TV's Reign of Delicious Fucked-Upedness

Jessica Lange in American Horror Story: Freakshow. Fabulous.

Scream Queens, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder. No it's not a retrospective on the 90's, it's some of TV's most successful shows. Let's get down to business. We all watched the Emmy's we know who wins all of the awards, but TV is all about ratings in the end isn't it? With the TV renaissance appearing to be nearing its tail-end, there are those who grasped the medium and refuse to let go without a fight. Mad Men is over, Breaking Bad is over, Downton Abbey...you get the idea. Now, if we could just get Girls to wrap up quietly, we'll be great! We're left with two major camps who dominate in ratings and have given us a specific point of view and auteur-like quality to their bastion of shows. 

In one corner we have the incomparable Shonda Rhimes; the brainchild behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and most recently How to Get Away with Murder, a problematic and I'll say sometimes laughably outlandish show, but it did win Viola Davis her history-making Emmy, proving that Shonda is a solid force to be reckoned with in the TV industry. 

In the other corner we have a creative team the likes of which I haven't seen since Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse; Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk who have proved versatile in genres including both comedy and horror with shows like Glee, Nip/Tuck, and American Horror Story, their marriage of the two genres culminating with the recently premiered, Scream Queens. 

Emma Roberts in Scream Queens, previously of AHS fame and Ryan Murphy's current muse.

Both of these camps have a clear cut voice and vision, and their shows, although niche, are widely popular to the point where you'll tune in just because you heard that Shonda is exec producer on something, regardless of content. The age of shows that take themselves very, almost too seriously are over. And we've ushered in the age of highly imaginative content and wildly outlandish premises and characters. I would say that both Shonda and Murphy/Falchuk are very camp in their approach. In the immortal words of Blanche Dubois; 'I don't want realism, I want magic', and that's just what shows like Scandal and American Horror Story provide. Both teams provide a hyperactive reality and prefer style over accuracy. It's actually a genius strategy. Let's take Shonda. There are already countless courtroom and political drama shows that are in syndication and still airing on television. How do you go around that? Make the premise totally implausible and put as many twists and turns imaginable in it. It's so much more fun when you don't adhere to any rules except your own. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), the epicenter of Scandal is a feminist and television icon by now. We can forget that every situation she finds herself in is highly unlikely to happen in actuality, but who cares? There's no limits to the creative imagination and that's what both camps have proven. 

Olivia and President Fitz; the love story that we are all talking about and yet totally implausible and highly imaginative. 

Murphy and Falchuk have really grown to impress. Nip/Tuck was campy but it was ridiculous. And who wants to see a scripted show about plastic surgeons when we can see it on E!'s Botched for real? Glee, I wasn't the biggest fan of, perhaps because I couldn't stand its fan base...the Gleeks. Let's face it, that show was just pretty people in a kareoke bar without the booze. But they totally redeemed themselves with American Horror Story which has the inventive bravado of a show like Lost. It's completely implausible, and very unrealistic, but honestly how much does that matter? Were we all on board with secret hatches, black smoke monsters and time travel on a mysterious island? Yes we were. 

The highly anticipated new season of American Horror Story (Hotel) will feature Lady Gaga as a member of the principle cast. And when we all heard about this we collectively lost our shit. 

Scream Queens, their latest endeavor, had a brilliant premiere and seems to marry both Murphy's and Falchuk's penchant for horror with their fabulous nose for comic timing. Both camps also share something with every successful show right now and that is a multi-protagonist show. A la Lost, both Scandal and Scream Queens, Grey's Anatomy and American Horror Story have well over 10 main characters, and aren't afraid to kill anyone off. If you have 20 people in the main cast, you have more freedom to end their trajectory without losing your audience, because there are 19 left to keep the story moving. 

Viola Davis, star of How to Get Away with Murder and the show's creator Shonda Rhimes. 

We have to admit that at this point, each teams plethora of shows kind of bleed into each other. We can see parallels and similarities between Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, just like we can see them between AHS and Scream Queens, but when you have that much content and that many active shows, how can you not use your powers as a storyteller to create a distinct voice that resonates through all of your work? That's the mark of an auteur after all. 

