Reviews

I was enjoying the episode, thought it overall was pretty good, but then towards the end, the Gerry.character opens the cupboard, sees the candle burning, but instead of just snuffing it out, he runs upstairs so he and his team mates can be trapped by the fire? Really? He did a similar thing in an earlier episode where he nonchalantly flicks a lit cigarette into a trash can in a factory, then when he sees it start to flame, instead of just smothering the small fire out, he squawks, and just runs away !eaving it to become someone else's much bigger problem. I'm sorry, but how did this guy ever become a policeman, or more specifically, a detective? Why did he even want to become one? Hardly the problem solving type -- more like the running away from problems type. He also doesn't seem capable of keeping his mouth shut. Throughout the series, he's constantly telling what should be private details of cases he's working on to people who are potential suspects, potentially tipping them off. I know he's supposed to be a copper from an earlier era, but that would imply that all of the police from earlier eras were as stupid as he appears to be, which they most certainly weren't. Who wrote this character? They should have their keyboard seized. The other characters deserved an eight-rated episode, instead of the four I had to give it because of this character's relentless stupidity.

So let me get this straight... The Fairborn witches fear Nathan will become a an evil blood witch like his father and go after them as his father did, so they want him to train to fight and kill his father on their behalf? They then proceed to routinely physically and psychologically terrorize and abuse the poor kid. Gee, where do I sign up? Are courses in stupidity a requirement in their school systems, or something? With the way he's being treated by them, why should he care if they live or die. It's more likely that they're going to push him in the opposite direction (if logical outcomes were part of this story). I haven't got any skin in the game at all, and I'd be okay with offing most of these Fairborn witches myself at this point.

Why is it that only Annalise, only 16 years old, is capable of exhibiting some analytic thought and common sense here? And actually say it out loud? And what's up with the half sister? She's as evil as Nathan's father, the feared "Wolf" has been, with no obvious justification other than the fact that she can be. How is it that she grew up blaming her baby brother for their mother's death to such an extent? Who was reinforcing this "sins of the father" thing in her mind when they were growing up, especially if they were supposedly the only Fairmonts in the area? The grandmother seems to care for the Nathan character, so why didn't she ever explain this to the sister -- as often as need be. It doesn't look like she did much work in the parenting area at all other than feed and clothe.

These people are seriously deficient in the communication and common sense department. Irrational doesn't begin to explain it. There's a special kind of stupid going on in this series, and it's not warming me up to it. I've never read the books, and I'm not overly inclined to do so after what I've seen so far. Just because it's supposed to be a fantasy world and society, it doesn't mean it should be completely devoid of logic.

I started watching this because of Megan Ory, cos I really liked her a little Canadian series called Higher Ground. After the first season and a half though I started using it pretty much as a "throw away" series to help me fall asleep -- as in it was just interesting enough to keep my attention, but not so interesting that it would keep me awake, lol. Part of what contributed to this was that I just couldn't handle Diane Ladd constantly butchering an Irish accent anymore (why, oh, why!! -- fast forward time every time she opened her mouth). Add to that that too many of the main characters appeared to be more and more "stuck" where they were and got annoying from their lack of depth. The Jess, Connor and Mick characters in particular were guilty of these -- sorry but I just wanted to smack them all for their whiny-ness and arrogance (Mick). Also, I didn't really buy what was supposed to be an overwhelming attraction between Abby and Chase. Yeah, he was pretty, but his character waffled so much that I started to not care what he did, and the on and off thing between between started getting old fast. I could see what drew them together initially, but they showed to be such different people that there didn't seem much between them other than nostalgia and physical attraction. That being said, when Chase's character left after the fourth season, I was concerned, but once the Evan Kincaid character showed up, I stopped, cos things started to get interesting. The dialogue got so much better -- fun and snappy, and the dynamic between him and Abby, and everyone in general just jumped forward. Far less "soap" in the cycle. The series started keeping me awake cos I wanted to follow the storyline again, lol. It seemed that all of the characters felt fresher, there was clear progress and development in all of them, and I now wanted to know them again. That is, I did after the first couple of episodes in the fifth season with all of the monotonous flashbacks and moaning over Chase's departure.

