Thanks for that response. I agree that Casterbridge is unbelievably soapy (although I tended to find that more fun than you did, it seems). Tess is the only other Hardy I've read, but Madding Crowd will probably be added to that number before too long (I'm having a bit of an English-classics phase at the moment:…

That's the one I was thinking of!

Something else I love about Skinner is the numerous small suggestions that he's actually a frustrated science teacher - the astronomy being an excellent example of that; the school's numerous science fairs etc being another - who somehow ended up as principal of a primary/elementary school instead. I can't think of…

My recollection - & I could be wrong - was that Andy had a sort of non-competence success rate. He wasn't actually very good as a salesman, but he ended up making sales anyway, primarily through his social connections etc (I believe he went to a good university?).

And it gets better on multiple plays, too.

The scene where Jim walks back into The Office for the first time, after Pam's giddiness all morning, is one of my favourite things. So sweet and transparent.

Seeing Jim flounder was indeed good, but I always was disappointed in the slightly lazy way they dealt with his (Jim's) position in the office. He was the official number 2/assistant manager - made as much in these episodes today, recognised in a pay rise - and yet Charles seemed completely oblivious to that position.…

Back when The West Wing was my favourite thing on tv, I used to think television - preferably HBO - was the ideal medium for Sorkin. His work since then has made me think that maybe it's the other way around - he needs something that gives him lots of time to write & rewrite, rather than facing immediate deadlines…

A related point is that Sorkin's characters always have bizarrely out-of-date pop-culture tastes, in a way that probably reflects his age more than that of the characters he's writing.

My theory is that it's a teaser for the box, and the box will either re-include it, or focus purely on 1984 stuff.

Well, there is The Brisbane Exception.

That's a really interesting idea. Dean really does represent everything about Stars Hollow - generally pleasant but slow-paced, and far too inquisitive about/obsessed by what Rory Gilmore is up to all the time…

That would have been the best-possible season five, really.

It is a lovely little scene, although in some ways I prefer it as a hidden extra thing. There's a tremendous nostalgia to this episode, and that scenes caps it off nicely. Thinking about how important that inn was to the two of them personally provides a real emotional kick to it.

SPOILERS (& also, very long):

Yeah, but neither of them are really in it that much. Tana & Janet probably have less to do than Louise & Madelaine, say.

Let me try!

One of the things I've enjoyed in these reviews - and this one brought it out well - was Sims exploring how underwhelming the Rory-Jess relationship was. As soon as they got together, the show became less interested in showing them happy together - mostly because of the plan to get Jess his very own spin-off - and…

I've enjoyed his reviews of other things quite a lot. And I've never criticised the GG ones either, but I am a little surprised that only now he's learning that the small-but-devoted audience for these has been saying basically the same thing since early in season one.

Wow, thanks for that - that's amazing. Will have to look for that book, too, since Wilder is clearly one of the most thoughtful directors/etc of the 20th century. Aside from making at least half-a-dozen stone-cold classic, endlessly rewatchable films, that is.