You hit on some great stuff here (I don't agree about the stair thing being impossible to reconcile, though - it's likely what Noah saw didn't appear nearly as threatening or as memorable as what Alison saw, who had already established the daughter as "prey" in the eyes of her brother-inlaw).

I actually think his side of the story seems much more fleshed out. It feels to me as if they *wrote* the show from Noah's point of view and then tacked on the other one as a gimmick.

One case for the (a?) brother being the victim (or, alternatively, who Alison might be trying to pin as the murderer): the specifically harsh manner in which she portrays him.

Confused by what you're referencing by "his version."

I think that scene was designed to show that he was lying to Deacon (and thus prove that in addition to getting different perspectives from the characters, we're also getting lies). He said the flirtation ended once she left - but it's clear they made out on the beach at the very least. This scene aired right after…

In fairness, under her utilitarian morality (which might be different from your sense of morality, but it's not amoral), the lives she saved by killing him trump the lives lost needed to kill him. So, killing him is more important than saving the people at the wedding.

For Alison to "miss" the victim, though, you'd have to assume it couldn't be Bruce Butler. Nothing has been done to establish they had any sort of relationship - or that she could credibly suggest missing him or caring about who killed him.

I thought the interaction with the fisherman aligned nicely with the conversation with Noah's mother-in-law and, to an extent, the conversation with her own mother-in-law.

*How did I not notice Ruth Wilson's terrible accent last week? It's as if she learned how to pronounce vowels from Sonia Cross.

"There’s no need to catch the viewer up on who knows which dark secrets, particularly when Carol shows her reticent to speak about the girls so soon afterwards with Daryl, in the best of the episode’s brief exchanges, successful precisely because the two do so little talking as they sit watch"

1) Wasn't that basically confirmed during the scene with Bates and Chiklis? I moved forward as if there is no doubt.
4) I'm guessing no. I forget the exact wording, but there was an interaction between Lange and another character (I forget if it was Peters or Chiklis/Bassett) in this episode that implied she and the…

How good has Finn Wittrock been? Easily the best AHS cast member who wasn't part of season one.

Really enjoyed it, but some of the bantery ("we're really people having real conversations!") jokes were really lame. That Sandra Bullock thing was just so unnatural.

Sorry - I meant the action they're narrating (the affair) was set in 2014 and that the interrogation is years later. Note that I thought the grave said 2012, so if it in fact said 2011, then I'd buy 2013.

I kind of assumed it had to be 2014. There wouldn't be any questioning someone's grief a year after their child died. But after two years, you're at that point where she's perfectly justified for still being crushed by it, but he's also justified for starting to think about moving on.

— Any potential interest I would have had in watching this was killed by the commercial.

Epilogue was very weird. I so thought that was a promo for Talking Dead and that it was going to be either Chris Hardwick or Conan O'Brien (tonight's guest) under the mask…

A strong premiere, but this premise just doesn't feel fresh in the wake of Betrayal and Satisfaction (even if it's obviously superior to both of those).

So it's Just Shoot Me (obvious) with a twist of Men at Work season 3 (the girl from The Newsroom and who hooked up with Dwight on The Office was a respected editor who became a trashy sex writer).

I think they just added a little bit to the production - the basic tune is the same.