I'm impressed. This has a nice subtle slightly modernizated gothic feel to it. The strains of Bauhaus's Bela Lugosi's Dead filtering through the background during Lucy's first ghost fight was excellent -- even if the song is about a vampire, not a ghost, it nicely sets the atmosphere of the show. The music in general for the first two episodes has been really good, also reflecting nicely the period the problem is in that they're trying to solve.

I read the reviews here before giving this a go, and I'm not sure what the complaint about the CGI technology was about after watching the first episode. Sure, it's low key and old school, but since this series (set of books) is about a society that has been stunted in the technology department because of "The Problem", low key and old school seems to fit the bill. I dunno, I'm not a big fan of most of the modern stuff as it's (over) used in movies, so the lack of, or quality of, CGI here, didn't take away from the story in my opinion. I felt the story and the actors were what was up front and center -- the CGI was only there to represent the usually unseen (aka the paranormal).

For the person who wanted more explanation as to why, what and where, well the intro credits do cover enough to give us the gist, and googling the term "The Problem" filled in the rest of the gaps for me at least.

Netflix, please do carry on -- you've got my attention. I've seen two episodes so far and am eager to continue. This is disturbingly fun.

Underwhelming, annoying and mediocre also come to mind. If the name "Max" wasn't in the title, I wouldn't have known that this was a Mad Max film -- and I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to watch it. I've seen the first three, and yeah, there were deficiencies, but I still loved them, wanted to watch them again, and when finished, felt happy, even content, feeling I'd been part of a story being told. But this... this is a huge piece of expensive crap. This has nothing to to do with the Mad Max experience. There was no story, there was no reason for this... this huge piece of expensive crap. Whoever was supposed to be playing Max, needn't have bothered showing up, he had the charisma and presence of a box of hair. And Charlize Theron, well, I had a lot of respect for her choice of acting jobs... until now! Granted, neither of these actors were given much to work with to begin with, so this movie isn't necessarily a reflection of their capabilities. As others mentioned, there was absolutely no character development, I couldn't have cared about any of these people, and since I'm never happy to just sit around, thinking; "Whoah, that blowed up reel guud!", this was a complete waste of my time.

Not only that, but I found that the CGI were really bad. Really obvious. Not sure why everyone is praising the "action" sequences of this film... oh, who am I trying to kid... there was nothing but action sequences. It was constantly obvious to me that it was all computer generated. Especially in the first part when "Max" was trying to escape. It was like watching a bunch of alien bugs on speed. At first, I thought it was a glitch, that the humans were moving so quickly yet so statically, then I realized it was all CGI. No real chase scenes. Why bother paying actors? This could all have been done on a computer. While reading all of the reviews praising this movie for it's visuals and action scenes, all I could think was, wow, why do these people have such low standards! I wish I were so easily pleased. Maybe a lot of the people who loved this spend a lot of time playing computer games; you know, living life at a distance, cos that kind of describes this movie -- you're just watching it, observing it, from a distance -- you never get drawn in so you can't be hurt by anyone in it or care about them. Unlike with the first three films, with all of their flaws. The first three films were upsetting in their extreme violence. This one was about as scary (or interesting) to watch as a computer game; no depth, nothing of note to take away with you.

So call this what you want, but don't call it a Mad Max film, cos that, it most certainly wasn't. I guess the producers were hoping that the viewers would still remember any of the first three fondly, so they wouldn't have to put any real work into this one, just pull in the moolah. Which apparently they did. Definitely won't be excited by the prospect of another one.

PS I also have to question the validity of the high score this movie has on IMDb. Either there's been some review tweaking going on, or vapid really is the new deep. I have to agree also that Theron's character was much more Mad Max like than the namesake ever was here. Strange choice to so clip the wings of the main character.