The new TGIT campaign really says it all. We don't have to roll up our sleeves and sit among the most self-righteous tv snobs for an hour of Breaking Bad where a general bleakness and way over-the-top deaths married with an existential darkness dominating the premise. We can pour ourselves a comically large glass of wine and have fun with our friends who take no shame in totally believing what is happening on Scandal. 

Banner for the current TGIT fall campaign.

I for one, believe that this is a brilliant time for TV, where anything goes. Yes, it can be a 'drama' but it doesn't have to be bleak, and serious, and harsh. Most of us watch TV for a break from our lives, we yearn for the unrealistic; the magical. I just finished yet another Buzzfeed countdown, this one about some of the greatest one-liners on the premiere of Scream Queens. None of them are anything you'll ever ever EVER hear in real life, and all of them totally ridiculous, but they are hilarious and genius. Where else are you going to hear 'good evening, idiot hookers.' Probably on Vanderpump Rules, but hey at least this one is scripted. With based-on-real-events shows like Masters of Sex and Halt and Catch Fire tanking, we can see that it's not what the viewing public hungers for anymore. 

With the most recent Emmy's, it's been proven that a show that doesn't take itself too seriously can still be taken seriously as something of worth, and that's the genius of both Rhimes and Murphy/Falchuk. I don't think any of them set out to write shows that garner awards, in fact they are usually the kind of shows that don't. But ratings don't lie, and now award shows are catching up to the trend. As should you. I've mentioned a lot of shows in this blog post, if you don't watch at least one of them, well you're not a very good person. So get on that. Please and thank you. 

Below the new TGIT campaign.

My Doppleganger on OITNB

Brook Soso played by Kimiko Glenn

Let's firstly admit that the hardest thing for a writer to do for scripted TV is something that involves multi-protagonists. Lost nailed it, but those shows are few and far between. Those of us who have watched Orange is the New Black from beginning to end can see that the writer's first avoided this, but soon realized that the gold was in the neck (supporting characters) not the head (Piper Chapman). They also had enough wear with all to utilize the same 'flashback' recipe that worked so well for the Lost cannon. It's simple math. You have a prison, there's clearly more than one person there, and each one of the supporting characters has a reason they ended up in federal corrections, so why not use half of each episode to explore that? And boom, they struck gold. The first season was very flawed, but because it was so innovative, exploratory and unapologetic it was good bait and got all of us hooked. But had they stuck with following around the needy, entitled Chapman (Taylor Schilling) for all three seasons ratings would have plummeted faster than Donald Trump's. 

By the second season, they started giving the more prominent supporting players their own episodes and flashbacks. One in particular that sticks out is Lorna Morello's (Yael Stone). I've heard men who couldn't care less about that show say that they loved that episode and talk about it with vigor. Morello starts off the series as a rather hair-brained quasi-racist Italian from Jersey whom we don't necessarily hate but we definitely don't respect. The hyper-feminine inmate can't stop talking about some boyfriend and their subsequent wedding and we soon realize she has delusions of grandeur. She also seems to be somewhat sexually ambivalent in that she seems totally committed to this nameless faceless man, but allows Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne) to go down on her on a daily basis. She keeps collaging what she calls a 'vision board' for what she absolutely believes will happen upon release, but somewhere deep inside of us we know that something is not exactly lining up. In the second season we learn the gravity of all of it. Turns out Morello was actually a 9th-level stalker of that guy she claimed was her fiancee and was convicted of breaking into his house on several occasions.

One of the most heartbreaking stories of the inmates of Litchfield. Lorna's plight is unforgettable even though totally implausible.

The genius of the writers made us actually feel for this woman in her flashback episode because as the truck driver for Litchfield, she decides to take off one day to that man's house and finds that he's in the middle of planning his wedding to someone else. She puts on the woman's veil and takes the world's saddest bath in their house. And we just can't help but feel sorry for her. 

