bbcmyhero

[bbcmyhero]

Nemesis

At long last, time for season 2, episode 5. Let me warn in advance that this one has me feeling some type of way re: Janet’s consent to everything that happens. So, if that’s gonna be a problem, you might wanna skip this one. Trigger warning in advance. Also, the more I go back over these, the more I see where consent in general was sort of...not really considered. But that’s for later. For now, we’re dealing with Rovi’s creepy ass.

Okay, so, overall, I’m not a fan of the cliché bit of a woman worrying that an outfit makes her look fat, and then the guy giving a clearly condescending “not at all, honey,” because we all know women can’t handle looking fat without getting upset. That said, that’s an unflattering skirt/shirt combo but what George said was still a dick move.

He did actually get the sarcasm right on it being great news that Ella was dropping by, he just inflected wrong.

Oh, nevermind, he meant the invite to his school reunion that was on the way.

Last one was on Pluto’s second moon. It was a wild night. (Which is why there’s only one moon now.)

I do love all the world-building with things like this.

Arnie’s in charge of organizing it. And keeping everyone in order. Could have done without the fat joke of leaving Pavarotti in charge of pies, but I get her point.

Arnie is in charge of something.

So...Janet was a prankster who used to tie girls’ pigtails together. Hmm...sounds a bit secretly bi to me if we use that old trope.

And George...was apparently one of a group of bullies.

Somehow, this makes perfect sense. Bullies never remember they basically tortured you, only that it was ‘good times.’ None of this excuses what Rovi does to Janet, but it makes him wanting revenge on George understandable.

Okay, no, that was actually clever of Arnie. I take it back. Holding the reunion of a bunch of aliens at a scifi convention was a stroke of genius.

….Is it weird I want to see what sort of things were coming out of that teacher’s mouth with the all-in-one facial opening?

Doris has four gigantic boobs. I wonder if the ones on the back balance out the drag from the ones on the front, so there’s less back pain?

And she’s every man’s first choice for a slow dance. I hope she carries pepper spray. Or is quick with a knee, if you get my drift.

The fish-lady has pre-spawning tension...I’m...not sure that’s a thing that can happen?

We’ve got a show full of aliens and this is where I’m drawing the line? Okay, I guess.

It really does make perfect sense for Tyler to be at this reunion. Sure, he’s going to a lecture about rectal probes and alien abduction, but I still think there’s no way he’s fully human.

And here’s creepy little Rovi.

Why must he have such a nice accent? I’m insulted.

Honestly, apart from the skeevy way he’s looking at Janet, I’m getting an Anton Lesser in Good And Bad At Games vibe off Rovi. What with the twitchiness and the sort of subtly calling out the guy who used to bully him and waiting for an acknowledgement, while George is just like “okay, weirdo, go away I barely remember you.”

No one wants to turn around and find Mrs Raven behind them, so George does have my sympathy there, at least.

And why is she in his shop?

Wants to chloroform the triplets.

The version I’m watching cuts out some of the sound, here, but we still get the joke of them being “6...6...6” in the picture. Which was an omen.

Tyler pretty much deserved getting slapped there. He’s been creeping hardcore since day 1 of meeting her. I’m surprised she waited this long.

Apparently, the Venusian women Tyler knows are like Klingons in that you get violent to initiate mating.

Poor Tyler, trying so hard not to give everything away when Rovi’s skeevy ass shows up.

Also, again, he knows Rovi’s on the level when he uses an Ultronian insult. Where did Tyler learn Ultronian if not Ultron?

I had to look up what a walnut whip is, and now fully understand why George is weak enough to do anything for one. Those look delicious.

George...you’re an idiot. Tyler talking about people turning into boxes of apricots isn’t the sort of thing that’s driving Mrs Raven away. Mrs Raven not being interested in Tyler is what’s driving her away.

And you continue to get stupider.

He needs to make less of an effort before he gets arrested for stalking.

And Piers can’t steal Janet if Janet doesn’t want to be stolen. There’s no letting or not letting him win, here. She’s a person with autonomy, you know.

Actually, no. All things considered, you probably don’t know that.

IDK what’s different, but Piers’ hair is looking particularly good when he turns up.

And I love that tie-pattern.

“Have the next snivelling hypochondriac, please, Mrs Raven.”

He’s such an ass. I love him.

Mrs Raven is not having any of Rovi’s shit and I’m living for it.

Also, if he’s clearly got these amazing powers of persuasion, he could be doing so much better with it.

But, no, of course not. Let’s be a creepy little jerk, instead.

I still love Piers’ office. Aesthetically, there’s just something so appealing about all of the stars and the gold curtain with that skeleton. I know, the skeleton wasn’t a design choice, it was because doctor. It still looks amazing.

Also, the fact that he has celebrity pictures on his wall, with the picture of himself being the biggest one? Plus what appears to be a shrine of all his awards? Please, broadcast your insecurities a little louder.

Most people would just keep them on a shelf at home.

He’s like “who is this peasant and why is he calling me by my first name,” then flips on a dime to frantic because he might be from the general medical council.’

Superbly timed reaction.

Then he just rolls his eyes and waves that off because ‘when do they ever investigate doctors?’

That felt...pointed. I get the idea, but I feel like there’s context I lack as an American.

“My name’s Rovi Grubbeldim and I’m from Ultron.”

“Ah, I see…you’re a nutter.”

I mean, yes, but, dude, you live in a world where Ultron exists. You’ve met Thermoman.

Why does everyone keep getting skeptical about these things?

I’m with Piers, I’d be creeped the hell out if someone just melted a doorknob with their breath while I was trying to get out of the room.

Nervous Piers is my favorite Piers. I just wanna pinch his wittle nervous face because he is adorable.

“Earth deserves a new, homegrown superhero who’s intelligent, handsome, urbane, sophisticated...sound familiar?”

“Modesty forbids.”

Oh, bullshit it does.

But, really, Rovi only got one of those right. Boy is handsome af.

That stupid, sad little ego is going to be the death of him.

As @purplepadawolf said the other day, “Piers: a dumbass” is what will be written on his tombstone. And I said the cause of death would be a truly iconic display of dumbassery.

Oh, god, now he’s offering him the power of “super attraction,” which will make him “irresistible to all women and a significant minority of men.”

I’d like to point out that while Piers is very pleased about the “all women” part of that, and clearly relieved to hear it won’t work on Mrs Raven, he in no way reacts with any sort of alarm to the men part of that. I mean, he doesn’t acknowledge it at all, but he’s also not worried. And was perfectly willing in “Shock, Horror,” to have people think he was sleeping with George, just so long as he got publicity from it.

This man is a fucking bisexual disaster who doesn’t even know he’s bi, isn’t he?

Gotta give him credit for recognizing there was clearly a catch, and never actually saying yes.

And he’s obviously worried about what’s going to happen to him. As in, his own consciousness.

But look at his face when Rovi says he’s going to use “the finer aspects of your personality: huge ego and total contempt for the public.”

He’s like “that’s rude, I’m not that bad.”

I feel like the headslap there was Piers slapping Rovi instead of the other way around.

I mean, even if you don’t like Piers, you’ve got to feel bad for him living what has to be a complete existential nightmare.

He’s being literally held prisoner in his own body, but Rovi is so good at being ‘him’ that no one even notices he’s gone.

Again, I would just like to point out that he spends a lot of time trying to escape.

Which means majority of the creeping is being done by Rovi and not Piers.

Though, I’ll admit he probably didn’t struggle too hard during the kissing part.

“Greetings, ordinary mortals.”

“Outrageously pompous, even for you-”

See, for a split second there, Janet thought something might be weird until Rovi did his skin-crawling little mind control thing. Not that she would have known what the something was, but it was thisclose.

Gotta admit, though, if Hugh was staring me down like that, I’d quickly lose my train of thought, too.

“That’s it, I’m switching him to decaf.”

Look how Rovi just zipped around the room and diagnosed everyone.

You could be doing something worthwhile with your life, you skeevy little perv!

That’s how you get revenge. Not by going after an innocent by-stander whose only crime was dating someone you (rightfully) don’t like. And completely negating her ability to consent because I guess she’s just a prize and not a thinking person or anything.

I’m so torn. Flirty-smile Piers is...yeah, very nice. Rovi is ew.

George...shouldn’t you be able to recognize that Piers is possessed by an alien? You’ve got the face of calling bs, but you’re not using that x-ray vision properly.

Rovi is wearing him like a skinsuit, man! Fix it!

So, Rovi, as Piers, basically did a fancy dive into the water to rescue everyone from a flood, and then sang show tunes.

While this is, yes, exactly what Piers would do if given super powers and actual control over them, here it’s still just making me think brb screaming internally.

Because, again, it’s gotta suck to have someone be so good at being you no one knows you’re gone.

“Even Janet’s glued to the screen every time he comes on the news.”

Ew. But understandable. Handsome. I am shallow, yes.

Okay, so, here, George doesn’t even know what jealous means until he looks it up in his book. And acknowledges that yes, he is. But in Little Green Men, Janet is mad he won’t get jealous of her completely innocent interaction with a normal human man. I guess jealousy isn’t really a thing on Ultron? Don’t mind me, just trying to reason my way through another continuity error.

See, this is what happens when you don’t think of women as people instead of prizes. Tyler is “making an effort,” like an idiot. Mrs Raven explicitly labels it stalking, and he goes with the idea she can’t make up her mind on her feelings.

Her mind is made up. She’s going to cut your dick off with those scissors if you don’t scram. That’s not a mixed signal.

“If you had snapped up Piers when you had the chance, you’d be the life companion of a superhero.”

Yeah...about that, Ella.

OMG this outfit! It’s ridiculous and I love it. He looks so stupid. Plus, I remember that one interview, wish I could find it again, where Hugh was like “I was just worried everyone could see everything,” or something like that.

Calling himself Miracle Man because Super Piers is Finnish slang for cockroach droppings. Makes sense.

I understand all of those women raising their hands to volunteer as tribute lunch date, but, again, also EW. Rovi.

And look at this. He just Edward Cullened before Edward Cullen existed. Stephanie Meyer ripped off My Hero.

I mean, at least Edward didn’t send the car after Bella in order to set the whole thing up. But it was essentially the same thing.