Wow, this is really bad. First of all it feels/sounds like most of the actors have been just phoning their parts in on every episode of this season so far. Like they're just reading the script in a rehearsal, the dialogue sounds so flat and emotionless. The actors playing Meredith, Megan Hunt and Dr. Kai Bartley in particular have been really bad -- and the first two at least are usually competent actors. I thought that maybe it was the director, but it looks like there's been a different one each time, so what gives?

Secondly, the writers of this show have become so bereft of ideas that yet again, they've got to use the old car accident scenario? I swear that every time over the past eight years or more that I see any of the main actors from this show get into a car, a plane, a bus, a train or even on a bicycle, during an episode, it's guaranteed that there's going to be an accident and someone will die or be seriously injured. So freaking boring! As soon as I saw Hunt, Teddy and Hayes all get into the car to go and pick up the heart for the transplant, I just started fast forwarding cos I knew what was coming. Didn't even care if the other subplots in this episode had anything interesting to see, so done with this particular routine. Besides any episode threatening to feature Schmitt makes me yawn. The character is so whiny, he's even whinier than Jo, and that's a hard one to do. So much faux "feeling" from those two, that it comes across as only pretentious and self-centered. Hard to tell how much of it comes from the actor vs the character, but watching glue dry seems preferable to listening to either of them for any length of time.

And I don't really care if Amelia wants to dip her toe into the bi-pool (or stay there), but couldn't you at least have chosen an actor/character to play opposite her that justifies the attraction? And I don't mean physically. The actor playing her new love interest has the depth and personality of a pizza box. I'm sorry, but just because someone is LGBTQ2S+ or portraying someone from that community, it shouldn't mean that they aren't held to the same standards of quality and competence that other actors are held to. For the record, this whole "must be traditionally married in order to prove my love and commitment" BS between Amelia and Link is so passe and superficial. Look at the 39 year long common law relationship between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell as an excellent example as to why. Now that is a marriage! And not a traditional engagement ring or wedding band or signed certificate in sight. Relationships take work and commitment, and just signing a certificate to seal one has yet to prove any more effective than not signing one.

This show used to be so good; so fresh (despite the overuse of of vehicular accidents), but now, it really has gone past it's expiry date; even Miranda and Richard sound bored with the whole thing. Time to wrap it up before the bad taste it's leaving in it's viewer's mouths overshadows all that used to be so amazing about this series.

The Property Brothers mock the husband for wanting some purple, an eggplant purple tone, in his home, in particular the kitchen, so they end up using a bright kelly green for the island and backsplash instead, and no one blinks an eye? Cos you know kelly green is so much more subtle than purple... not!! I mean, c'mon, really??? Don't get me wrong, the finished layout was really nice, but if they'd done the island in a darker muted eggplant purple and the backsplash to match (or a little softer), that kitchen would have looked amazing, beautiful and unique. So freaking disappointing and boring. So tired of this scared approach to the use of colour in these design programs! None of these so called designers have a clue about colour. They're all just a bunch of scared sheep, blandly following each other around into even more blandness. If I see another white kitchen... 😤!!! Loved Masters of Flip cos they were the only ones who dared to do something different. They showed that you could use real colour in your home -- on your walls, ceilings, fixtures, cabinets and furniture -- without it all looking like a clown suit. All of these other boring renovation shows with their neutral backgrounds with "pops of colours" need to go back to school and learn some true creativity. Bland is so not better! And most certainly not a true indicator of class or sophistication or even timelessness in your home.

The two hosts are.really good, as is the concept of this show. The problem is in the enactment of it all, more specifically, anything that involves the participation of the home owners. Whose ever idea it was to so heavily script the dialog of the home owners destroyed this show in my opinion. It just sounds so scripted and phony that I could barely make it through the first episode. I'm not going to bother trying to watch another -- I can only handle so much bad cheese in my viewing diet. Which is too bad, because as I already mentioned, the two hosts are both charming and competent. Maybe they dialed the home owners back in future episodes, but the audio replay of this episode which I watched two days ago, is still too loud in my head to take a chance on finding out.

