Yeah, I figured that Abe and his stache were not long for this world after Ted's Yearning Glance of Yearning right in front of Mrs. Chow-guh-guh (who was clearly keyed into what was going on).  But maybe not.

I also thought it was a big step down from the JFK episode.  I thought this episode was too full of characters making Big Pronouncements About the World and How Everything is Different Now!! in a way that felt hollow.  What I liked about the JFK episode was that the characters mostly obsessed about how the event…

And I liked the implication that Betty's gotten a little more conservative being married to Henry.  The Draper kids watched 3 straight days of TV during the Kennedy assassination.

It was great because it was clearly a Don reaction- clearly something Bobby had heard Don say, and started to imitate.  (Though he probably wouldn't have pulled it out in front of Betty.)

Stoll's amazing.  I hope he gets a nice career bump out of this.

Counterpoint:  the Rape Santa episode from AHS.  Actually, pretty much anything from AHS.

Enh.  While I was watching it, I found it absorbing enough.  I watched all 13 episodes over a week.  Corey Stoll is amazing.  But I think the Frank's plan starts to seem insane when you think about it.  And reading these recaps a couple of months after I finished watching HoC, I'm surprised how little of it I…

Yes, exactly!  Watching these now that I'm almost Lorelai's age is a total mindfuck.

I really liked Philip's reaction, and I thought it made perfect sense for the character.  I think he's sick of Elizabeth's indecision and done with getting his heart ripped out every other week.  He's had a crush on Elizabeth for years?  decades, maybe?  They finally get something going, and she's totally into it one…

Why- why did you have to make me feel even sadder about Martha?!?!  Oh god.

Another gem from NBC's Department of Great Ideas.  They're really on a tear these days.

It means I'll have the North by Northwest theme in my head all day.  DAMN YOU, BERNARD HERMANN!!

Ooh- good call.  Eye-rolling "Oh NOW you're into me?!?" Philip is my favorite Philip so far.

It is a bit bizarre, but the creepiness is turned into hilarity via bored, affectless, middle-schooler monotone.  Ipledgeallegiancetotheflag[giant breath]oftheUnitedStatesofAmerica[giant breath]…

@Scrawler2:disqus I heard that and I thought "CLASSIC Lutheran pastor."  I didn't even remember that Martha WAS Lutheran for another 30 seconds.  You have done your homework, Americans.  I salute you, you magnificent bastards. 

@Scrawler2:disqus Haha- I think a lot of women would look at that pro/con list and say "Wait, WHAT?!"  Poor, poor Martha.

She's also been in some dicey situations where they probably should have extricated her.  She's realized by now that the dream of giving them what they want and escaping to a shiny new life in America is not going to happen.  Nina working for the FBI probably ends with a bullet to the head, and I think she gets that…

I'm sure anyone who's working the DC office for the USSR has been carefully selected and trained, down to the secretaries and janitors.  Even in a secretarial role, you'd be seeing and hearing high level intel.  Though I'm not sure she was strictly a secretary- I thought she was some low level bureaucrat.

But would that come out on the pageant stage?  (Maybe the FACES.)

It made it EXTRA mean, because she's purposefully being cruel.  Hey dum dum, you realize that THERE ARE CAMERAS RECORDING YOU, right?  No one out front can tell when you pull this shit at a pageant, but we can all see you.  And it's ugly.