines any time he is on screen. Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher are no slouches either.  They play the two Mormon missionaries and both of them do a great job.  They play very different characters with surprisingly different perspectives considering that they are both missionaries.  They have great rapport with Grant and their conversations are my favorite part of the film. The dialogue is pretty on point i

 "I'm gettin' rid of Britta!" -Vaughn "Home Economics" picks up with Troy (Donald Glover) asking Annie (Alison Brie) for advice on asking a girl he has a class with out on a date.  At first, Annie believes Troy is talking about asking her out on a date and is very disappointed to learn otherwise, but suggests he can go to a concert on campus the next night.  Annie later gives Troy a blanket that her grandfather used to court her grandmother to use for his date and even helps him rehearse.  Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) pushes her to tell Troy how she feels, but Annie is hesitant because she doesn't want to ruin their friendship.  When Troy tries to go get ready for his date, Annie claims her appendix has burst and he takes her to the school nurse, who eventually quarantines Annie and gives Troy plenty of condoms.  Jeff (Joel McHale) looks a little more ragged than usual and deflects any questions about his appearance.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Shirley

 "I hate running." -Genevieve Mushaluk Man, I needed this episode of Survivor .  With the election results being what they were, I got pretty drunk to watch this episode with my buddies and it was a really nice break and a genuinely fun episode.  Although the alcohol may make this more challenging than usual, I'll try to break down who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: I really like that Tuku and Lavo joined forces along with Andy to take out a member of Gata.  Sam, Sierra, and Rachel are all solid threats and I would have been fine with any of them going home.  So good on all of them for making that move happen.  The final choice ended up being Sierra, which was better for some people than it was for others, but they all got on the same page to make the Sierra/Sam split happen. Kyle and Sue both managed to win Immunity and I think Kyle especially needed it.  The second he doesn't win, he's a prime target to go out.  It's too late to do anything abo

 "Are you trying to get formidable with me?" -Jeff Winger "Introduction to Statistics" picks up with Annie (Alison Brie) announcing to the Spanish class that she is throwing a Día de los Muertos party that evening and anyone who goes will get extra credit, while Señor Chang (Ken Jeong) has to go and won't be getting paid.  Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) is very excited for her first college party and has even removed her wedding ring.  Jeff (Joel McHale) on the other hand wants to avoid the party and focus on seducing his statistics professor, Michelle Slater (Lauren Stamile). When Jeff asks Professor Slater out, she admits he is her type, but she doesn't date students.  Annie runs into Jeff and asks him to attend her party, since he's the cool guy and his presence will maker her party cool.  Jeff is convinced when Annie starts to cry. At the party, Pierce (Chevy Chase), who has become very insecure about his age and the amount of pills he needs to take,

 "So, now what?" -Jeff Probst I gotta be honest, I don't love the abundance of twists in this episode.  I would have liked a straightforward vote with all twelve players just so we could see where the lines are drawn.  I could have handled the split the tribe in half twist or the Take Your Pick Advantage, but not both.  Still, at least the split breakdown was interesting.  Having all of Tuku on the losing team was wild.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: I think Sol did a good job of explaining himself to Andy after the previous Tribal Council.  They seemed to get past Sol voting for Andy and made an alliance.  Sol also managed to find the Take Your Pick Advantage without getting caught and made a smart call into passing it off to Rachel.  He guaranteed that someone on Tuku went home. Genevieve and Andy also made an alliance, which is great for them as they were both kinda their own individual islands.  I don't love that Andy got caug

 "Cute!  I promise not to eat it!" -Venom On the run from the law after the events of Let There Be Carnage , Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom (Tom Hardy) start making their way towards New York City to clear their names.  However, the police aren't their only problem.  The U.S. military and alien hunters sent from the vengeful creator of the symbiotes are also on their trail and aren't too concerned if they catch Eddie and Venom dead or alive. Minor Spoilers below! What Works: The best part of this movie is whenever Venom is acting like a silly goose.  We don't get it enough, but there are a few times where Venom just starts goofing around and having fun, mostly to Eddie's annoyance.  I would have liked if the movie had focused more on them having wacky adventures. There are awesome a few scenes when Venom takes over various animals and we get to see Venomized versions.  We get to see a Venom horse in the trailer, for example.  I love the design of all of the

 "That was blindside city!" -Andy Rueda Rome has fallen!  What a fantastic episode!  This was such a fun ride.  I can't remember a merge boot being this spelled out since The Amazon .  It felt like a big practical joke that we were all in on with the contestants and production at Rome's expense.  And with the way he's played this season, he kinda deserved it.  It was fun to watch and it's fun to talk about, so let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Well, let's get this out of the way first; I think getting rid of Rome was a good move for everyone else in the game.  On paper, both the Gata and Tuku tribes got rid of someone that wasn't on their tribe.  That's usually a good move at the merge.  Not to mention the people like Kyle that Rome burned in this episode.  And then the Lavo group was totally justified in getting rid of Rome because he was such an agent of chaos that none of them could trust.  Even Genevieve, his c