Also, Janet’s dumb ass could have easily moved to the side.

Again. Ew, Rovi. Consent is a thing.

He did not have to do that, saying that stupid catchphrase (which I wholeheartedly love) in a sexy voice.

Freaking Rovi.

Ten bucks says that’s the first time Piers ever got full-on kiss kissed. Like, properly.

Which adds a bit of “aw, sad,” to the whole thing. On top of the Ew, Rovi.

Ella is worst mom. Congratulations on cheating on your boyfriend, darling. I’m not going to look too deeply into what might be wrong with you acting so highly out of character or even ask about it.

Janet’s living that existential nightmare on a smaller scale, having her brain controlled every time she crosses paths with Rovi and no one apart from George seems to find her behavior weird and upsetting. That has to feel like going absolutely insane. Even she knows something’s not right, but can’t put her finger on it.

At least she’s still driving her own skin, though.

“I think Piers is a vain, conceited, self-obsessed...hunk of a sex god.”

Same. (Except he’s not a sex god, but you get the idea.)

“What’s happening to me?”

(Me in 2002 during the first run through of A Day To Remember.)

If you want to get technical, though, as the series goes on, George pretty much exhibits every single one of the traits we’re told make Piers bad. With the added bonus of being a bully.

So...remind me again...Piers is the bad guy of the whole series because…?

Okay, apparently the way to fix all of this is for them to break up, George to become an alcoholic and Janet to have a pregnancy scare before they get back together.

Sorry. Ew. No. That would mean Rovi...yeah,that’s gross all the way around.

Me, watching this the first time when Janet said there’s more than just a kiss involved: Oh, god, gross. Don’t tell me she slept with Piers?!

Me, watching it now: Oh, god, gross. Don’t tell me Rovi alien roofied her and…(look, we all know the word I want to say, I’m just trying not to. Starts with R.)

Also “and for the life of me I don’t know why, but I have started to have feelings for him,” would be the standard response in-universe of anyone who started falling in love with Piers.

Which...once you crack him like an egg and get past the ego, is very easy to do. Believe it or not.

But oh, thank God, no. Nothing happened beyond the skeevy kissing. Which is bad enough. She just means feelings-wise there’s more.

“It’s just that whenever Piers walks into the room, I wanna be with him.”

Just call me out, why don’t you?

“I don’t know what it is, exactly. His charisma…”

Non-existent.

“That manly voice…”

Eh...it’s nice, but I’ve heard sexier.

“His stunning good looks…”

No argument

“Yes, okay, Janet-”

“Or his sheer, sexual-”

Was the word she was going to use “frustation?” Because that’s the only sexual thing about Piers.

“I get the picture!”

All of you reading this are George. Sorry not sorry.

“I’ll just go pack a few things.”

And there’s Ella with a packed suitcase, clearly eavesdropping. Shouldn’t she have heard him say he was stomping around on the moon?

Six years to the day since Tyler started hearing the voices in his head. Does that mean it was six years ago when the Ultron council erased his memory? Badly. (I will never let go of that theory.)

Dumb question, George. Why would he need extra hats for the voices in his head? Even Tyler knew that was dumb.

Whoa! Tyler just called him George! Because Thermoman wouldn’t run away.

Argh! And no one is even thinking about the fact that Tyler told George someone from Ultron was in the shop asking about him.

No. We’re back to fighting to win back the silly prize lady with no autonomy.

She doesn’t need fighting for. She needs saving from the...I’m sorry, I gotta say it. She needs saving from the rapist alien wearing Piers like a skin suit.

Preferably before that actually happens.

And Mrs Raven isn’t playing hard to get, even George has to admit that, now. But only because he can’t figure out that Janet needs saving and he didn’t “lose” her.

“Tyler, some people say you’re off your head...and they’re right. But you’re a good friend.”

For telling him to fight someone over Janet.

“I want a word with you, Piers.”

“Do drop the pretense, Georgie.”

Piers: screaming internally upon once again realizing he knows who Thermoman is.

And now he’s interrupting Rovi’s evil monologue by basically going “George, look, I’m being held hostage by an alien!”

He was thisclose to getting control back, too. You go, bby.

Rovi, ffs...if Matilda left you for George, nothing was stolen. Maybe she got tired of you being creepy.

I’ll grant you ear-flicking, swirly-giving younger George wasn’t much of an improvement, but that’s her choice, my guy.

So many questions. Why did you have to queue up to be assigned a personality? Was it for going to other planets? Or are Ultronians just sort of blank slates until a certain age?

Rovi’s going to destroy everyone in the world apart from Britney Spears. Ew. She was 19 when this first aired. Half a year away from 20, but still.

Rovi is so gross. Gross. Ew. Sorry George was mean to you in school, but stop being gross.

Chang Ching is a dangerous challenge. Banned on seven galaxies and can seriously damage your health.

WTF goes on up on Ultron when they play rock, paper, scissors? Which is all Chang Ching is.

Well, for one thing...you get dismembered and scattered around the galaxy if you refuse to play.

And Rovi basically brought Janet along to gloat over. Against her will. Which she’s fully aware of despite the mind-control.

*Britney from MPGIS voice* Oh my god, I hate him so much.

At least George knows she’s being mind-controlled now and is combatting that instead of “oh, she’s falling in love with someone else, wah, I lost my prize.”

Rovi does a stupid laugh as a flourish to underscore his evil. That’s about the only thing I respect about him.

Aw, Piers is trying to run away from rock, paper, scissors. I know he doesn’t know that. Still stupid cute. Also, kudos to him for trying to get out. Again. And doing a pretty good job of it.

I feel like it was probably more him looking away when George was saying the fake good bye to Janet. Just because the expression reads of more ‘ouch’ than ‘oh, get it over with,’ like you’d expect from Rovi.

Also, Janet’s beginning to see Piers for what he really is. That’s...true, technically, it’s just not usually Rovi. There’s still a deeply insecure little dude buried in there, though.

Can I just...so, the antidote to Super Attraction is only found on a giant rock which is the favorite toilet of giant space birds. Which means, George went and got the rock out of a toilet, hid it in his mouth, and then slipped it into Janet’s mouth when they kissed.

I know he said he washed it first but no amount of washing will ever make that okay.

So, anyway, Rovi just ditched Piers...and the suit disappeared with him for some reason. Sucks to be Piers right now

“Please tell me this is a dream.” Because we’ve all had that nightmare.

But...

Very respectfully.

Sweet Jesus

Okay. I’m cool

I wish the context was better, but thank you, show.

For real. I’m cool.

Wait. Okay, so Piers did a whole press conference about giving up superheroing, and sold the story. (Because of course he did. I just really love him, okay?)

He was literally standing in front of un-helmeted George after Rovi did that...interesting...escape.

George has erased his memory more than once over the course of the show. This seems like a prime time to do that, along with everyone else’s because he’s done that, too.

Did he just not bother? Or does alien possession make you immune to having your memory erased? Or did he just take out the part about his secret identity, leaving the rest so that Piers could have a fun new trauma to repress and never deal with?

Given that Rovi panicked and ran away, and that Piers despite “looking rough,” looked better than Rovi...WTF happens when you lose, if refusing the challenge gets you dismembered.

I’m hating how they deal with it all at the end, though.

Janet feels guilty for being under Piers’ control (which, again, no, it was Rovi) and keeping track of the fact they kissed 15 times. Which makes George so jealous he goes and stomps around on the moon.

Sorry, but no. I know they want to keep things light-hearted because comedy and not delve too deeply, but Janet basically just apologized and felt guilty for upsetting George by being alien roofied.

[bbcmyhero]

I love this guy. ♥ one of my favourite programmes, only when it was Ardal though :)

And have done since the programmed started, I think that’s roughly when my love for middle age men started

#bbc's my hero #george sunday #thermoman

[bbcmyhero]

#bbc's my hero

[bbcmyhero]

A dove arrives at the Sunday’s house, he wants to speak to George. No, seriously.

#bbc's my hero

[bbcmyhero]

It would explain a lot

#bbc's my hero #janet dawkins #george sunday

[bbcmyhero]

I don’t understand this either George.

#bbc's my hero #george sunday #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

There’s no logic there is there.

#bbc's my hero #george sunday #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

I used to run around trying to get people to do this with me. ^_^

#arnie kowalski #george sunday #bbc's my hero #this is now how we greet each other in current times

[bbcmyhero]

Car

Got a little free time, so I might as well get started on this one. Into the episode with the giant continuity error, because I distinctly remember them having a car before this episode. At least I’m about...95% sure they did.

Are weetabix anything like the mini-wheats cereal? Cuz, if so, I’d honestly like to get my mitts on some. Frosted mini-wheats have the best crunch, ever. 

Also, I hate eating odd numbers of things. I maybe wouldn’t eat 20 giant wheat cracker things, but maybe...4?

Standing in the corner and howling is very #relatable. I get you, Arnie

Again with the fat jokes. Lovely. 

No need to rub in Arnie’s lack of powers by doing an equipment test right then and there. George is worst cousin. 

Still get a giggle out of that George and Ella interaction. 

“No, don’t kiss me.” 

“Thanks very much, Ella, I really appreciate that.” 

I really think if left to their own devices, George and Stanley would get along. Even if they had to bond over not liking Ella. 

Oh, the weird guy in the corner is friends with George? Not a shock. 

There it is, the part about them not having a car. But, again, I coulda sworn they had one in an earlier episode.

Yeah, just checked. Janet’s getting groceries out of a car in the pilot episode. 

Did they have to sell it? 

OMG, George, stop talking. You look like the saddest gold-digger in the world. Mooching off someone as apparently broke as Janet. 

“You make me ashamed of my sex!” 

“Ella knows you try your best, Stanley.” 

BRB, dying

Nice. Now there’s two howlers. 

Poor Janet. 

See, right there. Tyler does the same thing George does later, when he erases his own memory, while trying to remind himself not to talk about Thermoman. Like Tyler’s erasing his own memory. 

Tyler is a transgender alien. Change my mind. 

That poster of Piers is the definition of Cringe. But, also, yeah. No. The man is gorgeous, but I wouldn’t trust him to operate on anyone. No one should book a surgery with him. 

But dear sweet fluffy LORD, this is precious!

The genuine smile. The jumping into the car like an excited kid. 

The blue shirt. 

Did he need to be a smug ass? No. 

Do I enjoy seeing the precious actually happy? Yes. 

Can’t say I blame Mrs Raven. Don’t want anyone in my face with the flu, either. 

I get sick, I crumble like a jenga tower. 

“There is no Mr Right. There’s only Mr Crap, Mr Tit, and their friend, Mr Total Tosser.” 

Wisdom. 

That is a beautiful tie. 

And lookit Piers! For one brief  moment, having none to give about anyone’s opinion. 

Because he’s got a really flash car, and you haven’t. 

“You needn’t worry, Mrs Raven. Janet says most germs are afraid of catching you.” 

And Janet just...runs…

Again, howling in the corner is a totally normal reaction to having no money. 

“I could clone myself, but we’d keep on fighting over who gets ya on a Saturday night.” 

Retroactively disturbing line, considering Hilary the creeper clone. 

WTF, George? Why did your mind jump straight to the idea that Janet was suggesting eating Arnie? 

What the actual hell goes on up there on Ultron? 

Aw, Janet and Arnie celebrating together. Another case of “could have been adorable friends.” 

Except Arnie is a creep, so…

Yet again, Janet laughing at the weird alien custom. 

Which, granted, does look like camp gay “I’m a little teapot,” but still. Rude. 

Okay, I definitely see the fat Freddie Mercury resemblance. 

Doesn’t mean I have to like the joke. 

Also, frozen Janet is the stuff of nightmares. Is no one going to thaw her out? 

I’m not 100% convinced Tyler isn’t hearing actual alien words in the radio static. 

Poor thing. I know he meant “present life,” as in reincarnation, but I still think “faded memories of being Ultronian.” 

This lady’s gold blouse is awesome. 

But ew with Arnie looking through her clothes. 

I know they immediately sniffed a disaster, but that alone should still have gotten him a warning. Considering his hero test question was about sexual harassment. 

Piers has on a stupid hat. I love it. 

It makes the boring shirt more attractive. 

BUT! Dude bragging aside, bby, we all know you didn’t take any ladies for a “test drive.” Except in your own mind. 

Bless. Janet and George are so happy about his four customers, but everyone else is completely unimpressed. 

And the weirdest courting ritual in the world begins in 3

2

1

Mrs Raven gets bitchy, Arnie gets...a boner, apparently. 

Insult. Insult. Hand lick. Both parties clearly need a cigarette. 

I ship it. 

And George basically just insulted Mrs Raven by saying it was fair how she hated everyone. And she just looks pleased as punch. 

Bits of shipwreck all over the living room and helmets not in the helmet cupboard. You know your life is weird, when…

Um, no. Bad George. We don’t imply the little woman is a nag when she doesn’t want you trashing the house for her to clean up. 

At least he cleaned up without complaining. 

Oh, I love this part. 

“She’s queen of here...YOU’VE STOLEN THE CROWN JEWELS!” 

GDI, Arnie

And there went Janet’s morals completely out the window. 

YOU’VE STOLEN THE CROWN JEWELS

But I want a car

Okay, theft is staying on the dl for now

Stanley doesn’t even blink at George wearing a crown. It’s just one more weird thing George does. 

That was weirdly polite. “Oh, it’s you. You’ve come outta your corner.” 

Like, nice to meet you, weird guy. What’s up. 

Love that delayed reaction...oh. Wait. George is wearing a crown. 

Oh, of course this weirdly similar crown isn’t part of the crown jewels. 

Good thing George was so completely convinced of that, or Stanley probably wouldn’t have been. 

Tyler still in the corner counting the oats. Apparently no one finds that a bit strange. 

At least that guy behind him threw some side eye at calling George “master.” 

Also, I would dearly love it if I could find a magical alien healer to fix everything that is fubared in my stupid body. 

No more broken thyroid gland. No more kidney pain. No more stress puking. 

Sounds fake. 

Mrs Raven wanting the phone to ring, then getting annoyed when it does, is me bored outta my mind and wishing someone would text. Then resenting it. 

Janet’s face says she really believes Mrs Raven would kill all the patients and bury them in the car park. 

“Bye, baby, daddy’ll see you very soon.” 

I react to this the same way I react to bearded Hugh swinging his belt on Taskmaster. 

Incoherent whimpering and nail biting, mostly. At the calmer end. 

Jesus!

Okay, I’m cool. 

“I am always...we’ve got no patients.” 

Blue! Shirt!

It’s not nice to say sexy things while wearing a blue shirt. Sir. Not fair. 

I’m fine. 

Piers just watching Arnie and Mrs Raven’s mating ritual like...wtf am I seeing here? And then just nodding, like, yeah, that was definitely the most disturbing flirting I’ve ever seen. I’m leaving before it gets worse….

Wait…

Is George curing my patients? 

How very dare he? The nerve!

Mrs Raven’s little quick change with the stolen scarf. I think it has to be in the lost and found more than one week before you can claim it, ya know. 

Bless him, I think Piers is going to cry. And back to caring what everyone thinks, again. 

Another thing that was nice while it lasted. 

Theft cat is out of the bag. But he’s right. That is one ugly necklace. 

Even if all that stuff was just stolen and hidden in their flat that day, how did no one notice a bedroom full of corgis? They’d surely have started barking at some point. 

Rule of funny. 

George at least has more morals than Janet. 

I mean, I know a car would be useful, but I can’t believe either of them trusted Arnie in the first place. 

Howling sadly in the corner is contagious. Poor Janet. Nice going, George. Just couldn’t be a little more optimistic, could you? 

Lovely problematic cinnamon roll in a blue shirt is at the door. 

“You have all my patients, I want them back….Not that I like them, they just go with the job.” 

I love him. 

If looks could kill, I’d have murdered Janet and George ten times over by now. 

Couldn’t just take the check and get yourselves any old car. 

No. 

I mean, someone hands me 8k, I’m not gonna be a greedy prick about it. 

But, it’s the throat-clearing and the slumped shoulders that Piers has going on, while handing over his car keys. Like a little kid that just got conned out of his favorite toy. 

And the fidgety hands.

God save me from this man’s little sad hand fidgets. 

“Can we give you a lift?” 

You ever see A Fish Called Wanda? The way whenever Otto crashes his car into someone else’s he always screams “asshoooooooooole!” 

That’s me, rn. 

I mean, I laughed the first time. But that was before...the incident. The moment that changed everything. 

Also, flying the car over traffic isn’t very subtle and secret-identity. 

Douchebags. 

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #Piers Crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Girlfriend

Finally, a little free time in between aunting hardcore five days a week. (I mean, I love them but two toddlers is a bit too much.) And I just got a new laptop. I’mma boss this. (Warning. It gets pretty thirsty pretty fast.) 

I’m just going to state for the record that this episode’s plot annoys me. Not the arranged marriage bit, just that Xil is Avril turned up to 11. Just...could you all stop fighting over an okay-ishly attractive guy (who is going to progressively be revealed to be not that great as the series goes on)? I mean, why fight over a guy at all? It’s so middle school, most of us outgrow it.

So...my first question is this: if you’re stuck in a routine, and know the tea is going to burn you, why not just...do something crazy like wait for it to cool a bit?

Janet hasn’t become her mother, yet, but give it time. Shades of Ella are already there.

(And, honestly, enough with the fat jokes.)

See this? This right here? This is why you never say you don’t like being boring. Boring is good. Boring means your boyfriend’s fiancée isn’t going to just show up and blow the bedroom door to pieces.

On Ultron, everyone gets betrothed at 6 to a member of the opposite sex. Nice. Not only are they extremely misogynistic, but also big into forced heterosexuality. No wonder George is slowly being revealed as…kind of a dick, to be honest.

I’m dead. “I don’t need legs and breasts, Janet, I’ve got you.” Still cracks me up.

Also, I know Janet is upset, but she’s being unreasonable. First, she gets -understandably- upset that George just accidentally insulted her body, then she gets -less understandably- upset that he deliberately complimented it. What?

I don’t think I’ve said it before, but I honestly love Piers’ office. My bedroom happens to be blue with silver spray paint swirls and glow-in-the-dark stars. I get that he’s probably going for a not-so-subtle hint that he’s a star, but aesthetically it’s very appealing. Much more so than that yellow shirt.

(Shameless fangirling to follow. Feel free to skip everything between here and the next parentheses.)

That coffee order was suspiciously fancy for someone with such a simple preference, but, ah, there it is. Crowd-following. Never change, bby.

Or, no, do. That is one pitiful little man.

Bad joke. Forced laugh. Fell flat. I mean, I laughed, but in universe it definitely didn’t land. It’s sad. His laugh is very nice, but his brand of charm is all superficial. Which works against him as a human being.

Getting a better look at the tie, I maaaaybeeeee don’t? Hate it?

“Mrs Crow is having an affair with Dr Benson.” From here on out, he uses his hands too much. I’m distracted.

It’s not a bad thing. They’re just pretty.

And, you know, it’s reasonable that Mrs Raven would assume that’s what he meant, since he did, presumably fairly recently, try to put the moves on her. But his face is all “good lord, no,” and his hands are basically saying the same thing. But, dude...you tried it. Maybe you’re not asking now, but you definitely have asked.

Jesus. Too much hand-gesturing. It’s killing me.

Oooh. Mrs Raven don’t know it, but she just screwed up.

Of course, we all know how that’s going to end, but just for now my troubled problematic cinnamon roll has the upper hand and Mrs Raven doesn’t know it.

HANDS! Just...move them less. Please.

So pretty.

(Now back to our not-so-regularly scheduled episode reaction.)

Dang. Mrs Raven actually looks unpleasantly shell-shocked about something. That’s going to happen...I think, maybe once more before the series is over? It’s rare. I hope Piers enjoyed that while it lasted.

I mean, she’s got nothing to say back to George. Daaaaang.

“I had you down as dead.” Another one that still gets me. Basically a throwaway moment, unless there’s a part missing from this episode (as there are from some of them on this youtube channel, but alas this is all I have to work with.)

Okay, so, George has the marriage contract in front of him, frantically looking for a loophole, and he never noticed that wasn’t quite his name in Ultronian? Which he’s fluent in? I’m calling plot hole.

