I felt weird about them spending so much of the end of the episode on him at the end, as though it was meant to play as a surprise that there's more to Mike than it seems. Did they do that just for the sake of people who didn't watch BB? And even so, didn't those people pick up on that from his hunch about what…

Yeah, she even says "it wasn't a trick, it was a demonstration" i.e. it was a demonstration to Jimmy and Kim.

I saw it the first time around but there are plenty of other things I miss in shows that everyone else on here catches. It's kinda silly to imply someone is stupid for missing a particular detail on a TV show.

Oh sorry I thought you were talking about actual Holland Manners, who shows up for the last couple episodes of season 1 of Angel. You're right that Bernard did not appear in Lost season 1.

Okay, good point.

I think he was going into it prepared that people would be dying. I think her death just confirmed his expectation. Even so, I guess maybe his reaction was too muted, but I think Nicholas Brendon does a great job burying layers of grief and sorrow under that line.

Nicole and Mallory moderate The Toast's comments section like hawks, which is what keeps it awesome there. Devin Faraci tends to do that on Badass Digest threads too - lots of those comments sections are great.

Awesome. Thanks for such an in-depth response! Do you think I'd be able to follow if I just picked up the first book of S10? I guess I could just use Wikipedia to get the broad strokes of S9 that came after the first run of A&F ended.

Plus Xander's "that's my girl" makes me want to sob like a baby.

It wasn't his decision. He even says something like "it's not about what I think. This was Angel's plan."

Holland Manners shows up for the last couple episodes of season 1.

Breaking Bad season 5b as a whole is probably about tied with The Wire s4 as my pick for best drama season of all time, but I'd say the finale of Angel is better than the finale of Breaking Bad. Maybe it's not quite as well-crafted, but it's more dramatically satisfying to me.

I actually think most of the great stuff in "Graduation Day" is in part 1. The actual dispatching of the Mayor is sorta underwhelming, mostly due to terrible CGI and "well Gosh" (because that line turns the character into, ultimately, a joke).

Except that Buffy becomes Quentin Travers because she has no other choice and she's willing to be the asshole no one likes if it means the world gets saved. I guess that's what Quentin Travers thought he was doing but Buffy is a much more effective general than he ever was.

I did like the scene at the beginning of Buffy season 7 where he is 'training' Willow and she remarks that he's going all Dumbledore on her. Dumbledore Giles is best Giles.

Untrue. Watch "The Wish" again. The fact that Buffy has friends, connections, love, is what makes her unique as a slayer. If she didn't have those things, she would be like Faith - troubled, filled with rage, and ultimately a far less effective hero.

Re: Buffy as a 'speciesist', that speaks to different thematic concern between the two shows. I always point to the Angel episode "Sanctuary," where Buffy's solution is to slay the 'demon' (metaphorical) in Faith whereas Angel's solution is to save the human in her. It really speaks to the philosophical differences…

Um… gay men can feel passionate platonic love for women…

I love "Harm's Way," but I dislike what they do with her in "Not Fade Away."

I also just dislike it because the Angel-Cordelia relationship in seasons 1 and 2 was clearly one of sibling-like Platonic affection. For him to suddenly be in love with her put a bad taste in my mouth. I liked them much better as quasi siblings.