 "Troy, why are you doing our politically conservative high school's shamefully outdated fight rap?" -Annie Edison The episode begins with Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) visiting the study group and trying to get Troy (Donald Glover) to join the Greendale football team, as he was a legendary quarterback in high school.  Troy declines.  Later, Jeff (Joel McHale) sees that the Dean has created promotional posters and flyers for Greendale using Jeff's face.  Jeff tells the Dean he thinks that material could hurt his future career.  The Dean agrees not to use the materials if Jeff convinces Troy to join the football team. Jeff takes Troy away from a study session with Annie (Alison Brie), which makes her upset.  Jeff and Troy check out the Greendale football team and find the team to be lackluster at best, but Jeff convinces Troy to join the team anyway.  The Dean decides to announce the news at a pep rally that night. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) asks Britta (Gillian Jacobs) to

 "That tribe's a mess." -Kyle Ostwald For most of this episode, this was a pretty average episode of Survivor .  Fortunately, even average Survivor is fun.  What elevated the episode was the ending.  Anika's reaction to being blindsided is an all-timer.  On a human level, I felt bad for her, but I was laughing my ass off at her reaction.  More of these, please!  Now, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Starting over on Gata, I have to give a lot of props to Sam.  I really think Andy should have been the one to go home here, but saving Andy was good for Sam's game.  He managed to convince Sierra to go along with his plan without even having to play his Idol.  He keeps both his allies and gets rid of his number one enemy, Anika. We finally got to see the payoff for Andy's course correction.  He made himself indispensable to Sam and, in return, Sam saved him.  He may be the reason his tribe lost the challenge, but I'll give him

 "Rome will burn." -Sol Yi Well, this episode took a turn I wasn't expecting.  I was all set for the downfall of Rome.  I was really excited to see him finally get voted out and out of nowhere the game got flipped on its head.  This Lavo tribe is a mess and I'm here for it.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start on the Gata tribe with Anika and Rachel, who were part of forming the Breadwinners alliance.  They are seeming more and more like the smarter path for Sierra to take and I think they're doing a good job of making her feel comfortable. Going over to Lavo, I love Genevieve's move in knocking Kishan out of the game.  She realized he was throwing her name out as the backup vote after she agreed to join Kishan and vote out her closest ally in Rome.  She realized that Kishan didn't actually have her back and made moves to knock Kishan out of the game instead of Rome.  I love this move for her! I'll give S

"I don't wanna sing anymore." -Arthur Fleck After the events of the previous film, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) sits in Arkham State Hospital awaiting to see if he will be declared competent to stand trial.  He meets another inmate, Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a superfan of Joker, who brings music back into Arthur's life. What Works: My favorite part of the movie is the opening sequence.  It's an animated Looney Tunes-esque sequence with Joker fighting his own shadow.  It's the most creative and fun this movie ever gets and I wish the rest of the movie carried some of this energy. There's also some decent acting in the movie.  Phoenix and Gaga have great chemistry and there is some spark in their scenes together.  They just don't share enough screen-time.  Leigh Gill is also great in his brief appearance.  You can't help but feel awful for his character.  Gill absolutely nails it. What Sucks: I don't hate this movie for the same reasons it seems

 "The only difference between Señor Chang and Stalin is that I know who Señor Chang is." -Troy Barnes "Advanced Criminal Law" picks up with Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) announcing a statue dedication ceremony in honor of Greendale's most famous alumnus, Luis Guzman.  Annie (Alison Brie) is on the committee trying to create a new school song, but is having trouble with their composer.  Pierce (Chevy Chase) offers his services as he wrote the jingle for the Hawthorne moist towelette.  Annie convinces the Dean to let Pierce create the song.  However, Pierce struggles immensely and Annie becomes concerned that he won't be able to get the song done.  Pierce eventually confesses that he steals all of his songs and tries to quit.  Annie won't let him and gives him an inspiring speech.  Pierce manages to perform his song for the ceremony, but doesn't seem to realize that it's mostly stolen from Bruce Hornsby's "That's Just the Way It Is." Tro

 "Just so we don't have a "Q" moment..." -Kishan Patel I'll be honest, I can't wait to see Rome's downfall.  I enjoyed this episode and the season continues to setup the downfall of this egomaniac.  I don't know when he'll get voted out.  Heck, he may even make it to Final Tribal Council and lose in spectacular fashion, but I'm stoked to see it happen.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Starting over on Gata, Andy had a great bounce-back episode.  I loved his observations of the tension between Anika and Sam, plus he had a really good conversation with Sierra.  Offering to hand over his Shot in the Dark before a Tribal Council was a great way to build trust with her. I also want to give props to Rachel who did a great job on the puzzle at the Immunity Challenge.  Her efforts let to a comeback victory for Gata. Finally, the conversation between Sierra and Andy was good for Sierra as well.  She now has a so

 "Bro." -TK Foster This was a really fun and satisfying episode of Survivor.   I love when overconfident players get setup for an epic downfall and this was no exception.  TK getting voted out here was hilarious, especially with Kyle's reaction.  It's wild.  After episode 1, if you had told me that TK would be the next person to go, I wouldn't have believed you.  This episode did a great job of showing exactly how we ended up here and I loved every second of it.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start over on the Gata tribe.  I gotta say, Andy made some headway in working his way back into the game.  Although I think he should have taken the Beware Advantage, Andy telling Sam and bonding with him definitely helped his position.  Sam wants to take him further into game at this point. While finding the Beware Advantage with Anika wasn't ideal, I do like that Sam got it.  Keeping it out of Andy's hands was the most