By the third season, the writer's had covered most backstories of the Litchfield inmates who have more than 4 minutes of screen time with one serious omission. Someone whom I connected to immediately, and someone who talks about her life so much to her inmates that in fact she might not need an actual backstory episode; Brook Soso. She's introduced in Season 2 as a quirky, naive, teeny, and highly educated blabber-mouth who annoys everyone around her, sticks out like a sore thumb, but has a sweet disposition regardless. By season 3, she's finally pushed to her breaking point, by being constantly picked on, dehumanized, and bullied, culminating in Leanne's (Emma Myles) cutting off her hair while she's sleeping, the likes of which we haven't seen since the soap in sock beating of Gomer Pile in Full Metal Jacket. 

Everyone at Litchfield is given some kind of forgiveness and turnaround. Even the homophobic meth head Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) has a 180 degree change of character, the only one who seems to be actually getting worse is Chapman herself. But Soso seems to have always remained an innocent, never plotting or being vindictive, she's the classic victim, but by the end of the season she turns from victim to survivor and we can't help but applaud that. 

Brook finally stands her ground.

The writers definitely give her her comeuppance though. Considering she's one hell of a smart cookie she retorts to her bully by saying 'it's hard for me not to be condescending when you're literally beneath me right now' when the others are forced to wash the floor. And my personal favorite; 'I can't help that I have Pocahontas hair and it's not my fault you chose Meth over teeth'. 

SPOILER ALERT. Stop reading here if you still haven't finished the season, I mean it's been two months get on it. In the last episode, the barrage of negativity against her takes its toll and Soso, left without any other options takes about a drum of Benadryl, saved by the grace of Poussey, Crazy Eyes, and mostly Taystee. And in the last episode gets inducted into their clique, considering she's been a lone wolf from her induction day. She might not be the most dynamic inmate at the Litchfield Correctional Facility, nor one with any kind of interesting journey to prison. All we find out about her is that she had a strict mother who pushed her since she was old enough to walk.
As women, we can all find one or more characters from the inmates at Litchfield to relate to. I definitely see aspects of myself in Gloria, Nicky, Flaca, and of course Red, but Soso had my heart from the word go. Her story might not be as interesting and dynamic as everyone else's but her character is one that I recognize very well. 

Finding peace in the freedom lake.

In a brief flashback we see her get scolded for playing the piano wrong, and as a child upon whom piano was forced, I totally remember that and can fully relate. Keep in mind I had Russian teachers fresh out of the Soviet Union, so it wasn't pleasant. I personally can also relate to when she straight up asks for help and gets none. With Healy (Michael Harney), the chauvinistic old-timer with ancient morale and a strict disposition telling her that depression is all in her head and she just needs to lighten up and the prison doctor trying to shove SSRI's down her throat, when all she wanted was just a little acceptance, we can understand why Soso felt so trapped. And in that amazing lake scene when she clings arms with Poussey (Samira Wiley) and then physically and metaphorically jumps into her circle, it's such a release. It seems that most things that happen to her, happen unfairly, and perhaps that's why she's not given a backstory. Everyone else is definitely guilty whether they were forced to do what got them incarcerated or not. But Soso is almost like a child. She has an adolescent innocence about her, and even though she can be a know-it-all and seems to never shut the fuck up, we're all glad that Taystee was able to revive her. Let's hope for a full on Soso episode in Season 4. 

Netflix Pick: Scandal

Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope. I really hope this causes a spike in Law School admissions this year.

So I just started watching Scandal (yeah I know, I'm like three season's late, fuck off I'm busy), and yes Kerry Washington is my newest girl crush, are  you kidding me? She's so hot I swear the temperature of my computer screen went up every time the camera focused on her (ok that's crazy-cheesy but whatever). So how would I describe this show? It's House of Cards meets The Practice with a His Girl Friday (1940) seedy underbelly to it.

If you haven't seen His Girl Friday, 1. you're a pathetic excuse for a human being, 2. Let me explain it to you. It was a seminal feminist film directed by Howard Hawkes about a newspaper in which there is a conflict of interest that is hilarious between soon to be divorced couple Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The thing about the film, is that it is famous for the characters talking like a million times faster than usual. It was a 90 page script and made for an hour and 5 minute film. That's somewhat of the flavor that is added to the pot of the sizzle of Scandal. 

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell engaged in a battle of wits in His Girl Friday (1940) a lot of which the latter wins.

