Sports Night: “Rebecca”

Date: February 22, 2021

Season 1, Episode 14

Music Video of the Day: Happy 22nd Day of Black History Month!

One of my all time favorite collaborations.

Interstellar News: Tonight we continued our virtual movie marathon of all things Star Wars by watching the animated film, The Clone Wars.

Favorite Quotes:

Dan: You don’t have to ask questions, I’ll tell the story clearly. The things you need to know, I’m gonna tell you.

Casey: Yeah, but I married someone once who said that, and now she has half my stuff.

Dan: I don’t want your stuff.

Casey: You say that now.

Casey is on point this whole conversation.
headshot of Rebecca wells
“Dan, there’s really no need to feel bad about any of our meetings.”

Dana: The truth is I have a job that involves me and stimulates me and rewards me and takes up a lot of my time and I’m not willing to do my job just a little bit, I want to do all of it. It’s part of me and I’m different without it. And that is who I am, and that is who you need to love. Except it won’t work!

Casey: Yes it will.

Dana: It won’t.

Casey: Say it just like that.

Dana: It won’t.

Casey: Dana, any man who hears that and doesn’t say “For a woman like you, for a person, for you, I will take whatever time you can give me and be grateful for that all my life”… any man who hears that and doesn’t throw you down on the nearest flat surface, is just taking up space for the rest of us. And you shouldn’t need Natalie to shove you in here when you want to talk about something.

Dana telling her truth, Casey encouraging her to tell it to Gordon, and also being incredibly suave about it.
head shot of JJ
Isaac: “I find out that quote in the Journal came from you, I’m gonna own your ass. I mean I’ll absolutely own it.”

“This’ll sound ridiculous, but I actually need a staple remover.”: Dan is obsessed with a woman named Rebecca, who isn’t at all interested in him. Dana thinks Gordon is going to break up with her. A story leaks about Luther and JJ comes to smooth things over, and Isaac is almost positive JJ is the leak.

Dan becomes a bit of an obsessive stalker in this one, and we’ll see in later episodes too, and it didn’t really age well. Rebecca was clear she wasn’t interested and Dan just can’t get over himself… so he keeps persisting. At the end though, it looks like he’s going to turn around and understand her decision even if it’s disappointing to him. After horribly telling Casey a story at the top of the episode that he just doesn’t get, they finally come to an understanding at the end.

Natalie encourages Dana to talk to Casey, and it’s my favorite part of the episode when they actually do… because Casey totally helps, mostly because Dana can talk to him more comfortably than she can with Gordon. They go back and forth until they have the second quote I posted in my favorites, and it’s such a wonderful exchange. It shows how much Casey respects Dana but also how much he really is secretly in love with her without realizing it. Love comes in many forms and you don’t have to have sex with someone to prove you love them. You love them like a parent, a sibling, a friend, a co-worker, or just as a neighbor. I think that Casey loves Dana enough to want her to be happy, even if it isn’t with him, because he thinks he isn’t good enough. So he’s there to support her, even if he can’t sleep with her.

After not seeing JJ since the first episode this bit feels a little out of place, but it also works well as a follow up to the Tennessee Tech incident. I love how Isaac lays down the law and can turn the charm on and off as it’s needed. He proves here, as he has in past episodes, why he’s the boss and not Agatha Christie. He also artfully deals with his staff when they clearly did not remember to “don’t worry about it”.

TA Out!

Sports Night: “Small Town”

Date: February 21, 2021

Season 1, Episode 13

Music Video of the Day: Happy 21st Day of Black History Month!

MC Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock. This song actually played a pivotal role in the movie The Proposal which, unfortunately, did not have many people of color in it.

Interstellar News: We spent the weekend cleaning out the basement, so I am plumb tired.

Favorite Quote:

Jeremy: You’re good, Natalie.

Natalie: Yeah.

Jeremy: I’m sorry.

Natalie: What’d you think I was around here, Jeremy, some Gal Friday?

Jeremy: No. I just didn’t know you were that good.

Jeremy realizing he’s dating up, waaaaay up.

“That was a CSC exclusive… and you’ve been watching Sports Night.”: This is the episode where we find out Dana is a lightweight, or maybe we already knew from “Dear Louise…“, and Casey makes an awful date. They both have the night off and go on a double date, though Casey’s date is someone from Gordon’s office. This is also the first time Natalie runs the room and she does an amazing job of it. I don’t much care for the part where they’re on the date, because Casey is a bit mean spirited to Dana and Dana just can’t take the night off. I will admit that it’s hard for me to take a night off of work, but that’s mostly because I don’t have a lot of support. Dana’s literally been training Natalie for at least some time. You can’t tell me this is Dana’s first night off in two years, especially if they have a rotation for it. I do love, however, when Casey and Dana both try to get out of their night off and then basically chicken each other into spending the evening together.

me on a blind date: "sorry I'm not better looking"
Casey:”I really haven’t been a very good date.”
Leesa: “No you haven’t.”

