And now that I've finished watching the episode, I tried to go to NBC's website to see if they'd posted the conclusion, but it doesn't work. Maybe instead of going with "The Cape," I'll just start saying, "You know, NBC." (Although . . . they do have Parenthood.)

And the new meme is:
"It makes no sense, but you know, The Cape."

Evidently
"Did Morales throw the fight at the behest of Brennan? We don't find out. Pops and Johnny evidently write it off to the poor condition of Lights' eye during the fight. (He shouldn't have even been in the ring in that condition, according to Pops.)"

I can actually get behind a firstie from Childish Gambino. "I took the g out of your waffle, now all you've got left is your ego."

Although, let's be honest: do we really want the alderman to be pure evil? I like the back story presented for him, the bond he strikes with the child (in whom he sees himself), and the way he handles his business — I just wish the show didn't lean so heavily on having a first-person narrative in which to communicate…

Yeah, but Ryan's dumbed it down for networks before, with the three-season semi-hit The Unit, and that managed to pull off some fairly neat tricks. Then again, David Mamet was involved in that, too — and his infamous note to the writers on that show reminds us of just how hard you have to fight to make sure that you…

The Rock Is Back?
Didn't know the Rock had returned; I stopped watching wrestling once I felt that I'd seen it all. For me, I don't think the show can ever top the Rock/Mankind stuff — which, best of all, largely WASN'T during PPV — nor the Hardy Boys vs. Edge/Christian TLC matches, which were just absurd.

That's what they were playing? It looked so bad, I thought they just made up their own so that they wouldn't have to pay any licensing fees — you know, like they do on House.

And it had Flammie. And I think it was the first action-RPG I ever played, not counting Zelda.

That's what I do for Southland; not seeing a huge difference between 'em, and given that SouthLAnd doesn't have a voice over, I might just stick with that.

B+ Reasoning
I can't help but feel (when you talk of dramatic shortcuts) that the voice-overs are holding this show back. Way too much telling, especially from Gibbons this week, about why he's the way that he is — information that is much better when it comes out sneakily, as with the XBOX scene you cite. I find the…

Title of the Episode
If last week's title was a throwback reminder to what House could and should be (but sadly isn't), this week's was all about the modern-day procedural in which nothing new really happens: that's how you stay recession proof. Avoid change at all costs.

Yeah, I did turn off battle animations, but I remember that caused some problems, too — it's been a while since I last played, so I don't remember exactly why. But yes, all Persona games can be beaten with the right use of the Velvet Room, but doing so can be time-consuming, with or without a guide. Which reminds me;…

Not only that, but as I travel through time, all of you keep YOUR experience, too! Pretty nifty, eh? I wish I could really go back in time so that I could have gone to sleep last night instead of playing through the entire first chapter of RH — but if I could, I'd probably have just spent it playing through the second…

Aside from the unrelenting difficulty of Persona 2 (and the sluggish battle system), the one that came out in the US, it was one of the best games I'd ever played — endlessly creative, with terrific dungeons, characters, and mature plot. Monsters in the gym; rumor-based serial killer burning down a museum; a magical…

Time Traveling
Now that I know the game's good, let me flip back a few minutes so that I can continue playing, uninterrupted by this double-check.

The Walternate Effect
Man, John Noble can really act, can't he? That last shot of him as Walternate, explaining that he knows where his Peter is — that was killer.

Wait, what?
Shortcuts? Taken in a faux-documentary comedy? But, that would *never* happen. Oh, no, wait . . . that's exactly what Abed said the genre does. These characters have roles to play, and they play them week after week, with only a few rare moments of deviation. And that gets stale. It becomes all about the…

Contagion
I laughed pretty much throughout the entirety of this episode, so I'm going to go with an A-; had much of the same beats and feel as the classic Debate episode, dealt with Jeff's insecurities in a new way, and had some killer sight gags, beginning with the notches, carrying on through the news crawl, and all…

She did say she was going to make him cry. Annie FTW.