I agree with what I think is your main point: This season is WAY stronger than the previous season, which was the most lackluster. You could make an argument that this is the strongest overall cast yet.

I think Lucian was bringing up Lorde as someone who had a very distinct talk-singing style not saying that the queens should sing LIKE Lorde. It was still confusing and weird advice, but not as bad as when he was telling them not to sing like the B 52s when the song was clearly an homage to the B 52s. Bob's reaction…

The CIA

What? They're making a show about my life from 2006 to 2009? (except it was coke not meth)

A horrible improv troupe on Broad City used the name "Statutory Grape." It was meant to show how bad they were.

Just dropping in a month later to affirm that this was indeed the worst episode ever in the history of Portlandia. Structurally similar to first season episodes - no conceptual inventiveness just a few running sketches and a couple one offs, but without the freshness of those early sketch show eps. Kath and Dave are…

"Got more suits than Jacoby and Meyer"

Nah it's just some classless midwestern bullshit and is disappointing. Why the fuck are they eating at 4 pm anyway?

BM? It makes it sound like we're going after a walking talking poopie!

Yeah I was wondering how long before someone mentioned that a good paragraph of the review seems to have randomly been deleted. Really quality control here at the ol' AV Club.

I agree. The show is still way better than any other currently airing sitcom but it's gone down a notch since the first 2 or 3 episodes of this season, though I can't put my finger on exactly how or why. Last week's Hillary Clinton infomercial was a definite low point and almost an unforgivable misstep. This week was…

I lived in the tri-state for 12 years and only went to Philadelphia via rail once and for me as an honorary asshole New Yorker I gotta say the opening sequence made the whole process look way too easy. Philly's public transit always seemed so crappy and backward to me compared to the awesome system in the…

VICE recently published a really good piece about the 90s Beanie Baby phenomenon in all of of its financial and cultural dimensions recently. Basically, ground zero for the craze were the more affluent Chicagoland suburbs, but obviously affluent suburbs of Philadelphia are similar enough probably for it to have been a…

All of these things were problems, but basically the main problem was that the whole sketch was just really poorly written and TOO LONG.

I agree. I actually thought it was one of the funnest, most entertaining Drag Race eps in awhile, way above most of the lackluster previous season. Empire is an over-the-top campy soap opera known for its over-the-top performances so it's natural fodder for drag. The fact that it's a camp object from black culture…

I'm with you on him somehow being likable even thought it seems like he should be the world's biggest douchebag. I attribute it to the charisma and skill of the actor mostly.

Have you heard of this weird property of language where terms change in their connotations (and sometimes even their basic meanings) as the times change? Oftentimes, the original etymology of a word has very little to do with how the word is used in the present day. An example would be using the word "pulp" to refer…

Yeah I like the Second Season quite a bit myself, but I realize the general critical/popular opinion is that it was the weakest season. It was quite a departure from the rest of the series but I appreciated the attempt to move beyond the drug war into broader concerns of the loss of American manufacturing, human…

Also I was thinking are deals sites still a thing in 2016? It seems to me that they chose that she worked at that particular type of internet startup because of how laughably dated and useless it is. It's kind of unbelievable that Deals Deals Deals continues to exist. They probably folded about a month after firing…

I agree. Definitely an A- at least. With these pointlessly sour, repetitive reviews I think we may be moving towards a situation where Zack needs to be replaced as recapper the way they had to with Rabin for the last few seasons of 30 Rock. ZH seems to have completely forgotten what made the show work in the first…