I like Crossfire and some of the other Odo centric episodes, but the "mushier" (no pun intended) Odo gets, the more I cringe and find myself unable to buy into the character.

I don't see characters anymore with Kevin Bacon. I just see Kevin Bacon exploring a different career path. Kevin Bacon IS the character.

It's almost like the entire show is some sort of abstract slapstick comedy, constantly tripping over itself, running into/crashing through walls, setting itself on fire and kicking itself in the crotch.

Yes, agreed. That detail had gotten repressed somehow.

Upon reflection, it is possible that my perception has been skewed from watching too much Evil Dead as of late.

Right. In 2000 years of building and maintaining their paranoid, rigid empire, it seems natural that the Founders would develop preemptive strategies for dealing with new, inferior alien solids. The Founders need for safety and control would negate even peace as a long term strategy. For the Founders, control = peace.

Hey, I just remembered that the Founders helped stage their own attempted genocide… ergh.

I don't think that anyone who looks beyond the surface of the Dominion can considerer them your stock, war-like bad guys.

[Edit: posted in wrong thread]

Coincidentally, "pure magic" is also what keeps the plot moving forward.

"Chronological ordering of chapters. Yup, classic Poe."

Another woman who gets attacked and doesn't scream, thus alerting others to the urgency of her perilous situation.

Kevin Bacon IS Edgar Allen Poe!

It seemed obvious to me that the Poe-masked punk was just that flunkie that Bacon went to the cult HQ with. He is obsessed with the hero of the show/cult, afterall, and I think that the two of them went there by themselves and were conveniently separated.

lol, @avclub-638c1a4f003b46aad4aa5cf3f424d215:disqus "smart enough to kill a houseful of sorority girls."

No, I think Ron Paul would be more believable as the high priest of a serial killer cult that takes 19th century literature too seriously.

The producers want this to be the next 24 - with serial killers. And Kevin Bacon.

Brad Dourif?

To your point, I don't think Claire was pregnant or yet a mommy during the "Kiss me, I'm divorced!" flashback, so the likelihood of Joey being Bacon Jr. is quite high.

Actually the show would probably be more believable if his followers were all book club houseMILFS instead of college lit students.