See, now you've reminded me of Veronica Mars, and how much better it was than this show (and so many others).
I think the show's writers deserve a lot of props, because I've seen Kristin Bell in a couple of other things now, and she was just as adorable-looking, but performance was only okay. Turns out actors can be…

AV Club conventional wisdom…
I guess there's always at least one show that AV Clubbers watch (or don't, even) just to rip it for how awful it is, and for how mercilessly some of the posters can expose its weaknesses.

The two pickup truck escort really hampered my suspension of disbelief. I kept hoping it was a double-fakeout, and Simon would blow up the (non-nuclear) truck once the Thomasites took possession. I guess it's not close enough to the end of the series for Thomas to suffer such a significant setback.

Show: B-, Review: A
Strong effort by Noel, who did a nice job articulating the episode's strengths, weaknesses, and especially the thematic elements, plus tossing in some interesting info about the creative team. This is why he writes the reviews, and we just read them.

That Walter/Walternate reveal was great, and I totally didn't see it coming.

Whoa… this is bad, you guys are actually make me feel more positive about The Cape. Maybe I'm forgetting how awful V truly is. The point about nothing ever happening on V is pretty cogent.
I have to say, though, I'm not a fan of the "Circus of Crime". That was already lame when Marvel Comics did it back in the 60's.
And…

Tea Partiers don't equal libertarians, but they're not dissimilar. Many (most?) TP types share the libertarian dislike of taxation, regulation, and government (which, obviously, I don't agree with). I'd say TPs as a group are less focused and intellectually coherent than libertarians, though I'm sure that doesn't hold…

I'm willing to be proven wrong. Hopeful, even. Maybe the show will get its legs under it and start messing around with some of the tropes and stereotypes. Maybe adventure stories just naturally gravitate toward rugged-individualist heroes. Maybe I've got a chip on my shoulder about all the union-bashing of the moment.

Worse, I'm humiliated that I want to watch it… at least more than I want to vacuum or to do my tax return.

Neither.

Is this the worst show ever?
I mean, seriously. It makes "V" look like "Battlestar", it makes "Flashforward" look like "Lost", it makes post-season 1 "Heroes" look like season 1 "Heroes".

Or was it the FLESHAL EFFECTS?

AV Club show listings
"The" gets alphabetized? Seriously? How hard would it be to fix that? Maybe nobody else really cares, but it seems weird to ignore standard alphabetizing conventions so pointedly. I've not realized that several shows were being reviewed because the titles started with "The"… so maybe I'm the…

On probation
Not that psyched for a show in which the bad guys are a black guy and some Irish guys (all undoubtedly Democrats), government is assumed to be corrupt, unions get in the way, and the hero is a white guy who resents rules and authority. Seeing too much of that show on Tea Party TV lately.
But I'm a sucker…

I once watched a TV broadcast of "Do the Right Thing" for which the euphemism "Mickey-Fickey" was dubbed in. And if you've ever seen "Do the Right Thing", you just know there were a LOT of people saying "Mickey-Fickey". It made "jaghole" seem gritty.

I hear he lost a little weight.

JAGhole, please. That makes all the difference authenticity-wise.

Callback
I enjoyed the upside-down headshot of Peter getting wired up for testing, which harked back to the similar shot of Olivia in the first episode.

Was it just me…
Or did Jeffrey Donovan seem a little uninterested? I found a lot of his line readings unusually wooden throughout the show… not exactly a good sign for the season premiere.

CTK: that hacksaw line/the whole scene has to be in most people's top 5 Bauer moments. I'd go with it for #1.
Strong candidate for best non-Jack-centric moment: Renee saws Russian flunky's thumb off, tells Jack not to be such a baby about it, then tells him to stop dawdling and keep up with her. Jack mutters "dammit!"