Thanks. There's a gaping hole in my pop culture knowledge when it comes to that stuff. I know, it's pretty bad.

Oh, this is a very interesting theory. The editing certainly didn't emphasize that the women were still digging. And I wonder why Gervase never explained why he stopped…I smell a conspiracy!

Yeah, I honestly can't decide whether Kane's ambiguous party affiliation is a good or a bad thing. I understand why they're doing it, but it also seems somewhat impossible to really say something about political power without acknowledging the increased partisanship of the country.

I think they're intentionally keeping it vague by sending us ambiguous messages. In a place like Chicago, even a Republican mayor would have to cozy up to unions, and the education reforms his wife advocates are popular with conservatives but they're the sort of thing some centrist Democrats support, too. In some ways…

Good point. Maybe Kane wasn't such a maniac back then?

Hey, sorry about that. Thanks for heads-up. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/user…

I like this idea. What other milestones to look out for? First alliance break, obviously.

Interesting. And I believe last week was the first episode where someone (again, Kelly) said she wasn't there to make friends. A true milestone in reality-TV history.

I tend to think clumsily literal, like the breadsticks, though I see what you're saying—that we needed to see the happy "before." It all just feels superfluous, doesn't it? Why spell it all out for us? I think it might have worked better if they had just gone with a straight narrative inspired by the poem, with maybe…

I agree. Her motives are a total mystery. Like I said in the review, I think this kind of extreme subjectivity makes for an interesting poem or short story, but it just doesn't really work in a film/TV show/etc. It stunts the narrative.

One more thing, Bernie: I am confused by the idea that I should only compare Boss to shows that are "canonical," like All in the Family and Seinfeld (two incredibly strange examples, given that Boss is a drama about politics set in Chicago, but nevermind). Are TV critics only allowed to reference classic shows in…

True, but at least on Breaking Bad remission was a possibility, however remote. The Lewis Body thing is irreversible, or so we're told.

Agree about the style though there have been fewer oblique close-ups in the post-Van Sant episodes. I can't say that I miss them.

You're right, Bernie. The *only* reason I find the sex scenes gratuitous and silly is because I am a pathetic, jealous female and not as hot as Kathleen Robertson. Why do women, especially ugly women, even write criticism when we're so totally incapable of subjective judgment? Furthermore, how dare our opinions be…

I've been wondering the same thing. He seems to be deteriorating awfully quickly, and he's not going to be able to keep this thing a secret for much longer. What happens when he has a seizure or something, and is taken to the emergency room? Is he going to have the entire emergency room staff eliminated?

YES!! I forgot to mention that. Such a nice little moment.

See, I'm pretty sure that hair *did* catch on with lots of women. Like the tankinis, it strikes me as an extremely millenial style. It makes me think of Dharma.

"Frontline is really good at building a comprehensible narratives out of complex recent history." Exactly. I felt like this installment lacked somewhat in that department. 

Right. It's not my "news wonk snobbery," but actually the opposite: my relative ignorance of/wish to know more about the Assad regime. I also found the order of the segments a little bizarre. Having said that, I wish people weren't so fixated with grades on this site, especially when it comes to a show like Frontline,…

No way! Great idea. Bummer it's so lame. I have a soft spot for terrible diseases.