I just figured the dad had been in the cult at some point and taught his daughter the handshake. I thought Marling was good in the role, but I never believed she was anything but charlatan.

SPOILERS JEEZ

The key to enjoying DLM is skipping (1) the first five minutes or so before the guests come out and (2) the selection of the audience members they're playing for. It saves you ten minutes and a half-dozen cringes.

Yeah, it was really entertaining until it turns into a standard rom-com at the end, with the charming hero learning the error of his ways so he can pair off with the dull love interest. That montage where he's riding on the back of her scooter and he tritely throws his arms wide as if to truly embrace life in all its…

The Out of Sight comparison surprised me. Carruth is clearly a talented writer and director, and he was a competent actor in Primer, but nothing in that performance suggested he's capable of the kind of slow-burn charisma you find in that hotel scene. Is it a more formal thing, like the cinematic beats feel the same,…

You're not alone. It was a pleasant shock to see a film with the confidence to basically defy you to parse it, but I don't think it actually makes coherent sense when it's broken down. There was a recent Wired article about Carruth that said he's got the full story in his head, and that people are getting "closer" to…

That scene is another place where the episode subverts your expectations. You're thinking that if Jake can't save the guy and redeem himself, then at least the guy is going to offer some kind of absolution ("You can't blame yourself — you haven't had any training!"). But nope — he just makes Jake feel like shit and…

And interestingly, the foot-shooting soldier doesn't get redemption either. I thought for sure he was going to rush (or at least hobble) in and make a heroic sacrifice to save Jake at the end, but… nothing. He just has to live with the consequences of a terrified, split-second decision for the rest of his life.

There's loving and caring about (and honoring the memory of) someone, and then there's making an extended transatlantic pilgrimage in an attempt to find closure for a relationship that ended years ago — and then using the voyage as the subject of a documentary in which you show there's apparently no closure to be…

I think it's more that to become one of the world's biggest musical icons, you have to know how to sell the hell out of a performance. And that translates into a talent for acting (or at least a compelling screen presence).

These are really interesting points, although I'm uncertain as to whether the differences were the result of Combs making acting choices, or if he was just scripted differently to fill whatever role the writers needed him to. It's probably a little of both.

It makes sense for them to be as willing to question authority as they are. Being an effective soldier requires that you take risks, and since the Vorta are evidently useless at military planning, that leaves it up to the Jem'Hadar. And with that risk-taking attitude comes a willingness to question your loyalties when…

It wouldn't be that far-fetched from what we've seen, where everybody in Starfleet can quote Shakespeare and speak Latin.

Liked for oleaginous.

I read that quote in her voice, and now I want to punch you by sheer association.

Something something snow pun.

Agreed. And that's a great point about Martok.

That's something that really bothered me about Sons of Mogh. Bashir is characterized as this fierce idealist, unwilling to compromise the safety of his patients… except when he's willingly abetting the total destruction of a man's identity with hardly a complaint. What?

Finally, someone brave enough to mock the French!

Well, he can't Candyman people unless he's dead.