The absolute best part of this episode, though, is how Natalie runs the room when there’s a last minute trade deal. She knows the questions to ask, the people to connect, the orders to give, and just how hard to push the source. She earns the admiration of everyone, including Dana, Isaac, and Jeremy, but all for different reasons. It was so amazing to see her run the room, even I was proud of this fictional woman. I’ve always loved that Jeremy was third banana and, when he forgot it for a minute, Dana or Natalie were able to show him why they are in charge. The last bit of this episode that is worth mentioning is Dan’s interactions with Casey’s temp – Bobbi. She swears Dan slept with her and never called and he doesn’t even remember her. We’ll find out in a few episodes that Dan is an idiot, but the way Bobbi delves deeper into “craziness” just kind of turns me off. There are parts of this episode that I love, but other parts I’m okay to leave. All in all, however, always moving the story along and giving us a lot of laughs and hard truths.

TA Out!

Sports Night: “Smoky”

Date: February 20, 2021

Season 1, Episode 12

Music Video of the Day: Happy 20th Day of Black History Month!

For one of the most bad ass drummers, D. H. Peligro, of the Dead Kennedys.

Interstellar News: Apparently, Saturday nights are for Sports Night.

Favorite Quote:

Casey: And you’re okay with birds roosting?

Dana: I’m okay with birds doing anything you tell ’em to.

Natalie: Were you two flirting?

Dana: No.

Natalie: You were.

Dana: We were, but it was a rehearsal of sorts. It was a class.

Natalie: If you guys aren’t too far along, could Jeremy join?

The after effects of Dana and Casey “play” flirting.
me jokingly flirting with everyone to a friend who's in a relationship. me, confused, bc I don't know if she's monogamous or not and I don't want to cause trouble (confused face) with her flirting back
One of my absolute favorite memes, because I totally flirt like I breathe.

“I told many, many people.”: Most of this episode focuses on everyone figuring out how their life would change if Isaac were to leave his job to Dana, which prompts all sorts of hysterical conversations. Jeremy and Natalie also have some interesting “sexy” conversations because Natalie enjoys nerdy Jeremy, but he’s so damn clueless it’s absolutely a blast. Dan is concerned about Casey getting back out there but also not wanting to ruin their “well-oiled machine”, and there is a discussion about Sally. My favorite part of the episode, though, is when Dana asks Casey to flirt with her… as practice for him. He’s absolutely bad at it until he tells her she’s “smoky” and then you can see her get all flustered. The next best part of the episode is when Isaac gathers everyone to tell them he’s not going anywhere and they should all stop rumors. Dana says she only told Natalie, Natalie says she only told Jeremy, and it’s wonderful when Jeremy looks forlorn and explains how he told EVERYONE. Jeremy redeems himself later when he calls Natalie a “slow drink of whiskey” and I’m positive I would love that if someone called me that. Assuming they liked whiskey, of course. Not the best episode ever, but a pretty good one with some wonderful moments throughout.

TA Out!

“The Legend of Korra, Book 4: Balance”

Date: February 18, 2021

Music Video of the Day: Happy 18th Day of Black History Month!

“I’m not always there when you call, but I’m always on time.”

Interstellar News: I was totally going to watch some Trek tonight, but other things cropped up… including a migraine. Thankfully, I’m now better and hope to be back to Trekking tomorrow.

TL;DR: Book 1 was all about Korra learning to airbend in order to fully become the Avatar. Book 2 was all about Korra connecting with the Spirit World. Book 3 focused on the Red Lotus and what they wanted with Korra. Book 4 skips ahead to three years after the events of the Book 3 finale. Tenzin and the airbenders try to keep the peace, Kuvira is piecing together the Earth Kingdom by force, Mako has become the bodyguard of Prince Wu, Bolin and Varrick are working for Kuvira, Asami has revived her business, and Korra is trying to find herself after years of physical therapy and healing after Zaheer’s attack. Eventually everyone realizes that Kuvira is power hungry and crazy and they spend the season trying to stop her from taking over Republic City and Zaofu. There is lots of awesome bending, some really deep topics tackled, Toph makes an appearance, and eventually Korra completes her circle and rides off into the spirit portal with Asami.

