The producers went to college in Philly. They know it well.

Anonymous wrote:Do we know how William ended up in Philadelphia instead of Pittsburgh?

Not sure the writers realize that they’re different cities.

Do we know how William ended up in Philadelphia instead of Pittsburgh?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Randall and Beth, the real characters that the writers created would have come to an agreement before he ran for this ridiculous position. They would have had a plan if he won and and a plan if he lost. He won. They would stick to the plan, probably move and Beth would be the supportive councilman’s wife and mother to 3 girls and picked up all the slack at home. I don’t recognize the Randall and Beth of the last few weeks.

+1. Also - trigger warning for the posters who don’t like geography nitpicks - it only just came out during the election where exactly they lived. I don’t recall them ever saying Alpine, NJ before that. The writers could have had them living in Princeton and Randall could have been commuting to Manhattan for his old job and Philadelphia would have been a much more reasonable plan. Alpine is literally on the NY/NJ state line and is 2 hours to Philly with no traffic.

Who would vote for a city council member who lives 2 hours away? GAH!!

Yeah, still so dumb. But more logistically possible if they were closer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Randall and Beth, the real characters that the writers created would have come to an agreement before he ran for this ridiculous position. They would have had a plan if he won and and a plan if he lost. He won. They would stick to the plan, probably move and Beth would be the supportive councilman’s wife and mother to 3 girls and picked up all the slack at home. I don’t recognize the Randall and Beth of the last few weeks.

+1. Also - trigger warning for the posters who don’t like geography nitpicks - it only just came out during the election where exactly they lived. I don’t recall them ever saying Alpine, NJ before that. The writers could have had them living in Princeton and Randall could have been commuting to Manhattan for his old job and Philadelphia would have been a much more reasonable plan. Alpine is literally on the NY/NJ state line and is 2 hours to Philly with no traffic.

Who would vote for a city council member who lives 2 hours away? GAH!!

Anonymous wrote:Randall and Beth, the real characters that the writers created would have come to an agreement before he ran for this ridiculous position. They would have had a plan if he won and and a plan if he lost. He won. They would stick to the plan, probably move and Beth would be the supportive councilman’s wife and mother to 3 girls and picked up all the slack at home. I don’t recognize the Randall and Beth of the last few weeks.

+1. Also - trigger warning for the posters who don’t like geography nitpicks - it only just came out during the election where exactly they lived. I don’t recall them ever saying Alpine, NJ before that. The writers could have had them living in Princeton and Randall could have been commuting to Manhattan for his old job and Philadelphia would have been a much more reasonable plan. Alpine is literally on the NY/NJ state line and is 2 hours to Philly with no traffic.

Randall and Beth, the real characters that the writers created would have come to an agreement before he ran for this ridiculous position. They would have had a plan if he won and and a plan if he lost. He won. They would stick to the plan, probably move and Beth would be the supportive councilman’s wife and mother to 3 girls and picked up all the slack at home. I don’t recognize the Randall and Beth of the last few weeks.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why Beth and Randall need a babysitter for a couple of hours in the evenings anyhow.

I was only half paying attention to the episode so I only vaguely remember Randall mentioning needing someone to drive the girls to activities. In that case, it would make sense.

Otherwise, the two older girls are more than old enough to be home for a few hours with the little one.

Just because the kids can legally be home, does not mean they should.....for hours....every day. I get the impression it is closer to 3 or 4 hours than 1 or 2. Especially after adopting a kid who is just settling in to having a home with loving parents. Well....used to be loving parents. Now selfish, stupid parents. When do the aliens come back and return the real Beth and Randall?

I don't understand why Beth and Randall need a babysitter for a couple of hours in the evenings anyhow.

I was only half paying attention to the episode so I only vaguely remember Randall mentioning needing someone to drive the girls to activities. In that case, it would make sense.

Otherwise, the two older girls are more than old enough to be home for a few hours with the little one.

Randall has been the selfish/unreasonable one in the past, but this one is on Beth.

First of all, she JUST realized it was her dream to teach dance like 5 minutes ago, when she ran out of other options.

A beginner dance teacher with no dance education background would get paid probably $20 per class. So definitely not worth it if they need to get a babysitter. Plenty of dance classes on weekends. She could just do that.

Kinda ridiculous that he went through that whole dramatic campaign and won, just to have her immediately pull this “dream job” out of her arse and act like it’s the most important thing in the universe. So important that she should blow off his dinner, where the hosts were already planning for her, to go have drinks with her boss.

It’s just dumb. Acting like city councilman and beginning dance teacher are equal...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so distracted trying to figure out how Randall & Beth are suddenly having so many issues, that I can't concentrate on the other story lines!! Now it's an issue of not having money & the girls needing Beth. Say what?? They spend money on the most frivolous things. They fly out to see Kate & stay for four days with I'm sure last minute tickets. That can't be cheap. Who's watching the girls while they are gone? All of this drama about the girls being left alone, yet they don't explain who has them while they up and take off to see Kate. Why are they cleaning up after these teenage girls? Are they not old enough at this point to wash dishes and do some laundry?