Kerry Washington plays the feared-by-all uberbitch lawyer Olivia Pope whom everyone including the most powerful men in the world (yes, I'm talking The President) fear, and who is a 'fixer' of sorts for high profile scandals. She has an army of what each refers to as 'gladiators in suits' who do her bidding for her, and are all just as tough. They have to be or their ass is right the fuck out in the bitter DC cold. This includes freakin' Desmond from Lost (Henry Ian Cusick) and within the second episode I'm already on a learning frenzy, and no not the square root of anything, but apparently if you're visiting a prostitute code for her having it all shaved is that there are hard wood floors in her apartment, you know, important life stuff like that. Within the third episode all kinds of serious shit goes down and it's up to Olivia to fix it, and she does; with the fire and wit of a modern day Rosalind Russell and the bitch virtuosity of a hot Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Gladiators in suits. The bulk of Pope's law firm, with The President (Tony Goldwyn, wait, that Tony Goldwyn? yeah, that Tony Goldwyn) on the far right.

This is NOT a really good night-time soap, this is a seriously underrated show and has as much...well scandal as say something like House of Cards, and though at times self-righteous, it is not nearly as pretentious, which is why I'd rather watch it. If you read my blog you know how cantankerous I am so this should come as no shock to you (the prior) statement I mean. Granted, I've only been through the first season, but I can't wait to see what's in store coming up. 

Meet Olivia Pope...

A bit from His Girl Friday... 

Dear J.J. Abrams: Bring Back Lost!

The cast of Lost, most of them household names because of the series

I know you are circling heaven in Richard Branson's spaceship right now with your movie career but let's admit it, your crowning achievement and what they will probably engrave on your tombstone is: Here Lies J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost (2004 - 2010). Now, let's give credit where credit is due, although you were the co-creator and exec producer we all know who the two people were that made Lost basically the best thing to happen to television ever, since perhaps the Twlight Zone and Doctor Who (in the TV Sci-Fi cannon at least); Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.

Cuse and Lindelof, the masterminds behind Lost

Save for the 6th season, Lost is a show that you seriously marathon until your mind is muddled with all kinds of questions and no answers and yet you still can't get enough, as far as human brains are concerned it's probably up to par with black tar heroin (not like I know) but everything else, Battlestar Gallactica, Fringe, and non-sci-fi shows have been more or less incomparable.

To this day, if I'm feeling down, I'll go to my Netflix queue for a good old Lost episode (from Season 3 preferably, because that's the best one in my opinion) and settle in for some seriously weird shit that I enjoy immeasurably, even though I can probably recite it as a one woman show verbatim, though that would be slightly weird. 

Promo still for the 6th season, which admittedly was extremely bad because the writers had basically written themselves into corners and realized they had to end a show quickly and had left too many doors opened.

It was the first show to have it's own Wiki page (Lostpedia), and the formula of having a cast of over 20 principal characters and more questions than answers worked like a charm. Even people resistant to the franchise got addicted after the first sweet hit of that meticulously woven web of Polar bears, four-toed statues, hatches, and hot, sweaty, and tan people stranded on a mysterious island.

Admit it, you miss it. And it's unfair that it can't go on forever just because actors wants to 'focus on their careers or whatever' I would be more than happy to cuddle up with a never-ending array of crazy and inexplicable occurrences that I would never believe can actually happen and are only appropriate in this idiom. In my opinion, at least in this genre, nothing has been as good before or since and I bloody well miss it. So, J. J., please I'm begging you, send the entire crew back to Hawaii, and resume principal photography.

This is basically how I watched Lost

Trailer for Season 1. Oh the memories.

Top 20 Hotties of 'Lost'.

You knew this was coming, I just couldn't resist putting this debate into some kind of order. Sure we watch Lost for the plot twists, the action, and the generally unexplainable, but we all have a list of who we think is the best looking on that show. Admit it, it's in your documents folder. Here's mine. I'll fight anyone who says different, and also please spare me the complaints that Charlie didn't make it. He was consistently annoying and I'm glad he's dead. In order of most ridiculously hot, her we go.

