What I don't understand is when people complain about wanting the show to go back to the way it was in season one, saying how much they want to see more about the study and the hospital. And so… what, just stay in 1956 forever, apparently?

Gwen is especially hard on this show. Maybe she *was* alphabetizing her takeout menus while this episode was on in the background. Maybe it's a poor match between the reviewer and the series. I mean, anyone would have a hard time giving good reviews to a show they just can't stand.

Although—didn't Gini's conversation with Bill in the office just before she went on leave kind of sound like she knew and they'd long since had a fight about it? Something like, "I can't imagine the series of events that must have taken place to get me to give up custody to my children, CAN YOU, BILL?"

This episode was a fantastic return to form, and I'll say that as someone who really enjoyed the first two episodes.

Well, you could just chalk it up to her being a teenager, but her mother is never around, isn't like other moms in any sense, and is very secretive about the kind of work she does. Gini does tend to be unknowable, for all her supposed people skills. I bet Tessa gets the same "oh, you're Masters and…

I have a hard time imagining what genre of music Bill Masters would willingly listen to, let alone what he'd sing, but I guess a traditional folk song would be plausible enough. Although if he turned out to be good at Gilbert and Sullivan, that would be pretty memorable. Maybe it's a mix of copyright issues and…

Yeah, Tessa has a point, but her brattiness seems to border on performance art at times, as though she's baiting Gini. There hasn't been any evidence that being Tessa (or being anyone, really) takes as much monumental effort and saintly patience as it does to be Gini.

I did like that, yeah—Tessa's perceptive, but she's also bratty and selfish in that moment, and it clouds any sense of maturity or notion that her mother might be a separate being with her own thoughts and troubles.

I'm hoping that Tessa's storylines have some interesting payoff—you're right, she's obnoxious in that Ugh Fucking Teenagers kind of way, but there was an interesting interview with her actress recently where she said offhandedly that Tessa knows about Bill and Gini's affair. That's got to play into her curiosity and…

Interesting that we got George and Gini's second marriage taking place in the living room of a friend's home—that mimics (and here goes my probably-unnecessary spoiler alert:) how Bill and Gini did the same in real life.

Both, actually.

Just imagine me dressed in a fancy spangled outfit, hollering the lyrics to Erasure's Chains of Love at your window.

I don't think Gwen understands that Bill was MARKING UP THE GALLEY PAGES WITH HIS PERSONAL EDITS THAT HE COULDN'T GET BACK ONCE THEY WERE THROWN INTO THE LAKE.

The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a Michael Sheen full frontal scene that never ends.

Nah, the writers love to dick around like that—we were supposed to conclude that Bill's been living with Gini for a few years now and that he pays for this by hanging out with Libby and the brood for one or two weekends.

He'll be back in future episodes. Apparently he's the stand-in for the "lost man tossed about in the tides of 1960s societal change," and also he has long sideburns or something.

Given all the interviews with Isabelle Fuhrman, it's looking more like Tessa's gonna stick around and give Gini a hard time.

Their relationship is the center of the show, given that it was the one (relative) constant throughout their interactions. They started out working on a study, which shifted gears into helping people who desperately needed it, and then into becoming experts helping to fix and educate people. Through all of that,…

I like the child actors so far and think the storylines with Johnny and Tessa will have good emotional payoffs down the road.

It's really puzzling to me that reviewers don't understand the basic core of the show, which is that Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan look great together when they're fucking each other or fucking with each other's heads in their weird sex power games.