Tyler’s fluent in Ultronian, and has a “bit of school boy martian,” and my theory grows increasingly convincing. He’s definitely Ultronian.

“Ta very much.”

Oh, hell. Now that the Ultronian screeching is over...I don’t hate her voice. At all. Like, don’t hate it in a “sometimes my brain is a tiny little bit gay” way.

I love her accent.

Tyler just had a religious experience.

There’s no way this guy wanting to get married at Arnie’s is American. Or at least not Southern. That’s just the standard redneck accent everyone puts on to imitate us, but if he’s Southern US, then I’m Northern English because I can do the more distinctive vowel sounds passably.

Checked imdb. Thought not. There was a slip on “what’s the difference,” that gave away some of his real accent. Not American.

Hmm. On Ultron around the time of the compulsory het betrothals, some of the kids were doing stuff that “didn’t make them any less of a man.” Interesting.

I know for myself that’s the age that my mom baby sat for the two girls next door, one a couple years younger and one my age but a year ahead in school because her birthday was early enough to start a year before I did. Anyway. We played house and acted out soap operaish plots a lot.

I remember this one game where I was a jaguar named Thumbelina who had been adopted as a cub by this rich lady (played by the younger sister) and she raised me to be very high society and tried to force me into a an arranged marriage with another society jaguar (an invisible third player), but I was in love with the broke jaguar from the jungle (played by the other girl).

Sometimes kissing happened. And we traded off on whose day it was to be the he or she. That’s just the game we played on some of my she days. 

Just saying. In a world that forces people to marry or get vaporized, that’s probably a game that would be quickly curbed.

Why is there a Great Pig Juggling Ceremony?

Two things:

First, I love using q-tips. As, I’m guessing most people do. But what he’s doing with the drink stirrer just looks painful.

Second. Ew. I’m imagining earwax in that drink now.

I’m really torn on whether or not I’m with Ella here. Sure, she should be supporting her daughter if someone is trying to steal her boyfriend (though you can’t steal someone who doesn’t want to be stolen), since in the show George is supposed to be the ultimate perfect nice guy.

On the other, he’s really not. He’s not quite the chucklefuck my sister was with -Chuckles, I “affectionately” called him. To his weasly little face- but he’s not terrific. Though not for any reason Ella actually knows. Still, I’m just saying I get the impulse to be like “thank god that little mouth breather is leaving.”

“Janet, I’m straight and I think I fancy her.”

I’m about...call it 80%, but I get it, Mrs Raven.

“George understands women.” Nah, he really doesn’t. He’s just...sometimes a little nicer about it.

But, Janet. You moron. Xil was literally in the process of leaving had you just played along. Also, George should have committed to the role a bit more.

Honestly, though, I can’t say I wouldn’t be impressed if someone could fart Bohemian Rhapsody.

Sure, he got the door for the old lady, but then he let it knock her flying. Really, that should’ve made Xil slightly less certain that she was being played before he went out to help.

(fangirling commencing again.)

Hugh Dennis should always wear some shade of pink or blue. Maybe purple. Because damn.

Nice try, Mrs Raven, but there is no shame in being a Sheena Easton fan and the precious one is gonna own that shiz.

Also, that’s adorable, cuz it’s not really what I would have expected from him. I would have honestly expected him to listen to something more snobbish.

Oh. Oh no. He just...handed over that upper hand and doesn’t even know it.

Hahahahahaha. Good. He’s too douche-y when he gets it.

And sometimes I love that.

(and we’re back.)

If Janet can’t safely fly into outerspace with George, how was he going to manage it when the Ultron Council was going to destroy Earth?

Swear to God, “oh, aye,” is literally one the sexiest things anyone can say in that accent. I don’t even care if I’m not attracted to the person, it’s always so pleasantly lilty that for a split second it changes that fact.

Seriously, Janet? That one was so obvious it was embarrassing. Did you really think you were going to set her off after Tyler, of all people?

So, we’re supposed to see Xil as being a complete bitch here for talking down to Janet and telling her she’s an inferior species, but...George...actually does treat her that way sometimes.

And if Xil can’t hear them in the bedroom, why can Ollie, later? Another case of Ultronian women having “inferior” powers? Or plot hole?

*dying* I’m sorry, I really love Xil. Like, I’m cracking up. She’s so annoyed at all the questions, and honestly thinks Janet just wants time to get a snack or something before getting her voyeur on. And she’s generous enough to offer, even after Janet called her an alien hell cow.

It’s the way she offered, though. It’s not even, like, smug. It’s just “well, duh, that’s probably what weird little humans do, so go get a snack, you’ve got time.”

Mrs Raven will not be miserable alone, dammit!

But, yeah. George promised not to have sex with her does sound...very iffy.

I’m not sure what that food is supposed to be, but I’m reasonably certain it’s some sort of fat cookie with gummy worms on it. Nasty. Gummies. Ew.

And that one’s a color-reversed watermelon with wires.

Okay, again, Xil’s supposedly being a bitch, here, but she’s got a point re:Janet imposing her culture on George. Any time there’s a culture-clash, the show always plays it as George being in the wrong and Janet being right.

Nose pinch being case in point. It’s kind of adorable, and if he’d explained what he was doing, and Janet still laughed about it, then she was in the wrong. And being a dick.

Although George is being a hypocrite. He freaked out on Janet for sharing cake with Arnie and not knowing what she’d done wrong, and unlike Arnie in that scenario, George is clearly aware that this is technically Ultronian foreplay. Possibly a kissing equivalent? And yet is also willing to go along with it.

Again, can’t steal what doesn’t want to be stolen.

Okay, for all she laughed at it, Janet is obviously aware of the implications. Also, has he considered trying the weirdly cute nose thing on her, again? Or was the one time too discouraging?

Honestly, this made me cry a little the first time I watched it, when she was willing to give him up to save his life and let him go on helping people.

Mm. Blue shirt. My fave. (Read it in a homer simpson voice.)

I think it might be the super-pretty dark blue one from last episode, just with a different tie, but I can’t be sure. It’s not really important. It’s just that these things take a couple hours to write and it’s 2:30 am and he’s just...really nice to look at. Existing there in his blue shirt.

And about to find out that he’s lost the upper hand spectacularly.

I don’t know what he expected.

Mrs Raven files like I organize my movies. By actor and title. So, for example. I have two different black and white versions of Little Women. One with June Allyson as Jo, and one with Katharine Hepburn. The two of them are in order of which one was made first, but next on the line has to be Bringing Up Baby, because Katharine.

No one else can really find anything that way.

And back to the sad, but George kills it by offering her his detachable big toe.

That kiss, tho.

Again, even if Ultronians don’t lie, he still looked at the contract. It should’ve jumped out at him.

Presumably, Xil was vaporized since she was obviously not interested in marrying Arnie?

Ugh. We gotta end on on the fat jokes, really?

It was a sweet speech, and then cue the fat jokes. *blows raspberry*

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o'hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #Piers Crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Parents

Firstly, I’d like to apologize in advance if this is a bit..well, crap. My computer is old, prone to screeching and dying suddenly -literally screeching with demon static-, and did just that one page, ten paragraphs and ⅓  of the way through the episode last time I tried this two nights ago. Finally getting the chance to try this again. For the sake of clarity, I’m just calling it 2x1, as per imdb. 

As someone who broke out all over until well into my 20s, I’m definitely finding Mrs Raven to be a complete asshole, here, towards that poor kid. And loving all the unintentional sick burns George drops on her immediately afterward.

This part, though, is a little clingy and creepy. It’s outright stated that they’ve been together a little over a year at this point, and that’s more than long enough for the random need to go around a stare at your SO to have worn off. I know it’s meant to come across as sweet, and for a second it does until you start to really think about how long it’s been going on. Visiting at work? Sure, no problem, that’s normal. Visiting to stare because you haven’t seen them in a couple hours? Should have stopped months ago. Maybe that’s just me, because I like my space, but I’d have ditched him ages ago to avoid the cringe if this was a regular thing and not a one-off cute moment.

“He’s getting it whether he wants it or not.” We have a word for that, Mrs Raven.

This bit of in-sync, bitchy giggling with Janet and Mrs R is actually a really cute moment. One of those little things that shows why someone as seemingly nice and normal as Janet is even friends with Mrs Raven in the first place. Deep down, she’s just as bad.

Everyone’s reaction at realizing it does, in fact, spell GONADS. Subtle, but hilarious.

Piers, stop giving yourself airs. It’s likely the extent of your stage acting is that thing mentioned where you had to play the vegetables. Still, everything he’d clearly rather be doing: violinist, pro athlete, tv presenter, cheesy theater acting, all things where people would pay attention and applaud. And probably all things he’d put a bit more effort into doing competently.

(That’s a nice shirt, though, and clearly he knew it since it turned up again a couple days later, episode-wise.)

It feels really OOC for Mrs Raven to offer to share anything with anyone, but George especially. As a joke set-up, it felt a little forced for that very reason.

The exchange between Janet and George, where he thinks he’s gotten himself involved in a weird incest/murder cult that Janet is completely blasé about having been raised in still kills me.

My judgy Ella side can’t help but wonder if this is a new outfit that Janet has, because it’s very pretty and if she had it, she should have worn it to the fundraiser last year, instead. I judge people’s clothing choices way too much for someone with no fashion sense.

Also, apart from George in that green check that Ardal always looks really nice in, it’s just a solid row of blue. Janet in light, Mrs Raven in medium and Piers in dark. I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning that I’m missing, but it just feels like a way to draw my eye straight to where I’m inevitably gonna look, anyway. And he’s hardly even in this bit.

I mean, it’s probably to make George stick out more, which it also does. But it still feels like an arrow going right to Piers.

Mrs Raven offering diarrhea medicine is, again, a bit ooc, but also such a surprisingly “mom” thing to have in her purse. And I’ve always liked the semi-regular gag of people thinking George is giving TMI as he rushes off to the toilet.

Also, her snarky remark is just the sort of thing I’d say. Fact, while stuck at a church function (sis was too young to refuse to go, and I had quit years ago but was too young to stay home alone while they went on an overnight several hours away for her Sunday School graduation) I had mom in fits of unwilling laughter as I proceeded to MST the puppet show we were watching with as many dirty jokes as I could make.

(Look, the three in blue are all in a row and they all turn to stare at George in shade order when he first starts calling out. See, it makes your eye go right to Piers. Or maybe that’s just me. *shrug*)  

For all her annoyance at George, Mrs Raven still joins in the ensuing chaos just for the sake of stirring the pot.

That housekeeper extra looks familiar. This is gonna drive me crazy.

Welp, that’s it. Cat’s outta the bag, now.

And that was the fakest-looking flying effect in the history of flying effects.

Same for the spoon through the head.

At least they like him, now. I guess.

Bless Stanley’s little heart. “To infinity....and beyond!”

You just know they’re going to slip, though.

Ella...considering you got an eyeful, already. You should know the answer to “is he...as other men?”

Ugh! Mrs Raven, stop being an asshole to my teenage self! I mean, to the kid with acne.

Yeah, I can’t imagine why someone would hate a guy who married one sister and dated the other. Sounds like a real winner.

I love Piers being all “wtf just happened did Ella take too many drugs?”

And Ella’s face as she almost spills the beans.

But, of course, Mrs Raven is going to pry.

“I don’t suppose it’ll do any harm, you knowing.” Ella, ARE YOU NEW?

George walks in, and that one song by The Lonely Island kicks up in Mrs Raven’s head.

*obnoxiously hums the bridge of said song to self as Mrs Raven breathlessly leaves the room*

In George’s defense,  Janet probably should’ve stopped trying to put the moves on him as soon as she knew it was her dad. She can’t have expected that to end well.

Now, George, how dare you become interested in things Janet finds boring?

Also, Janet can eff off. G&S is good stuff.

So, you know how later George accidentally erases his own memory? Look at Tyler right here, reminding himself to say nothing about how George is Thermoman. He’s doing the same gesture. I’m sticking with the Tyler Is Ultronian theory.

Nice going. You guys broke Tyler.

Okay, fair enough. Audrey may be a bigger bitch than Ella. It was fun to see her get knocked down.

And then Tyler gets knocked down.

Yes, Mrs Raven is pretty attractive. Of course, they can’t make her too attractive or we lose the joke of “ooh, how horrible, Mrs Raven is dressed up!”

But, honestly? Straighten the posture and fix the make up and we’re all set.

Also, that is an excellent dress. Very Marilyn, which is clearly what they were going for.

I want that dress. My boobs would look amazing in it.

Piers. Just...Piers. Looking so put-upon at the idea of Mrs Raven trying to seduce him.

Spot-on self-assessment, though. He is attractive, especially in that shirt. And he’s not wrong about the unlikelihood of Mrs Raven being after any of the patients.

Speaking of boobs...Clearly, when Mrs R gets hers out, she’s got the ultimate hypno-rack.

“I’ll be in my bunkoffice.” Song’s probably in his head, now.

The hypno-rack doesn’t work on George, unfortunately. Only lonely little incels with over-inflated egos.

Biiiiiiiitch! Do not insult the beautiful hilarity that is A Modern Major General.

Pffft…”Move the sun so I don’t have to move bedrooms.” Nice.

See, George, there you go again. Getting along with Janet’s parents and developing interests she doesn’t enjoy. Bad boyfriend.

Also, it was pretty cool that George got to lecture Ella, for once. Hope he enjoyed that while it lasted.

“I don’t want you to feel part of a family, I want you to feel part of a couple.” IDK, that line just sounds pretty selfish, even in context. Like, if you squint, you get what she means, but it came out way wrong.

George should already, based on previous experience, have been wary of Piers wanting to give him an exam. And yet...here we are.

That song’s in Mrs Raven’s head again.

And she doesn’t have a bad figure, at all.

As I said earlier, re: getting it whether he wants it or not. We have a word for that, Mrs Raven. Starts with an R, but I’m not gonna use it, in the hopes of not triggering anyone. Let me know if I failed. Because that R word is actually going to come up a couple more times before the series is done.

And we’re back to the creepy, staring at Janet before work thing. But, poor baby, anyway. He did love those trains.

Oh, god, I need a minute before I can watch this next scene. The second hand embarrassment is too strong.

Ugh.

Okay. I’m clicking play.

Well, he’s not...completely...terrible...at giving compliments. “Underneath it all.” Underneath the general air of hideous, I guess? Still, it kinda...works.

*fans self, tea kettle screeching internally*

That face, right there? That tone?

If he’d tried it on anyone but Mrs Raven, and also if he could refrain from speaking...Just give ‘em the bedroom eyes and don’t talk, bby.

Cause he’s doing so.well. Up until the part about “her lucky day.”

I mean, he wasn’t doing well with her, obvs, but the words weren’t entirely bad.

I stick by that.

Mainly because I’m no longer sure if I’m sweating because I live in Hot As Hell, GA, and have no AC. Or because jfc, dude, I probably woulda jumped him right then and there.

I’m weak. I’m a weak, weak woman.

Also, he’s clearly nervous. Which is adorable.

*winces* Ow. Jaw broken in six different places in one go. No wonder even George had a hard time fighting her off.

Hmm. Idea. Maybe show Stanley George’s model railway. He might be impressed enough to let George play with his, again.

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #piers crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Christmas

The Christmas episode, which I have alternately seen labeled as end of series 1 or beginning of series 2. No one else is sure, so I’m not sure. I’m not terribly bothered, so, I’ll just call it the Free-Floating Christmas Special and off we go. 

Christmas shopping is always my favorite part of the whole thing, so the opening scene hits me just right, so to speak. Also, imo, Thermodoll is reminding me of Tyler. Hilarious, all things considered.

So...when George thinks Janet’s been taken over by alien tree-worshippers, it’s considered a valid concern, just not the right answer. Had Tyler said the same thing, everyone would have been rolling their eyes. I dunno, man, I’m reasonably sure Tyler’s been right about enough that you shouldn’t discount him entirely just because he has holes in his brain.

Poor George, I know it’s confusing but don’t bother trying to understand the mishmash of religious traditions that got stolen for Christmas.

Mrs Raven spreading her “unique” brand of Christmas cheer to the expectant mom. I’m a sick person for laughing.

...It was Piers idea to do something nice? That doesn’t sound like...oh, it was self-serving. Yeah, that makes sense.

Now, this starts out looking like George just being completely naive and ignorant about Christmas, with calling Stanley out, but in hindsight if he knows Santa how does he not know all this? It’s either a HUGE gaping plothole, or he found Santa and introduced himself when he left the party.

Ella’s face when this entire conversation starts. Also, for once, she seems more amused by George than put off. She looks almost flattered/on the verge of cracking up the whole way through.

See, this is the sort of thing Janet could have avoided by just following up that remark about “imagine spending Christmas with...” with a “and I’d prefer it to be just the two of us, instead.”

I had a suspicion when I heard his house was called Bedside Manor, and it is now confirmed. Piers Crispin tells terrible, corny jokes and is usually the only one laughing. Also, someone just give the man a coffee, just this once. For Christmas.

This kid who almost ruins it for everyone reminds me of Ben from Outnumbered, especially when he smiles. And at least George had by then sort of cottoned on to what was up enough to lend a hand.

Title drop.

You guys, listen to Tyler. I think he was predicting Trump.

“Irritate the pants off me.” I’ve always heard it as “Buggin the pants off me,” but, I think it means two different things depending on which side of the pond. Underwear in the UK, outerwear over here.

Okay, I dig the drink dispenser. My sense of humor is pretty stupid, sometimes. And Arnie also tells terrible, corny jokes and laughs alone. But you’d expect it more from him.

I don’t recall a Christmas Eve where I’ve ever gone to bed before midnight in years. If I’m not in the kitchen with mom, I’m wrapping presents and by the end I’m not sure which end is up, anymore.

At least he checked Ella’s feet and not her boobs. That would’ve been awkward.

I made a friend of mine watch the scene with the burglar at Mrs Raven’s. I can’t remember if she’d wandered into my room or I’d made her come in, but either way I made her stay put and shut up until it was done because it’s a fave part and I had already seen it once by then. Anyway, to this day, sometimes one of us will just look at the other and put on our best English accent and say “Thank you, Santa. I won’t do it again.”

Also, I can’t believe Mrs Raven didn’t wake up during this whole exchange since she seems the hypervigilant type. I’m gonna assume she was passed out drunk.

I dunno who Piers is talking to here, but it’s a safe bet they aren’t exactly what you’d call close friends. Not as most people define it. Close enough to call on Christmas Eve, but not so close that they aren’t trying to one-up each other. Is other guy being honest about Lynette Moss (whoever that is)? No clue, but Piers sure isn’t.

Of course, the hilarious part is George thinking he’s busted for a second, there.

Honestly, this is exactly the sort of room I expected Piers to have. All the mirrors and the giant portrait of himself. Sad, oversized shrine to his own ego. And the slippers, while hilarious, didn’t come as a huge surprise. His pajamas, on the other hand, did. I was expecting something expensive-looking, possibly monogrammed, and instead it’s sweats and a shirt that any old crew-member on the show might have.

More interesting, is that while he’s walking around doing stuff he probably wouldn’t be caught dead doing in public -looking unpolished, plucking nose hairs- he’s still, essentially, in character as Dr Crispin while being on the phone.

Picture of Janet. Gee, that’s not more than a little creepy.

It bothers me that he threw the phone onto the bed instead of putting it back on the cradle. It needs to recharge, man!

And he’s the only character shown sleeping on their side, half-curled up. Also the only one to sleep on top of the covers. Not sure what to make of the latter, but the former is sort of a mix between two sleeping positions that one of them is profiled as open-natured but suspicious and cynical, and the other is shy, sensitive and easily worried by overthinking problems.

(The man does not have ugly feet. I apologize for the weirdness of that.)

Okay, see, George essentially tore the wrapping paper, there, and that’s a pretty much impossible fix. It would have been easier, and less obvious, to open the bottom and switch the contents out. Still, he obviously did a good job fixing it since Piers didn’t notice anything amiss.

I’m not here for Janet knocking the wonder that is turkey. It is my favorite and obviously she doesn’t do it right if hers is dry and unflavorful. Mind you, I enjoy the slightly dry texture of turkey in general, though. Not much of a chicken person.

Bet she didn’t put an onion inside it. That’s why its got no flavor.

How do you get two weeks of leftover turkey? I’m lucky to get four days.

Great. Now I’m hungry. I’mma need a turkey and a pan of dressing, asap.

I’ve heard of Christmas pudding, before, but...yeah, I think I prefer my American tradition of at least two pies and two cakes.  

“Oh, no, they’re early.” Says mom every year when my cousin’s bunch turns up. They have an unfortunate habit of plunking themselves down at the table and poking everything while she’s still cooking. Without washing their hands.

George’s face. So bewildered and defeated. You tried, boo.

I think we should be grateful Tyler didn’t think the bottle was for a urine and/or blood sample. And poor thing didn’t get a present from Santa George.

You.People.All.Suck! Piers might, if you squint, have a legit gripe with the present switching, but it’s nothing he didn’t deserve. But, overall, mystery solved and you could all just say thanks.

This is what I was talking about, before, with Janet/George playing out a softer version of Ella/Stanley. “He made a mistake,” isn’t really a defense when followed up with agreeing that he ruined Christmas. Better to follow it up with pointing out that he was just trying to do something nice and that they should all just chill now they know it wasn’t a stalker.

Again, Janet could have avoided having her Christmas ruined by explaining she didn’t want them around before George started issuing invites.

You tried, Stanley.

You know a suspicious and disturbing amount about Christmas suicides, Piers.

Now, Tyler claims to have gone to school with both Santa and Leonaro da Vinci, but only one of them acknowledged him, in turn. I have a small theory I’m working on about that.

Oh, C’mon! That was undeservedly mean! Give the poor baby his jigsaw piece back, it’s the only thing Santa’s given him in years. (Double mean when you think that sitting in the floor “like a little boy” isn’t what you’d expect image-conscious Dr Crispin to unbend enough to do. Piers, on the other hand...well, I did say it’s like they were two different people.)

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #piers crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

The Party’s Over

Episode 6, one of my faves. Because reasons, as one of my friends used to say. (I think we all know what those reasons are by now. *ahem*) 

Now, the funny thing is, I was 16 when this episode first aired and I was sort of rolling my eyes at Janet’s existential crisis. Mainly because I’d been having an ongoing one since about age 4 when I’d sit in the floor and look at baby pictures of myself and cry because I wasn’t a baby anymore. Then I concluded I was asleep and the aging was all one long dream. It wasn’t very convincing, and said crisis got worse at...yeah, age 16 when all the tv shows and stuff had told me that was the turning point and the awkwardness of puberty was supposed to be over. Lies. So, yeah, didn’t really get the big deal about 30. Two years past it, I can look back and go...oh, I get it, now. Sort of.

On a less personal note, George says Ultronians don’t have ages, but his actual age in numbers is mentioned later.

This whole misunderstanding with Carol still nearly makes me pee myself laughing. Also, I used to have a hair clip with fake braids and such that looked a bit like her hairdo.

I really don’t understand this whole thing Janet is doing where she’s pretending she doesn’t want a big deal made about her birthday. She knows George is kind of an idiot when it comes to Earth customs and takes everything literally, yet she’s getting snippy when she thinks she’s getting nothing after repeatedly telling him she doesn’t want anything. From his side, it’s gotta look like the real problem is all the cards, etc, reminding her of something that seems to be upsetting her.

Alien reference...kind of sad considering John Hurt’s recent death. (Sidenote, I’ve got to get crushes on more men closer to my age so that my celeb crushes don’t keep dying.)

Oh! I just remembered that later George had that Ultron virus thing and said Alien was an amazingly accurate film. Further evidence for my “Tyler Is Ultronian” theory, perhaps? He knows about that particular virus, thinks he has it, but has forgotten that even if he did it wouldn’t hurt him. Unless he has a vague memory of losing his powers, and with no powers it would? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

There it is, Piers literally embodying that dating post wherein the guy brags about being a doctor and says that getting older will take him from a young Al Pacino to George Clooney. And see above, re: people I’m attracted to. He’s not wrong, per se, but it’s not universal. And his general attitude can be extremely offputting.

OMG, I just figured out what two words Janet probably whispered. I’m very slow on the uptake.

“If you’re thinking of grabbing me...” Yes, quite often. Despite that tie. But, sometimes, I also think of smacking you upside the head.

(Hilarious thing, the copy I’m watching on youtube has commercials, which are for some reason captioned despite my not turning them on. There is now a random caption stuck to Piers declaring “four snacks in one.” Also, for some reason I can click on it and drag it around the screen. It’s fun.)

I’d really like to be Mrs Raven sometimes. “I’m not coming if that is.” Many times I’ve voiced my complaints privately to mom about who’s invited to a thing I also have to attend, but never to the person’s face. No matter how much they deserved it. (And, no, I don’t mean for petty reasons. I mean general “you’re a douche” reasons.)

Second time where the joke has been made that Piers would be happiest dating a mirror. Sad commentary on him as a person, really.

Ella kills it in this scene in the shop with the understated snark and the reaction faces. And it seems we have another thing in common. People who’ve had my version of devil’s food cake have literally begged for another one. And made inappropriate offers to get it. Granted, I had no interest in said offer from that person, but it was still hilarious.

Wow, Avril managed to not make a bitchy remark about Janet.

So, at this point Mrs Raven’s mom is still out and about. Wonder when she wound up in what is presumably prison?

Not sure if Mrs Raven is saying Dr Crippen on purpose as a joke or if a flub. Happens in two different episodes.

Someone please get this man a dating consultant, this is just sad. Mind you, this is what you get for pestering someone clearly uninterested. And, but, also, just a tiny little note here. “Oh, thank God...I mean, cool. Cool” No, you’re not, sweetie, you’re really not. (Actually, by the end of the whole series, I’m firmly convinced that this is pretty much Piers when no one’s looking. Except with one of the few things he’s actually mentioned enjoying, instead. Golf or bridge, something like that.)

Zoey is “extremely tall. Used to be a model.” *starts practically vibrating in chair* Ooooh, best part coming up!

Janet, Janet, Janet. Your poor alien boyfriend has no concept of sarcasm or playing coy. Why do this?

George is me trying to get out of things with really bad excuses. Can’t defuse the bomb, I have scurvy. A+. She’ll totally buy that. But, dude, stop bragging about your sex life in front of people. Is awkward.

Carol the hooker is back, along with more hilarious misunderstandings. George is totally normal and vanilla. That’s why he just carried an unconscious woman in a nurse’s outfit out of the bathroom, after giving her a birthday surprise. Nothing weird here.

See, with better planning George could have packed Janet a change of clothes and pretended the trip to NY was her present, then after a couple hours of touristy things, back for the party. Boom. He is now best boyfriend. Instead, Janet is stuck living a variation of the pajama nightmare.

Man, when a roach is that big you might as well make a pet of it. I once watched a fairly large one clean it’s antennae. It was almost catlike the way it would tilt its head and run them between its front legs. I was charmed.

Avril...why? Awesome dress, and you’ve clearly got great boobs, but...the jacket? Those shoes. Why? Very few people can pull off sneakers and a nice dress. My sister is one of them. I am not, as I found out when I had to do it for a party due to foot issues. They were sparkly tenny’s and everything, and yet, I failed to look as good as the time sis wore plain, knee-high converse with a frilly dress to a school dance. Avril, we are the awkward people and we must accept it and not try to go alternative with our fashion.

Tyler following a clearly uncomfortable Mrs Raven around reminds me of this weird guy who latched on to me one day in high school after choir practice when I was reading and waiting to be picked up. He decided we should talk, so I humored him, and thereafter he would follow me around and put his arm around me. I said nothing and was even embarrassed when my friend yelled at him to leave me alone in the middle of a crowded hall. Weeks later, he caught me alone, patted me on the head and when I asked him not to, he responded by ruffling my hair and sitting next to me. Took dad forever to answer my pages and get there. Tyler is being that guy. Paints a very dark picture of what he might have done to have his memory erased.

...I think I had the same reaction to the Deadpool bobblehead sis got me for Christmas as Avril did to this party. I, too, am sad.

*flails uselessly* Here it is! Here is the best part!

Zoe...is not tall. Not even a little bit. She is tall like I am tall. We are, in fact, the same height and I am the shortest person in my immediate family. In my whole family, in fact. I have cousins in middle and elementary school who are clearly going to be taller than me. And given the height of the cretin who helped make them, I think my niece and nephew are also going to be taller.

What I’m getting at is that I am a shortarse. And so is Zoe.

And Piers, well, he’s tall but I’ve seen taller. But, he’s still tall. Unlike Zoe. You cannot stand her next to him and say she is extremely tall.

So, what’s the solution, following that adorable thinking face he makes?

Pick her up! It’s brilliant! They’ll never notice she’s dangling almost an entire foot off the floor! Well done, you.

And she wore flats, making the whole thing even worse.

Love Pump. My secondhand embarrassment knows no bounds. No one in the history of ever has called their boyfriend that with any level of seriousness. Why must you hurt me this way?

(I have no acting ability whatsoever, but I’m fairly certain I could pull off a role wherein most of the requirements were “cuddle Hugh Dennis.”)

And this whole thing with Zoe and misreading Pier’s apparently terrible handwriting is beautiful. “Go topless,” is probably exactly the sort of thing he’d ask a girl.

Also, “lonely” and “desperate,” sad but hilarious and definitely spot-on.

Much like Carol reacting to George, I’m really loving how these two play off each other.

You know, Mrs Raven is meant to be frumpy-person dressed up, here, but her make-up’s not half bad. Geraldine McNulty, like Moya Brady, is actually pretty good-looking.

(And, also, Moya Brady in general, with that nose and all, looks a bit like a female Julian Richings, which means that had Avril been less annoying I’d have probably crushed on her a little. Because that? Is a sonnet-worthy nose.)

All the fat jokes about Ella are really not cool, man. I looked up that size 14 evening gown she asks for in the Christmas episode, and that’s about a 12, US. At my smallest that was me, which put me decidedly not on the plus side of the store, but just barely out of the “regular” side because boobs. Which looks to also be a thing with Ella. Pudgy, I’d say, rather than fat. And definitely not to the extent one needs to say that she’d stick out from behind a chair that wide.

Ella’s face is mfw.

