This write-up needs more synonyms for “Tom Hanks.” Former Bosom Buddy? Co-holder of the deed to a Money Pit? One-time Extreme LARPer? We Gen Xers love Tom too, you know.

Maybe “nemesis/disliked person is present for the birth?”

Friends did a pretty good version of that:

It reminded me of this classic Onion story, too: https://local.theonion.com/harsh-light-of-morning-falls-on-one-night-stands-dvd-co-1819566836

You know, the one thing that didn’t quite work for me about the vampires being excited to meet a Superb Owl is... owls eat bats.  Surely there must have been a few misunderstandings over the long centuries?

If this episode partially redeems Superb Owl, I would like to nominate “The [any stand-alone film title] Cinematic Universe” as the new worst-ever “aren’t I clever and cultured for not taking this nonsense seriously” tossed-off garbage joke.

(paraphrasing) “They did some good world-building in 11, but 12 is where everything comes together!”

(Ocean’s 12, for those who haven’t had the pleasure, is widely regarded as the worst of the four Ocean’s films.)

Indeed, that was Abigail Savage, and when I checked IMDb to refresh my memory I discovered she has 100 credits as a sound designer/editor!  Multi-talented!

I think Scott’s description of Carver as a soap opera rich guy is bang-on — he’s handsome, but in a who-cares kind of way; he’s prone to evil smirks and unconvincing threats, and I’m not really buying him as half of a genius scientist couple either. He was much more believable on One Day At a Time as the fratty, jerk-a…

Billions is one of my guilty pleasures too. It’s one of those shows (like Sons of Anarchy when it started) where the ridiculous plot complications really just exist to give some great actors an opportunity to play the hell out of their crazy-ass parts.

It’s always been a lot of different shows at the same time, too. A lot of “Queen of Fillory” stuff, a lot of “hedges vs. weird, fascist Library” stuff, a season-long Big Bad to be fought, Julia’s on-again, off-again divinity, magic as a metaphor for addiction, magic as a metaphor for believing in yourself, magic as a…

My mental name for her is Officer Cutie-Pie.

It’s The CW -- by age 30 you should have been the CEO of at least one company, married and divorced, and wearing $2200 outfits out to run errands.  At 44 you’re an honored elder and once you turn 50, the red mark on your palm flares up and it’s time to put you out to pasture.

In the DCAU, a younger version of Kara winds up getting a (mutual) crush on Brainiac-5 and moving to the future to pursue it. DCAU Brainy is very much an awkward, cerebral dork, and their Kara is kind of overconfident and rebellious, so it’s another good example of complementary personalities making for satisfying…

This is a great observation — even Dr. Stein (no spring chicken!) decided to leave the team in part because he wanted to develop a closer relationship with his daughter, a very grown-up thing to want.

Not alliterative, but: Blonde Ambition.

I mean, they gave her James Olsen and that didn’t exactly crackle either. As an audience, we’ve been encouraged to value Kara so highly that it sometimes feels like any romantic partner isn’t going to be good enough for her. And to be honest, Kara seems to want a relationship for the sake of it, not because she’s…

The moment that scene most reminded me of was when Ra’s al Ghul (of all people!) takes a moment to give Oliver relationship advice in a Season 3(?) episode of Arrow. When a centuries-old ruler of a cabal of assassins has something to share about your love life, things have taken a very odd turn.

And the way it sometimes comes out in subtle little moments is masterful. When everyone gets distracted by the scooters and runs out of the briefing to play, even in her crestfallen state, Ava is still Ava enough to call “Be careful!” after them.

One of the biggest highlights of Crisis for me was the far-too-brief scene featuring Matt Ryan’s Constantine and Tom Ellis’s Lucifer. There has got to be some kind of way to arrange a buddy-cop spinoff for those two; they are just too perfect, individually and together.  I’ll even figure out how to watch CW Seed to…

In my day it was: