…How many shows can just blow up everything they've built over an incredibly densely plotted season, wiping the slate clean of major and minor plotlines and characters - and then manage to makes the stakes for next season feel even bigger and more complicated?!

My hope is that Blaine's amnesia story will actually reverse the "soften the badguy" trope. Even with his horrible upbringing and weight of choices removed, at heart, I believe he's a sociopath - a pragmatic one, not overly cruel, and not completely without feelings, but a man crucially missing basic empathy - and I…

I know at least two couples who have been together 20+ years, where one calls the other by their last name. It's really just an affectionate nickname, with the plus that it's not embarrassing to use in public.

Exactly this. Out of all of them, Blockbuster is the one that truly deserves to die. The worst of it is the editing of videos - that is utterly unconscionable. The first time I saw Bad Lieutenant, I found it harrowing but not overly difficult to watch. Then a friend asked me, "What about the scene with the…

I just realized that a great Louis CK bit about his kids asking "Why?" is pretty much a match for a Mindy and Buttons episode.

Good point.

I'm one of those whose opinion is that both DKR and Watchmen are far greater works formally than they are stories - it doesn't help that their respective stories are so very tied into the specific era that they were created in. But when I reread these books, it's the stunning invention and vigor of what they do with…

It's right there in the former Mutants who become the Sons of Batman. They veer from one paragon of strength to another - they're no less inspired by the Batman than are the better angels of Gotham, or for that matter the Rogues Gallery (albeit, much like the villains, in their own twisted, violent way). I think…

"Gone, gone
the form of Major
Behold the pawn of
SuperMaxRager!"

I don't want it to go on for too long, but for my money, letting the spotlight run to DonE and Chief for a while, and them being exactly the shortsighted, goofy scamps I expected, has been really entertaining.

"'I'm working for zombies, man! Brain-eating zombies!!'"

Honestly, I think several seconds of stunned silence in the middle of coordinating a risky operation seems about right. "No time to process this right now, but goddamn."

Edwin Abbott? Never heard of 'im.

I believe you.

Ah, Margaret Corcoran. That's a whole, tragic, comic, mean, sad little story, a perfect little encapsulation of so many things about Frank Miller, the crime and noir influences in his writing, why he's one of the greats, and also the seeds of his doom. He gave Margaret's story, amidst a book that rapid-fire chops…

I've played some really great modern card games, and been a CCGer in the past (and mean to get to some LCGs in the future) - but through it all, whenever I find someone who plays Cribbage, I know I've got both a new best friend and a new worst enemy.

I'm glad you brought up Night Trap - the idea of a branching narrative that marches on in real-time while you jump to various viewpoints is really compelling and bursting full of potential. Romantic farce, murder mystery, time-travel paradoxes, historical recreation - so many possibilities! The real-time element…

If you've ever played A&A: Europe, it does a pretty great job of letting many of the dynamics of the European Theater develop through gameplay. I always feel a mixture of pride and guilt at how Stalingrad desperately holds out over the Nazi push.

Before she was Marvelified, I would've said Krysten Ritter.

To be fair, Barry died of his own volition, sacrificing himself by running until he essentially disassociated to blow up the A-M's universe-smasher.