It’s just a tiny thing, but when George starts telling them all to jump out at different times, Zoe has this sort of glorious “wtf, this is so awkward” face while everyone else is just generally annoyed because they expected George to do something stupid.

“Oooh, Mr Sunday!”  Calm down, Avril, it wasn’t that good.

George’s sister is 11′4. Maybe Piers should have called her, instead. (Yes, I know, not possible. It was a joke. Because she’s extremely tall.)

And she’s apparently just a shelf-stacker instead of a superhero. Ultron does have mundane jobs, after all.

Janet definitely would have gone full tourist instead of just sitting around eating surprisingly delicious diner food if she’d had a change of clothes.

Eew, Tyler, you don’t just put your hands on people’s thighs without asking unless you’ve been dating awhile.

I’m terrible at math, but I actually sat down and calculated the sandwich to guest ratio. The fairest divide leaves them with 8 each and four left over for Janet and George to split. I was really bored in the shower that day.

Zoe, you beautiful, clueless eejit. I love you. But, c’mon, be fair. If she’s really just 22, and he’s about 37 here, that’s not really old enough to be her dad unless her parents were teen parents.  

Love Pimp! Pump! Oh, yeah, the correction totally saved that one. You’d have honestly been better off leaving it.

Arnie is still a total sleazebag, but his first meeting with Janet actually turned out to be really sweet.

George is really bad at surprises, tho.

And Mrs Raven is gonna wake up with Arnie, yet later they don’t seem to know each other. Just how drunk were they?

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #piers crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Old Man Riverdance

Episode 5, here we go. 

First up, George’s mistake in ruining the movie shoot gets him the most Southern “Bless Your Heart” I can offer. (For those not in the know, that’s the shadiest thing you can say about a person, but occasionally it can also be a little fond.) Also, in his own ridiculous way, he’s got a point about his height on tv vs his height as a toy.

Did Tyler hallucinate Godzilla, or did he have some sort of memory slip?

I’m loving the world building and normalization of all the alien weirdness with the talk of the retirement home for superheroes. But, if George’s dad was the first Thermoman, and stationed on Earth, why is George so continually clueless? It makes for funny fish-out-of-water moments, but doesn’t always make much sense.

And I have made that same conversational mistake, thinking the person was building off my last sentence when they were asking about something three sentences back.

Three seconds late for visiting, and George is very sternly reprimanded for it. And, as we see, Seamus is prone to criticizing and picking apart every little thing George does until he starts to screw up all his rescues. I know the overly-strict thing is just the Ultron way, but it’s interesting to see that all the parents we know about were terrible, and the different ways everyone turned out because of it.

Mrs Raven had a literally criminally insane mother, who she actually fears, and is clearly an abusive mother in her own right despite mentioning on several occasions that she fears her children. Going by their headstart at a life of crime, and the fact that mother later on is “just released” from somewhere, Mrs Raven may be the only one of the lot to be living anything remotely like an honest life. And that’s not saying a lot considering all her schemes and fond reminiscence about being the school bully.

Janet had a domineering mother and a henpecked father who made each other miserable, but nonetheless turned out a caring mother. Thanks, I’m sure, to having at least one parent who was more prone to doting and spoiling than criticizing. But, interestingly enough, despite the fact that Janet has a very complicated love/hate relationship with her mother, and did fantasize about poisoning her in the pilot episode (which we know her father does constantly, though Janet wasn’t aware of it. Funny how Ella drove two people to that.) you can still see a softer version of the Ella/Stanley dynamic playing out with Janet/George, despite their by and large supportive relationship. And, yet, just the opposite happens in the extremely creepy alternate timeline with Stepford Janet married to Piers. More on that when I get to that episode.

George is from a place so misogynistic they sew women’s mouths shut and even believe men do a better job of having babies, has an incredibly domineering father and the picture painted of his mother makes her seem incredibly subservient. It’s little wonder, then, later. when Piers starts an MRA group that George is so easily swayed into being a complete creep. He may have been on Earth long enough to know better, but what Piers was saying made perfect sense to someone with an Ultronian upbringing.

And Piers, from what we know, had an almost militantly strict father whom he could never please. His mother is a bit more of a blank slate since her only mention is doting on his brother and ignoring Piers, but given his overall attitude of being a sad, misogynistic little muffin, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say emotionally -possibly physically- abused society matron. We already know that Piers was definitely subjected to both. Also, there are mentions of two careers that he gave up to be a doctor: violinist (which was forced out of him at a presumably young age) and professional cricket player (and if he was as good as all that, then it was something he was at least allowed to do, probably because it looked good to their family friends, until he liked it better than what he was supposed to be doing). We also know he had to tweak his A Levels to get into medical school in the first place, a thing that at first glance indicates just one more way he’s slimy and dishonest. Later viewings, it smacks of a last ditch effort to please his parents. His brother, on the other hand, was clearly the favorite. This brother, then, probably fell in line and went along with whatever career pleased father, did and said all the right things without any real thought of what might make himself happy, instead, and mother gravitated to him in the interest of keeping the peace and herself out of trouble. He is also the only character with mentioned parents that we never see even one of. Even if they’re both dead, it’s doubtful his brother is. The only family we see is non-immediate, which means he has absolutely no relationship with the people he grew up with.

Now back to the episode I’m actually on.

“I never use the F word.” Well, Janet, that makes one of us.

Every time Piers says he’s always here, I want to tell him to stop trying to make “fetch” happen.

I like how casually Mrs Raven suckered him in this time. “I’ve got one,” aaaaand hooked.

Yet another mention of Piers not being as great as he thinks he is. He’s in trouble with higher ups in the medical profession, Avril told him her mother, one of his patients, can’t stand him (granted, she didn’t know who she was talking to, but that doesn’t change what was said) and now we see his television career is in danger of flopping. Just a wild guess, but it probably has something to do with the fact that he’s entirely lacking in actual charm and the superficial sort he uses only appeals to a certain kind of -usually unpleasant- person.

This ear-licking thing George’s dad does is pretty disgusting. I could practically feel a hairy, waxy ear on my tongue when they did it. Yuck.

Earth women smell like dead sheep. In retrospect, that makes George saying she smells prettier than a cinnamon and apple pie less cheesy and more incredibly sweet.

“Where I come from, you don’t ever argue with your dad. His word is law.” You and Piers should be friends, dude. You can have a Breakfast Club moment. “Your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling.”

And his brother was imprisoned for five years for not eating his dinner. Does this mean George was the favorite of his overbearing father? They seem pretty close, so I’m gonna go with yes.

Things I now need:

1) To have seen Piers interact with his brother onscreen, or at least have been given more mention of their relationship

2) To meet George’s brother

3) To have both sets of siblings and their fathers all interact for some reason, just to see how it all plays out

Oooh, nice foreshadowing there, with the “if we had kids,” but not a very PC joke about their projected intelligence level.

Why, exactly, does Mrs Raven keep punching her dates? Are they all creeps or does she just overreact to any perceived little offense? We know she’s abusive to Arnie, but he, weirdly, likes it.

And the con begins in earnest. Wish I knew someone I could con into giving me a new tv.

Please go away, Avril.

Tyler recognizes the first Thermoman who sees nothing odd in that and, in fact, doesn’t even blink when he mentions going to Neptune. Did he recognize Tyler, in turn?

Lava is apparently the only thing that can harm an Ultronian because I think, in general, they age slowly and don’t actually die.

George sticking his tongue out behind his dad’s back speaks to me on a very deep level.

We literally get no mention of Arnie’s parents, but a tiny clue that he had a slightly more relaxed upbringing. He calls Seamus a dictator in a way that implies that even by Ultronian standards he was too strict.

(Pink shirt! That is an extremely ugly tie, but the man wears pink well. The wardrobe improves markedly, later.)

Mrs Raven playing fast and loose with the truth. Watched the show, doesn’t actually have a box. Half points for honesty?

George was way more affected by Titanic than I was. I cried over the old couple. I cried over the mother and children. I got teary-eyed at the band. Little Leonardo’s icy blue face just had me rolling my eyes, as did the rest of the “romance.”

I just realized, that very boring white shirt/green tie matches the color scheme of George and Janet’s building. No wonder I hate it, I’ve been subconsciously relating it to an ugly paint job.

So, Ella and Stanley both lived in fear of at least one parent, as did Janet, presumably, and yet she managed to get a little rebellious streak from somewhere. Maybe because Stanley managed to get an overindulgent streak from somewhere?

Also, now I want a gathering of everyone’s parents. It would be interesting to see what they had to say about their children, but also incredibly depressing.

I have an absolute terror of heights, so George’s plane trick gave me pretty bad anxiety up until the reveal. Well-played, though, on not only getting his father off his back but giving Janet a chance to show that she was not keeping him from his work.

Not sure how Janet reminds Seamus in any way of his wife, unless it’s physically, since from everything we’ve heard she was more of the quite, non-rebellious sort.

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o'hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #piers crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Spent too much time watching MH lately, I think, as I can apparently dream up almost complete episodes literally in my sleep. 

It started out with myself as a new student in a classroom where we were all supposed to be speaking Chinese. And since I don’t speak that irl, my brain made up some vaguely Chinese-sounding gibberish. So, in this class, where we had to wear Catholic school uniforms and sit in raised rows, there was a giant theater screen and we were watching a trailer for some video game wherein the player is dead and has to spend the game figuring out who killed them. 

Then it changed to little snippets (presumably we watched the whole episode but my brain only chose to give me the highlights) of an episode of My Hero, apparently from the earlier seasons since Ardal, but possibly set at a later date since Piers had a beard. 

The first scene I remember is Piers (with beard, thank you, brain) standing slightly around a corner from where a party is taking place, basically giving himself a peptalk in a giant mirror. And it had nothing to do with listing all the reasons he’s supposedly God’s gift to humanity, but just a nervous little repetition like “Right. Okay, you can do this. You can do this.” Think it was supposed to be something to do with the party going on behind him. 

The next scene was George, as Thermoman but sans helmet, standing in a grocery store with two women. One I understood to be his mom (because my brain said the heck with continuity) and looked a little like Brenda Blethyn, and I think the other was Janet with her season 3 hair, though I only saw her from the side and half offscreen. We came in mid-conversation as George was saying “No, that’s the holiday where we don’t get together and celebrate with friends.” 

