Amazing. So does this mean the "patrons" were just local hires? Or cafeteria workers? How weird ist aht?

This is true, but I think the fact that Rudy and Susan didn't pose huge threats in the challenges also helped them stay on for longer. I feel like it's a combo—you need to be in an alliance, but it also helps to land somewhere in the middle in terms of the challenges themselves. Anything you can do NOT to stand out.

First episode was in 1916, sometime in the summer I think. So it's been two years. The first season jumped forward months between episodes, too, but the real problem with season 2 is that there were also two entire years between season, during which nothing whatsoever happened, apparently.

The problem isn't that Matthew is home so often—as @avclub-bc68599029928a93ff775e686c3be325:disqus pointed out, we've already covered 2 years so he'd have been home several times by now—it's that nothing seems to happen in the interim and that everything noteworthy happens all at once. So, Matthew goes missing, Bates…

I noticed this in the scene with Branson and Sybil—you could see her reflection in the windshield of the car. I suppose you could read some sort of symbolism there about the class divide, or something. Mostly it looked neat.

The cousin thing was totally normal back then. And people regularly married their first cousins—at least one of Jane Austen's novels, Mansfield Park, is about two first cousins who (eventually) get married, and I'm sure there are zillions of other examples in literature. I'm also reading a book about Highclere Castle,…

His line about her job —"serving drinks to a bunch of randy officers"—was seriously dickish.

Me too! Ours was the front lawn of the school and also "room 18," an old class room in a far corner of the school.

Speaking of which, I've been wondering why Daisy hasn't gotten promoted yet. I mean, she's been there for like 6 years, possibly longer, yet she's still got by far the crappiest job in the house. Our Daisy deserves more!

I agree completely about Cora. I think she and O'Brien are the most incoherent/oblique characters on the show.

You're right, I did use the wrong word, though not in the way that you assume. I meant to say "barefaced" as in "open or unconcealed." Thank you for noticing. I will make the change, then spend the rest of the day lamenting my lack of education.

Oh Vicki, I've missed you.

Brock, I added the quotes to clarify, but "anti-gay" was there all along. And even if it wasn't, did you completely miss the paragraph where I talk about how what the real Tracy said was actually way more offensive? And my repeated use of the word homophobic?

I thought of that too.

Point taken.

I was being sarcastic. I thought the proximity of "hilarious" and "invective" would have made that pretty clear, but I guess not.

But I can't reply to his comment below!

@avclub-795837a258b608bf5c0c1288efa4d59c:disqus Wait, really? Is this true?

I think it's more of a health nut thing. He was talking about how milk is like the mucus of cows and how disgusting it is. It was very strange.

I totally agree with the frustration about the editing, especially when it comes to the vote change/tribal council. Maybe the producers figured that the element of surprise was more important?