You know you're obsessed with a show when you haven't even watched the episode yet and you're getting all emotional and anticipatory as fuck. I honestly don't think I've ever been as emotionally attached to any series as this one, even though I'd probably rank 3 or 4 others higher overall.

Exactly. I think this is deliberate on the show's part, though, this change in character from Chloe (or perhaps reveal of who she really is). It feels awfully true-to-life unfortunately, that he'd not have found some kind of "Girl Jesus," if you will, but rather (as SusanSunflower said) simply another flawed person…

As with last week, this was as good an episode the show's ever done. Yet there's something about this season, where it's hard to evaluate episodes like one would usually do. They're less, well, episodic — more just days in the life. (The one exception is the premiere, which was much more self-contained than usual,…

Some idle speculation for the final three episodes….

Upon reflection, I think it's just so astonishing the way this show has made me revise my opinions on certain characters over the course of (almost) 30 episodes; the evolution is stunning and always realistic. For example, at the start I thought Tawney was a righteous, good person; she was in the right, and Teddy was…

Chloe's not one of my favorite characters but I like the way the show has used her in the past two episodes: it's more grounded and realistic than the rom-com fantasy it seemed like things might be headed for for a moment. Also, Fitzgerald is just such an immensely talented actor when it comes to using her face to…

Trey may be a psychopath, but Rectify somehow makes me sympathetic for him. I've always found him just as multi-faceted as most of the other characters (especially from S2 on). Just from the way he talks, all the weird things he says (that Paula Dean dream), his mixture of ignorance and eloquence, it makes him seem…

I didn't quite "love" most of Boardwalk Empire, but that's definitely what I'd choose here. Ultimately a kind of vacuous and conventional show despite the many bursts of brilliance (S4 most notably). After Vinyl, I wonder if Terence Winter is capable of making a truly great series.

Though Breaking Bad's ending isn't terribly cheery, and certainly much darker than Mad Men's, I'd say it's actually pretty damn optimistic compared to most prestige dramas. It's basically a happy ending for Walt, I mean, as happy as could've realistically happened in those circumstances.

Agreed. For example, I loved the show the first time through but actually found S4 a little disappointing considering its reputation. Only on re-watches could I truly appreciate the dizzying complexity of the writing and structure there, the perfect meeting of form and content. Also, maybe I'm just slow but on first…

Most intense episode since Until You're Blue? (Which coincidentally saw the definite destruction of the Talbot marriage, with Teddy literally "cornering" Tawney while berating her). In any case, this was spectacular. I don't agree though that everything between Season 2 and now has been "just a TV show," or whatever,…

Eh, this was a good episode and it was wondeful to see Chappelle commanding a big TV show again. But I'd hardly rate it an A. More like a B at best. The cold open was lovely and moving, and Chappelle's monologue was terrific, but the other highlights were scattered pretty thin throughout. Stuff like the Walking Dead…

Update: Having seen Season 2 three times now, I'm inclined to be gentler on it than in my earlier post. It may be the weakest of the first three seasons, but it's still superb, with some of the best episodes: if it's messy, it's in an endearing way that ensures we get a lot of good stuff out of that longer season…

I understand your comment about the show abandoning the dreamlike, ethereal atmosphere of its earlier episodes. But I just re-watched the first three seasons quite recently and it seems like each season has been a little more grounded and less dreamlike than the last. If S1 ends up my personal favorite it may partly…

Ha, I watched After Hours, that episode of Mad Men and this episode all within a few months of each other and I thought it was strange, too.

Valium. Mmm… Valium.

Not that it excuses some of the shit he said, but I agree that reading this in text robs it of its tone. Dave's become kind of a professional contrarian in recent years, and it's almost as if his goal is to make people see things differently by making these odd yet sensible leaps of logic. Needless to say he didn't…

Wow, didn't know about the details of the Tate case. Fucked up. Thing is, he was only 12 at the time of the crime and he did end up getting reduced to probation. I'm not sure I'd disagree with that. While he wasn't the total innocent Dave characterized him as, I don't think life in prison (or some similarly long…

The Illuminati comment was a joke. Tone of voice changes a lot and it makes a difference that we're not privy to that. Still, it doesn't excuse all the other garbage he said.

Dave's stand up has been like this for a while. Since he quit the show, even, but increasingly so in the past ~5 years. He just gets up there, chain-smokes, and riffs on whatever comes into his head. I'm not surprised that he would say these things because he's been increasingly contrarian in recent years. There's a…