Flash forward 4 years - Amber graduates with 80K of student debt thanks to UC upping their tuition to 22K a year; can't get a job anywhere except a cafe anyway.

You touched on something that I've always found to be a huge problem. We've been told that John Teller had some profound philosophical insights about what the club could be, but we have no idea what they are, and frankly, I think it's for the best because as entertaining as this show is, I don't think the writing…

Yeah, I don't see a happy ending for Jax. The only thing remotely upbeat for him would be if Tara survives and gets his sons far, far away from Charming where they can grow up in peace without a brutal gangster for a father.

"She returned pregnant and with a whole MC in tow" - man, this just makes me want to see "SOA - The Early Years." I keep hoping for an episode-long flashback with Gemma, JT, Clay, etc. in the first years of the MC. They're never going to do it, though, since it would entail finding young actors up to the level of Ron…

I don't know much of anything about military hardware, but the "electronic whine" sound effect made me laugh, because I'm betting it's more like "step - explode" in real life. Kind of like how all TV shows - including SOA - are still pitching the idea that silencers can be the size of a roll of Life Savers and still…

Not only that - SAMCRO are fairly bad guys, but the cartels are straight up monsters. Stupidly, they're just realizing this now. Apparently nobody in SAMCRO reads the newspaper.

It's been a long time, but I don't think so. The only character I can think of that gives the Count anything in the way of training was the Abbe Faria, the priest he's imprisoned with. I think that character's covered pretty well by the warden. But you could look at it as if character functions are being redistributed…

"Clam?"

I find it extremely hard to believe that people who swore habitually even in the 19th century were any less inventive and profane than we are today.

THANK you. Hungarian Rhapsody. That was killing me, trying to place it.

@avclub-7196d3e269aa6eb051c982c01b6b7b75:disqus - Omar is pretty much the exception that proves the rule.

Y'all are all getting CREEPY

Haven't seen episodes 8 or 9 yet, so I don't know if this has been answered already, but here's my guess to "why keep Brody alive?"

I have a feeling she may not have been intended to be a long running character after the pilot, and they've kind of just threaded her in to give Our Emily a human face.

I think Daniel is sort of innocently blundering along, too.

My two favorite things about REVENGE!!! are how closely the first few eps were to the Count of Monte Cristo, and how it stays JUUUUST on the serious side of total camp.

AmanDad - brilliant.

Fuckin' HOMER couldn't resist that shit (Odysseus's dog recognizes him when he gets home years later from the Trojan war)

Not like that guy was any kind of professional, either. The only people even approaching professional killers on this show are Richard, Owen Sleater, and maybe Jimmy…but even Jimmy's more like a gifted amateur who's had plenty of practice.

I really wanted to like the show since it had a real X-Files feel, but I wasn't that fond of the first few eps either. Luckily it got much, much better. This recap - http://www.avclub.com/artic… - has an "Addendum for New Viewers" at the bottom which suggests some catchup episodes. I wrote my own guide below, until I…