This episode was brilliant. It really included the culture of the area (Ecuador) the house and renovation were in. For example, instead of smashing everything up during demo, and creating more landfill, this community and their contractors believe in taking the time to remove building materials, so they can be reused by others. The cupboards, the wood, etc, are carefully removed so someone else in the community can use them. And in return, when it is found that the adobe on many of the walls of the building needs replacing, people from that community show up to volunteer their time to help replace it. So very cool. You also learn how abode is made, and that it's creation includes some very interesting aspects, lol. The contractor hired for this project was excellent. When one problem was discovered, she came up with ways to repurpose existing materials in order to save money elsewhere. I found myself really rooting for these people and looking forward to what would happen after the next break. More episodes, even the ones filmed in North America, should follow the example set here. No fake drama, no cookie cutter design crap.

If I could give a 20 to rate this episode, it still might not be enough to be worthy of just Samantha's speech alone. Just brilliant! As was Smith's reaction, heck the whole audience. It's worth a ten just for the goodbyes between these friends though. The writers, the producers and the actors... everyone on this series, all get gold stars for ending this series with the same humour and integrity with which it was started. I know it's not quite the end, yet, but it's so good to see that it can be done.

Thank you!

I'm surprised at the relatively overall low rating for this episode. It's one of my all-time favourites. The "ball" game between Aidan and Big always has me choking on laughter, even in memory. And it's great to see not just women obsessing about and over analysing their relationships. Men do do it also, it's just seen and portrayed in a different light.

The tenderness and protectiveness with which Miranda treats Steve here is another reason for a higher rating. The sweetness and vulnerability between the two of them just leaps off the screen in my opinion. As does the relationship between Charlotte and Trey here. And last but not least, watching Samantha show a vulnerable side of herself, while fighting the boy's club double standard was refreshing. As was seeing Carrie's compassionate yet somewhat indifferent reaction to Big's romantic troubles. It was in excellent contrast to the obsessively unbalanced state she was in with regards to him the season before.

Nice balance overall, with equally strong story lines for all of the main characters.

This and the last couple of episodes have done an excellent job of showing how crisis management can become a way of life, an addiction in some ways, and how hard it can get to look up from the immediate crisis you're in, and remember that you're not the only who is having problems. Or to just remember to live and look around from time to time; to try to find some balance in your life. Sarah's automatic dismissive response to Felix dealing with a personal crisis of his own is an excellent example of it. Sarah's perspective that her problems are the most important thing, and anything anyone else is dealing with is of much less a secondary thing is refected here nicely. Though I think that her reaction is also an element of how that character has been dealing with life to begin with anyway (hey, you don't have to be perfect in order to be a heroine). Her inability to show support for what her foster brother is going through, and how she has been just expecting him to provide unconditional support for her situation, without any consideration of his needs is nicely demonstrated. Yes, her and her sestras situation is pretty drastic, but her character's single mindedness about what's most important is also why maybe some people suffer from PTSD moreso than others. You can see even with Kiara that she's getting tired of the whole drama, and has less patience as to why her mother is always so obsessed with fixing everything else instead of just living her life with her daughter. At the beginning, everyone just jumped in without question to do what was needed, but as time passes, and you're still plugging the same holes in the same wall, people are getting tired. Though you can also see how it perhaps takes someone with such single-mindedness to actually get anywhere in such a situation.

It's also an excellent reference to the quality of writing and acting being delivered in this series.

What a mixed bag here. The road trip started out pretty pointless and disconnected, though mother and daughter did end up in a much better place because of it. The creepy Danish guy though... if the intention is to create intrigue, then they're really missing the goal posts with him. His overwhelming creepiness and interjected comments are just annoying... and... creepy. Crazy stalker creepy. And in general, who leaves a complete stranger alone in their house these days without first checking credentials? Or even letting them in through the front door, especially with the recent events to do with the return of their jailbirded daughter. No matter how fawning said stranger is, nor what emotional turmoil the homeowner is in? Especially one as loud in the creepy stranger department as this guy is. Not sure if the problem here is the writing, the direction, or the casting agent who chose this actor.