1. James 'Sawyer' Ford (Josh Holloway)

Whether he was coming up with snarky nicknames, starting fights, or jumping out of helicopters, Sawyer was pretty much a revelation. A mix between a male model, Clint Eastwood, and that guy on the cover of a cheesy romance novel with the wit of an contemporary version of Oscar Wilde, it's no wonder how he got both Kate AND Juliet...oh and Ana Lucia (remember that?). His voice is the only thing to sooth baby Aaron when he cries, and some prop genius is always spraying him with olive oil before every take. He's a bad boy with a heart of gold. And I don't know about you, but I find him even more attractive after he gets glasses.

2. Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) 

He kind of reminds you of that geeky professor that you always had a secret crush on. He's definitely an old fashioned romantic (if a romantic at all). Scientist, genius, and skinny tie aficionado, he can almost make you interested in physics...almost. He's also got that really great raspy voice, which you imagine he uses to whisper sweet nothings in your ear to get you in the mood. I love nerds, and he's definitely their undisputed leader. 

3. Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly)

I've already written about this phenomenon. Bottom line is, we all want to hate her, but can't deny that she is pretty much the most beautiful girl on television. Eyes, lips, hair combo. She's pretty much perfection, so I suppose it's not hate then, but just bright green envy. 

4. Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnyoye-Agbaje)

Again with my priest fetish...well fake priest/drug lord. He was something else wasn't he? All profound and intense, wielding his 'jesus stick' around, crying, sitting and staring out at the ocean...it's all really quite enticing. And he's huge! He's a total giant, with shoulder muscles the size of my head. You're thinking who in their right mind is going to take him on? He could crush you with his thumb and index finger, but you know who got him in the end...that's right, that giant long thing of black smoke. I've missed him ever since. I can't believe they only gave him one season. Shame on you Lost. 

5. Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) 

As his step-sister/love interest Shannon ever so eloquently put it; Boone was god's freakin' gift to women. Amen sister. He forever became that standard that all of us girls would compare every man we met subsequently to. 'Well he's no Boone'...'He kind of looks like Boone'...'bullshit, no one looks like Boone'...you get the idea. At first he seems a little too pretty to be taken seriously, but he keeps on surprising you, whether it's trying to rescue his sister, digging up the hatch with Locke, or swimming into the ocean to try to save a drowning girl. He redefines the spoiled rich kid persona, and the dirtier he gets, the more we like it. He's like an eclipse, I'm afraid to look directly at him because I'm thinking I'm going to go blind. 

6. Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) 

She's the anti-Kate. She's blonde, mellow, and thinks before she acts. She's a doctor, and always seems so powerful, and so together. It's undeniably sexy. Also, she has that classic hour glass shape which is rare these days, and one hell of a rack. We all might have secretly wanted to be Kate, but we all wanted to date Juliet. She really was the entire package. Her death scene was one of the most gut wrenching parts of the show. 

7. Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) 

Oh Desmond. After he appeared, that show changed completely. I don't know what intrigues me more; that he used to be a monk, his ability to see the future, or his wavy locks. Scottish, quirky, and really stressed out, Desmond was such an interesting character to follow. I got so excited every time he ended a sentences with his signature 'brotha' (which was every time he spoke). I definitely opened up a fantasy file on him, pretty early on. If I was on the island, I would purposefully get myself in trouble so that Desmond could run after me to save me. C'mon out smoke monster! Show me what you got! 

8. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews)

I think out of all my crushes on that show, Sayid was the first. This is really sad, but I must have watched that one Shannon-centric episode like 5 times in a row just to see the love seen between her and Sayid towards the end of it, when he sets up a tent and dinner with some kind of tikki torches for her and then they do it. Prancing around in those tight sleeveless shirts of his, Sayid gets himself into a lot of trouble, but none better than when he's full on S&M tied up with electrical wire by Danielle Rousseau. That was full on kinky, and I loved it. The one thing I couldn't stand was that Nadia chick of his. Man she was annoying. What did he ever see in her? But then again, he fell for Shannon too, he doesn't seem to have the greatest taste in women. But I forgive him. 

9. Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) 

Ok, even though I found her to be profoundly annoying, I have to give the girl props. She has the most piercing pair of baby blues and a cute accent. And even when she's full on preggers, she's a total hottie. And call me crazy, but when she's a nut job jungle lady who can't seem to find her hairbrush, she's even better. 

10. Jin Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim)

After the 1st season, when he's not such an uptight douche anymore, Jin suddenly became a major reason to tune into the show. We all remember that one episode when he's reunited with Sun and he comes out of the tent after a night of obvious wife-nookie, shirtless, and watches the sun rise with a content smile on his face. I think we all gasped a little bit, because we realized that this man has a body that could move mountains. 

11. Sun Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim)

Mrs. Jin. She was fierce! The evolution of her character was something else. She started out as this mousy, plain, not-too-interesting and forgettable character, up until we realize that she speaks English, knows how to fire a gun, and can yell her ass off. She just got hotter and hotter. Her hair grew out, and her shirts just got tighter and tighter on her body. Believe me Sun, none of us minded. 

12. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox)

And now we're back at the center of the shrubbery maze. It always comes back to Jack. He's our guy, he's the hero, he's the leader, he's a friggin' doctor! I've been drooling over Matthew Fox since his time on Party of Five. But it's really difficult to like Jack sometimes. He can be really impulsive and emotional like a girl, and his face contorts in the weirdest ways sometimes. Also, what is up with the Marine Corps hair cut? All that said, he still manages to be some good eye-candy, and I can't deny that I still have an erection thinking about his tattoos. 

13. Christian Shephard (John Terry) 

This is a bit unorthodox, but aside from Jack, I also had a bit of a crush on his pops. He was mature, he was enigmatic, and a total silver fox. So he's a miserable drunk most of the show, who cares? He definitely ignites our Oedipal complexes, though we probably wouldn't admit it. 

14. Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) 

She's British and feisty. Definitely her own woman with a gorgeous head of red hair. I think she actually looks a lot better in the flash-sideways when has a blind date with Sawyer than during her entire run on the island itself. We really don't understand what her deal is most of the time, or care, but we definitely understand why someone like Daniel Faraday would be coconuts in love with her. 

15. Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace)

Even though she was the most annoying thing on that island aside from the smoke monster, and we were all secretly happy when she finally died, I have to put Shannon on this list. Most of the time, she's tanning herself in a bikini or walking around in a mini-skirt that show off those legs of hers that go on for days, whining about something or other. I think she's great if I don't have to hear her speak pretty much.

16. Miles Straume (Ken Leung)

He's a wise-ass who talks to dead people. I was pretty much sold from the beginning. Every show needs a Miles on their roster. He was a breath of fresh air. Yes, he's a bit on the short side, and has bags under his eyes, but I still find him very intriguing. He's another one who gets tied up, for some reason that is such a turn on to me, and then Locke sticks a grenade in his mouth and pulls out the pin. It's a sick show...but I'm sick too so it works out perfectly. 

17. Goodwin Stanhope (Brett Cullen)

Sure we all hate him for being a mole for the Others, but then we see his backstory, and his romance with Juliet (or extra-marital affair actually), and we really start to feel for him. Just like Christian, he also has that older man sex appeal going for him, and even though he was a secondary character, he still caught all of our attention. 

18. Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell)

When he appeared, it was incredible. We all were kind of taken aback, and yes those are his natural eyelashes and he does not wear mascara. He was very much the wise man of the show, obviously considering that he lives forever. The only good part of Season 6 was the Richard centric episode where we find out how he got to be on the island, how he got the sweet job of being advisor to Jacob, and why it is that he never ages, and looks good in everything from tattered slave clothing to Banana Republic khaki pants. 

19. The Man in Black (Titus Welliver) 

Even though he's in little more than two episodes in this particular form and spends the rest of his time terrorizing the survivors as the smoke monster. He has a certain amount of appeal, most of it being in his voice...and also his scruff. I was into it. 

20. Libby Smith (Cynthia Watros)

She was kind of the mother hen of the survivors. Very cute in a cougar kind of way, and very intelligent, which is always sexy. I really don't think they should have killed her off so early, they could have given Libby an interesting arc if they wanted to. Oh well.