I don't think Randall and Beth's issues are sudden as much as they haven't been resolved properly. Frankly I'm surprised they've made it this long with what he has done lately. It's like the couple who breaks up over a dirty glass on the counter. It's not really the glass. It's everything that lead up to that. The money they are spending to see Kate is ridiculous. Randall has gone 2x. Beth once, all last minute trips across country. IRL I'd tell DH no way should we be spending money to go see her. His first responsibility is to the family under his roof not a sister whose pregnancy is risky because she gave up on any and all methods to make it less risky by taking better care of herself and now everyone is supposed to fall in line and not state the obvious.

Agree. And they could have simply adopted a child to begin with.

But then they wouldn't have a Jack descendent!! the world would stop spinning!!

Like what was said earlier, Beth and Kate both lost their father at a young age and they were both close to their fathers, yet it seems like the show wants us to feel for Kate like a lost little lamb, but not Beth. Beth has put up with a lot from Randall, he moved his father in, Kevin at one point lived there, he quit his job, he wanted another child so they adoped, he bought a building he ran for office in another city. She has given in a lot, yet now she is wrong for wanting something for herself.

It’s not the wanting, it’s the timing. She waited 20 years, and she gave the go ahead to all of Randall’s requests. It would be totally fair for her to tell him that this is harder for her than anticipated and when his term is up, it’s her turn to do what she wants. I assume it’s a two year term. She can use that time to gear up for her home dream pursuit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so distracted trying to figure out how Randall & Beth are suddenly having so many issues, that I can't concentrate on the other story lines!! Now it's an issue of not having money & the girls needing Beth. Say what?? They spend money on the most frivolous things. They fly out to see Kate & stay for four days with I'm sure last minute tickets. That can't be cheap. Who's watching the girls while they are gone? All of this drama about the girls being left alone, yet they don't explain who has them while they up and take off to see Kate. Why are they cleaning up after these teenage girls? Are they not old enough at this point to wash dishes and do some laundry?

I don't think Randall and Beth's issues are sudden as much as they haven't been resolved properly. Frankly I'm surprised they've made it this long with what he has done lately. It's like the couple who breaks up over a dirty glass on the counter. It's not really the glass. It's everything that lead up to that. The money they are spending to see Kate is ridiculous. Randall has gone 2x. Beth once, all last minute trips across country. IRL I'd tell DH no way should we be spending money to go see her. His first responsibility is to the family under his roof not a sister whose pregnancy is risky because she gave up on any and all methods to make it less risky by taking better care of herself and now everyone is supposed to fall in line and not state the obvious.

Agree. And they could have simply adopted a child to begin with.

But then they wouldn't have a Jack descendent!! the world would stop spinning!!

Like what was said earlier, Beth and Kate both lost their father at a young age and they were both close to their fathers, yet it seems like the show wants us to feel for Kate like a lost little lamb, but not Beth. Beth has put up with a lot from Randall, he moved his father in, Kevin at one point lived there, he quit his job, he wanted another child so they adoped, he bought a building he ran for office in another city. She has given in a lot, yet now she is wrong for wanting something for herself.

Can someone please tell Beth and Randall that their girls are old enough to stay home alone for an hour or two?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1
And I liked Kevin's gesture of buying them Billy Joel tickets as an engagement present. They each seem happy with their respective partners, yet still fond of one another. I just think Kevin's making a mistake re: having kids. I think he really does want to have children and at some point, this will be a big wedge with Zoe.

I think Kevin and Zoe have zero chemistry. They hardly seem in to each other and now Kevin is willing to give up having children for her? Yeah I'm not seeing it at all.

I agree the chemistry isn't there, he had far more with Sophie. I think a big issue is that, while Zoe is drop dead gorgeous, her acting is pretty weak and emotionless for the most part.

+1
She's stunningly gorgeous, but has a very flat affect. I find Sophie to be a lot more engaging and "real".

I wonder if that’s because the actress is having difficulty doing an American accent? She’s British.

Wow, I had no idea!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really disliked Beth in the latest episode. She’s being petty, immature and unrealistic with the dance stuff. She wanted to skip Randall’s work dinner to go get drinks with her boss? And she refuses to teach fewer classes or only weekend classes to accommodate Randall’s schedule? (His schedule is ridiculous in itself but she’s the one who has more flexibility here). She lost her job and was on board with him running (til she wasn’t of course). She needs to suck it up and do what needs to be done for her family. She’s putting her “dreams” ahead of everyone else when she had, what, 20 years to get back into it? NOW she decides to go all in? Selfish.

I did not even really like the Beth centric episode which a lot of people loved. In hindsight, I think it was because it felt foreign to the show - nothing felt familiar to the Beth we knew. It was like the writers were trying too hard for a storyline for her. So yep, apparently they took one of my favorite strong characters and turned her into a 5 year old. She was mad her husband was late to a dance recital....for kids....that she taught for a few weeks. That was so ridiculous. I turned the episode off as soon as she started this fit. I think I am done.

Agree with both of the above. It just feels so inauthentic to the character and their relationship. The hallmark of their marriage was their good relationship skills— respect, communication, fair fighting, honesty. They’re displaying so little of it. I think that’s also part of why the whole city council story is so stupid. It makes no sense that Beth and Randall would decide to pursue that when they’d just adopted Deja. They were great parents, and it doesn’t ring true that they would take on such crazy time and logistical challenges when they were still settling into their new family configuration. Both of them lost parents as teens, so they’re both sensitive to the need to be there for their teenage kids.

I hate it when good shows get stupid.