But, whatever that was about, he did currently have a party to get back to, and he turned to his mom in a panic and asked what to do as he’d promised to make “rumor burgers in an albert jape sauce,” a dish he’d apparently made up on the spot.

Finally, the last scene I remember is him arriving back at his own party with a tray containing corn husks smeared with marshmallow cream and rolled around hotdogs. Proudly declaring them to be rumor burgers in an albert jape sauce. I think they were a hit. 

[bbcmyhero]

Thermoman’s Greatest Challenge

Episode 4 gets a very enthusiastic cursing out for this opening sequence. It’s the middle of the night and I’d forgotten just how downright creepy Janet’s dead face was. Thanks for that. 

Now, this is a very understandable worry for George to have, Janet dying, since they did, after all, meet when she fell into the Grand Canyon. The problem is, I think they can only ever talk themselves in circles about it. She points out that she didn’t die because he saved her, but he’s worried about the time he can’t be there. Both problems are equally valid. Janet is mortal and far more fragile than George, but he can’t keep showing up over the least little thing and that’s not a fear that can be just talked away. It would be best served with time, and perhaps learning how to sniff out whether Janet is legitimately scared or just upset/annoyed/etc.

Also, they have a car in this episode, but later Janet is riding a bike while they save up to buy one. Continuity issue, like George not being able to drink coffee, or did they lose it?

Tyler’s worried about pod people from Neptune. Possible erased memory mixing with the plot of Invasion of The Body Snatchers? And yet another mention of Jupiter. He keeps going back there a lot. Theory is that he spent a lot of time, possibly lived there, in the past.

Okay, just to get this out of the way, this is my least favorite, probably because it’s the most...boring, I guess, shirt/tie combo Piers wears. I like the tie, but I’m not feeling the yellow shirt. I prefer the orange tie with the yellow shirt, looks like a sunset. Yet it is also hideous. Much better when he wears blue, but best when he’s in shades of pink. (I did warn you going in that this would happen. Also, I just had to double check a couple things from the pilot ep. I was wrong. The white shirt and green tie was the dullest one.)

That aside, this is the first time we see him actually nervous about something. It’s very subtle, just a lot of fidgeting with the stethoscope, and not the sort of thing a casual observer would pick up on. First go around, you’d just think that of course he’s nervous because he’s in danger of damaging his medical career which would, in turn, likely cost him his tv show. Later viewings, you can’t help but wonder if it’s less about losing the job he didn’t want in the first place -in addition to the one part of it he does, the show and the fame- and more about the fact that he’s in trouble for anything at all. He probably doesn’t do well being lectured by authority figures, like most children from overly strict homes. To put it lightly.

(And you’re never going to get that coffee, man, just give up. How the heck do you drink it without sugar, anyway? )

I can see how this would get more than a little embarrassing, having a celebrity turn up to essentially fawn over you constantly. On the other hand, at least it was genuine fear this time. And given that Janet clearly has paralyzing arachnophobia, it was probably registering as an actual emergency to George. This is sort of what I’m talking about. He can sniff out where and what any disaster is, but he also gets fooled later by a hoax caller. Maybe when it’s down to a single individual it’s a little harder to pinpoint specifics? Still, if he can train himself to pick out Janet, he should be able to train himself when it’s a real problem and when it’s just a nuisance.

I’ve never seen maple syrup in jars. Is this a British thing that accidentally wound up in the American section of the show?

Of course Arnie used his powers to cheat at gambling.

And we’re back to that weird looking inside people thing. Bleh.  

...I think I might be Mrs Gardner with her 23 (24) grandchildren. During my first ever time inside an airport, I was so nervous I talked a woman’s ear off for upwards of two hours and brought out family photos that I’d brought to show the person I was going to visit.

Two mentions of Mrs Raven’s family, her sister and the triplets, and both followed up with the punchline that she hates them. And we all know about her mom and ex-husband. Mrs Raven’s aunt is officially the only relative she cares about.

So, Janet’s a green belt. For some reason, I thought she was more of a beginner.

To be totally honest, the first time I saw this I thought Piers was going to do something much creepier than what he actually did. I thought he was going to go full perv, and then was pleasantly surprised when he only locked the bathroom door.

Arnie is a hypocrite. No way did he refrain from looking through people’s cards, given everything else he did, and yet he gets annoyed with George for it.  

Also, George can block out Janet. The sniffer can definitely be trained.

Really it’s a little unfair of her to get mad at him for not doing the thing she was getting mad at him for doing. I know this time she actually wanted to be saved, but give a person points for trying, ya know?

That round goes to Piers. I mean, nice try on the “I never said,” but...yeah, you were sort of standing in front of a rather glaringly obvious sign as to where you were. Beautiful recovery from that fail of an excuse, a patient who died three years ago.

I’m sorry, my dude, but not even Thermoman can help you mate. You’re just really, really bad at being likable enough. Sad, but true.

Funny story time, Ella and her obsessive dust-search just reminded me of it. When I was a toddler, I had this really bad habit of criticizing my aunt’s cleaning every time we went to see mom’s family. One visit, she’d gotten up extra early, cleaned the house from top to bottom and thought surely I could find no fault. I immediately walked in and zeroed in on the fact that phone was dirty, and told her so.

Once again, Ella clearly has a mad thirst on for George. She definitely saw his things...lol. And at the fundraiser, her eyeline went very low there for a second when they said at least he had clothes on.

There is no way Ella just managed to yank a nose hair out with her bare fingers, unless Stanley’s are massively long. Like, blending in with his mustache long.

I’m not a drinker, but honestly white wine looks like apple juice and I could definitely go for apple juice and a chunk of cheddar. I’m sophisticated like that.

Okay, that was definitely a sad muffin moment, there. Piers thinks Thermoman is his new best friend and just got publicly snubbed mid-sentence. Cue more nervous hand movement. (Also, as someone chronically talked over, I definitely felt that.)

“Wine...cheese...more wine...sod the cheese...” Is probably my favorite thing Mrs Raven ever did.

And everyone is holding the idiot ball. George goes in, Thermoman comes straight out, no one knows where George is. Jeez.

Ew, I don’t care if it is a medical facility. There is no bathroom clean enough that I’d take my food or drink in. Gross.

Thermoman went to the bathroom seventeen times. George kept disappearing and then reappearing when Thermoman disappeared. Come on! He should have given himself away ten times over!

One doesn’t identify pod people by ripping their faces off. Tyler is definitely mixing up two different things here. And one of them might have been real. Also, if he really was a superhero, it’s extremely sad to see him now afraid of heights. But as I can barely go two steps up a ladder, he definitely has all my sympathy.

I know that bit about George not being able to find Tyler’s memory was meant to be a joke about him having shot his own mind, but with this theory in mind it looks a little sinister. Can’t find his memory because parts of it were removed entirely. That’s another thing I’m going to have to write up in detail, later.

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o'hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero #piers crispin #janet dawkins

[bbcmyhero]

Mission Impossible

Heading on in with the third episode, trying not to let myself put it off. 

Now, not knowing where my dvds are, I’m watching these online and no one has the first minute but I don’t think I missed much, just the intro and and a little bit of what passes for a standard domestic chat with these two. Also, this whole bit with the marmite could have easily been avoided if George had grabbed the toast, instead, or not hugged Janet. The whole thing came across way too contrived and this is honestly one of my least favorite episodes. And he really should have a spare suit.

More supposed weirdness from Tyler, but, again, he could have been to Neptune. Doesn’t mean the coffee thing isn’t bizarre, but his brains have been gently fried, after all.

For all that Mrs Raven hates her whole family, and is later revealed to be terrified of her mother (I’ll go into that more, later) I do wonder if she’s actually close to this aunt she mentions. Because normally a mention of her relatives is a set up to a joke about how horrible they are, but she throws the remark about her aunt out with nothing but concern, and then a little sympathy for her wanting to be rehoused.

Also, it’s funny to look back at this one and remember that Piers can actually be a really disgusting human being sometimes. Not physically disgusting, like no, it must be acknowledged that he’s actually stupidly handsome and well-groomed, but talking to Dr Crispin for five seconds would be enough to put anyone off. (I have this theory about there being two of him, there’s arrogant Dr Crispin and then the well-hidden, insecure little boy named Piers. They even smile differently. I also just want to briefly point out the fact that he knows Janet to be very down-to-earth and uninterested in courting publicity the same way he does, and that for all he keeps ending up with other celebs, bimbos, etc, he does later in the series try to ask George how one gets “a woman like Janet.”) This, right here, trying to blackmail George into leaving with the idea that it’ll somehow get him Janet, is classic skeevy villain behavior. I’m gonna say he very much deserved what he got, but I’ve also got to give Hugh Dennis all the props because even when I couldn’t stand Piers, that whole television segment at the end had me dying.

And a little more insight into why Arnie was so horribly demoted. We already knew he was charging people, but now we know he was a flying billboard, too. Mind you, it’s later implied that he did a lot worse than that, which strikes me odd that one of the people who’s side we’re supposed to be on is that dark. This show looks very bright and cheerful, a goofy Mork and Mindy crossed with Superman, but once you scratch the surface it’s actually a pretty crapsack world. I know at least once, the designated villain of the episode is someone we’d normally consider a good guy.

And speaking of Arnie, I wonder if George wasn’t sent to be the new superhero to replace him, and fairly recently, besides, despite his age, given how little he seems to know. You’d think speedspeaking would be fairly standard knowledge, given the way Arnie talks about it, but George keeps coming to him completely clueless. Maybe superheroing isn’t standard Ultronian, just a huge part of it?

Good Lord, is the thirst ever real with Ella. Funny how she can’t stand George but every time she thinks he might be attracted to her, she’s all over that even without knowing he’s Thermoman.

I’m also 1000% done with Avril and I’ll be very glad to see the end of her. I love her accent, but I’m already fed up with her one-note passive-aggressive jealousy and sniffling. (Doesn’t help that every time she’s on I feel my own post-nasal drip that much more. I don’t need the constant reminder, thanks.)

That’s all for this one, I think. Not much else to say because they didn’t really give me much to work with this time around.

#my hero #george sunday #thermoman #ardal o'hanlon #emily joyce #bbc's my hero