And I can't decide if the weird relationship between the mother and her daughter's ex boyfriend is just there for shock value, or it's supposed to be representing a deep seated anger in the mother because of what her daughter's actions have cost her and her family, but there's such a lack of connection between the two characters that's it ends up being boring -- well at least until the cuckolded husband intercepts that text message between the two of them and takes matters into his own hands. Now that part was funny. It reminded me that it wasn't just the daughter that has been in a jail (of some sort) for the past seventeen years and now, she's not the only one that is finally chucking the shackles of the past out the back door.

I almost stopped watching after the first two episodes -- I couldn't figure out the point of the story being told, but with episode three, and now this one, I'm willing to stick with these people a bit longer and see what else floats to the surface.

If the character, Helena gets a happy ending in this series (and she should), I hope it's with Jesse, delightfully played by Patrick J. Adams, her new drinking companion in this episode. Their scenes together were so beautiful! As per usual with Helena, crazy funny -- with most of the focus on the "crazy" part, yet poignant and sweet. Helena gets to experience, for maybe the first time (other than with Kira), an adult who just appreciates her for who and what she is. Someone who doesn't want anything from her or use her in any way. Someone who just wants her companionship, in it's usual unfettered sanity challenging way. Such an wonderful episode!

"You make me cry, sestra." Yeah, me too!

The brilliance in Helena's character is the utter pathos with which she is both written and portrayed. Yes, she can be a "monster", but it is so clear as to why. The choices Tatiana Maslany made in bringing her to life are why the character has such an impact. She's one of those narrow lines that would be so easy to step off of in the wrong way, making her a caricature instead of the complex creature that she is; a creature that mixes laughter, fear and just plain pathos in such a way that you can't help but want to gather her in and cry for/with her, while laughing at her bluntness, yet hoping the hell you don't piss her off and make yourself her next target.

Well played, sestra!

After the quality of writing already exhibited in this series, all of a sudden, the viewer is supposed to just ignore how many gaps there are in basic common sense in the writing of this episode? Hank's lawyer is supposed to be so good, but doesn't bother to properly cross examine Mia for one -- have her tell the court that Hank refused to have sex with her again once he found out how old she was -- doesn't bring in an expert witness to reinforce that him bring drunk when he first met Mia would indeed mean that he wouldn't remember meeting her, etc. In fact a really good lawyer would have wondered at the very beginning how/why Mia even targeted Hank specifically to begin with and anticipated that whole line of questioning. The character didn't seem to prepare any real defense, her cross examinations of the opposing council's witnesses were hit and miss, and she didn't object to much of what the prosecution lawyer did or said, I would have demanded my money back and filed an appeal against the decision, and this lawyer -- and most likely won with only some poor overworked public defender presenting my case -- one that this team of writers hadn't tried to write a script for. Sooooo many holes in the fabric of this... thing

Yes, innocent people get convicted all the time, but it's not usually because the script writers were too damned lazy to do their job and find a plausible reason that a number of years must pass before season five starts up and Hank becomes distanced from his family. It's enough to make me stop watching right now, if this is how low the bar is going to be in future episodes.

Yuck!

This showed up in Netflix and since their offerings keep dwindling in variety as they continue to refrain from having to pay licensing fees by producing their own content, I thought I'd give this try. Bad move! The script is flat and deriative, as is the direction and acting. Paul Walker occasionally rises above the blahhhness of this piece of drivel, but that's about it. Everyone else... flat, flat, flat. Dazed and confused, but not in a funny way. Looks like I just found something more boring than watching paint dry. Whoodah thunk it! There's no point to any of it. It's just lots of pieces of other movies thrown in together and haphazardly stirred around. Anyone who dared to compare this to a John Hughes movie needs to slap themselves repeatedly until they learn to pay attention. Sheesh!

As someone else pointed out, 1.5 hours I'll never get back -- 1.5 hours I could have been more entertained by watching paint drying.

