I agree about O'Brien.  She felt bad about bringing the late former Mrs. Bates back.  So she went down and offed her while setting up Bates so that Thomas could become to the new valet to the Earl.  Why? Because.  That's why.

@avclub-7e1ce4ce3124fd9ecc13a151afcff11b:disqus "that it's hard to imagine him getting through the whole trial without spontaneously confessing."

That's one of the problems I've had with this season and I think it's because of the pacing of the story (it's June 1915, no, it's 1918 … surprise, it's 1920!).  Fellowe's can't devote 47 minutes every week to Mary and Matthew or Anna and Bates *not* getting together, so he crams in some pointless one-episode plot…

"Well, if it isn't my old friend Mr. McGregg—with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg!"

early on in this series, when we first meet him, Gus says something to Mike about how he prefers to avoid using fear to motivate his employees.  He tried rational respect with Walt and Jesse during the showdown with the gangbangers that killed Combo.  Walt and Jesse ignored that and killed the thugs anyway.  The next…

A fair amount of the characters don't seem to have any traits other than those when initially introduced.  The second season is like spending time on a treadmill.

Which is all well and good, I guess, but that's one psychotic woman.  Something which should have been readily apparent to Bates before he married her since he was, by all accounts, an honest man who took the fall for her.  She's yet another one-dimensional character on this show that has never been developed despite…

Which seems to happen a lot on Downton Abbey.  As a Meredith has pointed before, there's a lot of "just kidding" plot developments that just rehash the same story, slightly differently and then - Ha! Just kidding! - we're back to the same point and not much has changed.

Same here … she was never an interesting character to begin with.  She showed up, said everyone else was a bunch of suckers for being servants and that she was going to be moving on up in the world, and then spent all her time trying to knock boots with an army officer.  Who, surprise surprise, was more than happy to…

Dr. Nick of the prestigious Hollywood Upstairs Medical College.

Yeah, no shit.  I read this crap-ass website at work.  I don't really need any management wandering around to sneak up behind me and catch a glimpse of a guy in a ski mask and his Breaking Bad shorts riding a bear skin rug.  What the fuck?