Kuvira
“I have created a new Earth Empire, and I will continue to lead it into the future myself, bringing about a new era of prosperity for my people.”

“I needed to understand what real suffering was, so I could become more compassionate to others.“: This season was an absolute roller coaster. The three year jump means that we spend a bit of time finding out what each main character did over that time. Korra cuts her hair and spends time undercover, only to run into Toph and find out she still has poison in her… and as a counselor I absolutely loved their time together. Katara and Toph obviously had much different approaches to helping Korra heal, and that’s what counseling is all about, finding the thing you need that helps you over the hill. I also love all of the growing up that most of the characters do, even in little ways. Meelo has a brilliant moment with paint and is “man enough” to admit his farts cannot be contained. Bolin totally fanboys over Toph and admits to everyone how wrong he was and continues to do what he can to make up for being a colossal ass. Mako and Bolin’s family are fantastic, especially Grandma, and I didn’t mind the clip show episode as much because they made it fun with the animation.

Korra and Asami at Varrick's wedding
“Vacation” is obviously code for “lesbian getaway”, and I’m all here for it.

As this was the last season, I do like how everything was mostly wrapped up but also left open for more story. They deal with the surface level of a dictatorship, but also show how Kuvira could bend to a greater power. Korra finishes dating everyone on Team Avatar by taking Asami on “vacation” to the spirit world, Republic City now has a spirit portal and needs to rebuild after the assault by Kuvira, and Varrick and Zhu Li do the thing! Prince Wu also has a great evolution and eventually gets his badger-moles. There is love and loss and ultimately an open path for Korra to be the Avatar she has always wanted to be. I can’t compare this to Avatar: The Last Airbender, because it’s such a different world and journey. Korra seems much more powerful than Aang, but she’s also much more headstrong in some ways. I hate that Aang didn’t really get to live as long as the rest of the OG Team Avatar, but it was wonderful that Korra was able to meet with them all and receive their wisdom. I really love this universe and really wish the live action film wasn’t such a piece of shit. Overall, I full recommend watching Avatar: The Last Airbender followed by The Legend of Korra. The episodes are short and a lot of fun, for a “kids” show.

TA Out!

VOY: “Tsunkatse”

Date: February 16, 2021

Season 6, Episode 15

Music Video of the Day: Happy 16th day of Black History Month!

“Pizzica di San Vito” by Rhiannon Giddens

Interstellar News: The sun came out today, and it was wonderful! Watched Episode II today with our dear friends, in the continuation of our Star Wars marathon. Boy, that was a fucking terrible movie.

TL;DR: Voyager is taking shore leave on the Norcadian home world and one of the local features is Tsunkatse, where two aliens fight each other a la Gladiator style. What they don’t realize is that all of the fights are captured, just like in Thor: Ragnarok, and forced to fight. They only realize this when Seven is in the ring, as she and Tuvok were captured while on an away mission. Seven only agrees to fight in order to save Tuvok’s life. Seven ultimately is forced to fight, to the death, her Hirogen friend… but Janway and Voyager save them before she kills him. Tuvok thanks Seven and the Hirogen goes off to find his son.

Favorite Quote:

Seven of Nine: The idea of killing someone for the entertainment of others is detestable.

Tuvok: Is the idea of losing your own life for the entertainment of others more palatable?

Tuvok asking the hard questions.
from the show American Gladiators, two men knocking each other over with barbells
“Can Toby the Targ correct hull ablation?”

“Surely you can find some way to occupy your free time that doesn’t involve alien fisticuffs.”: This episode is going to be good, no matter what, because Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun, amongst others), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are all guest stars. Johnson even does “The People’s Eyebrow” and I about lost my mind as it brought me back to my childhood. The Hirogen are back in Hertzler’s character, and I knew from the beginning it was him who was going to be Seven’s opponent in the red match. I will give the crew some credit, though, they didn’t interfere with another society and didn’t patronize them anymore after they found out how the fighters were being “recruited”. I mean the story wasn’t all that creative… Seven and Tuvok think they’re too cool for shore leave, get kidnapped, and Seven debates if she should kill someone to save herself or not. We’ve seen it before and I’m sure we’ll see it again. It’s the guest stars and our regular crew that really make this episode. Combs is slimy and excellent, as always, and Hertzler is just fantastic in both his role as a Hirogen and a mentor. Johnson doesn’t get to display any of his acting chops, as he was still probably in the WWE (or WWF as it was called then) and was brought on for his physicality, but you can tell he knows more than just how to suplex people. I liked this episode way more than I should have, but it’s getting 8 lightsabers from me.

TA Out!