I don't understand why someone would go to the trouble of creating a series about a ranch with livestock but do no research about the animals they've chosen to focus on in a particular plot, or take any apparent pains in choosing said animals, in particular, the horses. It's really hard to watch with any sense of realism. Multiple episodes in season one have focused on so called equine "bloodstock" but the animals chosen to represent those horses look like total "scrubs". They're scrawny with ribs sticking out, pot bellies, ewe-necked, cow hocked, sway backed... and it has nothing to do with the seasons, or whatever so called breed they're supposed to be representing. There's no way anyone even remotely experienced with horses would consider the horses used to be of any value, let alone pay to have their own horses bred by one of them.

On the other hand, a herd of wild horses in S1 E8 that supposedly galloped for over a day led by a stallion who was capable of sniffing out a mare in heat many kilometres away, look to be of actual bloodstock, especially the stallion in question. The producers should have used some of those animals to represent their expensive so called highly bred horses, instead of the broken down nags they did use (sorry, horses in question). Though by the way... no wild stallion already with his own band of mares would risk the health and safety of that herd by galloping it for well over a day to specifically track down one anonymous mare in heat that was many, many, many kilometres away as in that episode! Maybe a young stallion with no mares of his own might have stumbled on the mare in question in his search for a band of his own, but what was portrayed in that episode was beyond illogical. Also hard to figure was how all those horses got through all of the property fences we watched being built in previous episodes. It was like... magical... snort. Straight out of a romanticized fictional horse story geared toward young teens. As was apparently most of the human focused plots in this series. What a shame.

Writers... the idea is to draw the watcher into the story, not drive them back into their own heads with wondering why.

I can't believe the same stupidly and excessively neurotic Lorelai in this and the previous episode, could possibly be the same person that raised Rory all by herself while still a teenager, or efficently and successfully started and runs her own business -- an inn managing many other people to boot. I cringe when I hear her talking to or about the dog -- the same when she's wasting so much money and time when dealing with the construction crew working on her house. If she ran her own business the same way, she'd have been bankrupt before she even started. And in general I want to scream while listening to her beating about the bush when talking to Paris who is thoughtlessly abusing her time. Paris is the person who always says what she's thinking and doesn't care about hurting other people's feelings, and she actually respects people who say what they are thinking, so Lorelai dancing around so much about speaking her own truth to Paris is ridiculous.

These last two episodes are not holding up at all with regards to repeated viewing. Though I was probably just as frustrated watching them the first time around many years ago. I can't stand people who patronize other people or even dogs as her character is doing here -- say what you mean, or shut up. It is not interesting, it is not amusing.

Paris's meltdown and rant about having had sex, but not getting accepted into Harvard, in the middle of her and Rory's graduation speech... downright brilliant!

I've probably seen this episode four times over the past twelve years, and it just never is short of brilliance, and even though it has always stayed clearly in my mind, I can't conceive of ever being bored by it. Not just the humour incited by Paris's actual rant, but also the underlying pathos of this complex psychologically brilliant, but emotionally starved character. As with that of the equally brilliant, but incredibly compassionate character of Rory who is just as socially awkward in her own way, but usually finds a way to go beyond those inhibitions when needed. She is indeed the "good" one, but not just because she still hadn't had sex.

I'd give it twenty stars if I could. One of the best episodes in a series that already has hit it way out of the park many many times.

Wow! I have to agree with the other reviews here about how poorly written and conceived this episode was. There is no way even an average person, knowing that they are in potential danger, would blithely open their home to a complete stranger as this episode has Liz doing. Her character is not stupid. There is no way in hell, knowing what she knows, and especially after what had just happened with her grandfather, that she would be so careless -- sheesh, she even knew it was a woman behind it all.

Shame, shame, shame on the writers, on the whole production team, for allowing the premise behind this episode to ever happen!! Talking about letting your characters down! And this season had started so well, with such depth and subtlety in episodes one and two. Well, that's shot to hell now, isn't it? You all should be smacked soundly... and/or fired!

And extra shame on the writers also because Aram's character was so awesome in this episode. As was the new character, Frankie Campbell. I hope she stays on -- she rocks in this episode. This should have been an eight or nine-star episode just for them, not the three I now have to give it because of the very bad taste Liz's storyline is leaving in my head. Hesitant to continue watching episode four cos I can only swallow so much stupid at once.

When Amelia is talking to Addison regarding Sam, she mentions that there was a visible tension between them, and I've got to say that there is absolutely nothing regarding tension, and most especially, not one of a sexual nature between those two! The idea of those two characters having some sort of negated passion between them is a complete joke. In fact they are so sibling like in their relationship, that the idea of them having sex makes my skin crawl.

The first season of this series started out with promise. It had it's issues, but I had hopes that it would evolve -- it had the core cast of actors capable of doing so. But alas, throughout season two up until now, this series has continued to de-evolve to the point where it is nothing but a really generic soap opera -- and not a particularly interesting one either. I stopped watching it a couple of episodes ago, and only watched this episode because of Amelia Shepherd's presence. But overall I couldn't care less at this point how the series continues or ends.

Shonda Rhimes, how could have Grey's Anatomy and this uninspired, predictable piece of tripe, have come out of the same brain?

I flew! I flew! I think this episode is worth a ten just for the wonderfully child like innocence of those excited words coming out of Yannick Bisson's mouth, though that was only the tip of this episode's most excellent iceberg. It's always a good day when Murdoch and Pendrick are thrown in together, then seeing Meyers accidentally shooting himself into space... hah! The series doesn't always hit the mark, but when it does, like in this episode, the missed marks fade into the distance, and you realize once again just how beautifully it is put together, how beautifully written and acted this series is. Oh those Canadians.

Here's my rationale for grading this episode.

* They took away the outside upper deck - why would you do that!!! A view for miles now only partially available from the ground floor level! It's loss also made the house look dinky and half finished externally from a design point of view.

* Removal of the half bath upstairs... Cos you know everyone loves having to stumble down a set of stairs half asleep in the middle of the night so they can tinkle. Nothing like a broken limb or two to start the new day with. It's not like they didn't already have the space or plumbing installed in order to keep it. They actually devalued the property here in my opinion.

* And back up to the above point, what is up with people's obsession with bright light in their bedrooms? I mean, what are they planning to do there other than sleep? I guess it's fine if you go to bed when it gets dark, and rise with the sun, though I'm guessing not that many people actually do that. I don't think a bright room is a great place to get a good sleep in.

* No window was installed on the left side wall upstairs -- such a wasted opportunity of creating a natural cross of airflow -- resulting instead in an increasing dependency on having to use an air conditioner to cool the place. They could have made a ledge above the closet with a window. Put a ladder up to it, and you've got extra storage space or a cool nook to curl up and read a book in. But I guess it's nice to have lots of money to waste on paying needless utility bills instead of using the natural elements around you. Not so good for your health though. And design-wise externally, that big blank wall does not look attractive.

* They designed a bed right up against the stair rail... well let's hope the occupant doesn't engage in even moderately vigorous sexual activity in that bed... otherwise, probably not the grand finale they were expecting, lol.

* The internal design was cool. I'm sure it was difficult for Joanna to tear herself away from her usual bland farmhouse shtick, but she did a really good job here, working with the house's layout. I have enjoyed her designs in the past, early on, but after a while, just how many white walls, or white and grey kitchen cabinets, or white subway tiles, or white countertops, can a person be expected to look at repeatedly -- yawn!! Please look up the word colour very soon. I'm so tired of this "neutral palette" crap. How many people actually do go out and replace their pillows, etc, every year to fluff out the excuse made for a "neutral" design? I doubt many. I think it's just easier to do by the "designer" so that's what they peddle -- though I'm sure they charge the same money. I so miss Masters of Flip for that very reason. They weren't scared of using colour in their designs -- on the walls, on the ceiling, on the cabinets, on the fixtures, in wonderously creative ways. Good Bones has luckily also continued with that trait to a certain extent.

Overall though I would have rated this episode a lot higher -- higher than I would have their other more recent episodes, thanks to this interior's decidedly different design, but couldn't because of the half assed structural decisions they also made for this property. I certainly wouldn't trust them to design a house for me after viewing this.