I love that Daisy and Ivy are now friends.  I guess recognizing that they both are constantly ignored by their objects of affection can really bring two feuding girls together.

It would be more interesting, but remember: baby steps.  It took Edith two or three full episodes to decide to ignore her father's commands and begin writing that article.  Leaping headlong into a scandalous and very public life of sin would be a huge jump for her character.

She doesn't even have to literally live in sin.  Just a casual "I have to run off to London to talk — mwahaha — with my editor," and then she's off to have a lovely affair.

Exactly.  I understand her not liking the series on a personal level, she's welcome to her own opinion, but as a critic, hating the very fundamentals of the show might make it a little impossible to give a remotely fair assessment of each episode.  She will always be looking for this show to be something it has never…

Good points.  There were a lot of feeble plots in S2 and there were some really good ones in S3.  But I think overall there was a sense of purpose in S2, what with the war and everything, that was missing in S3.  S3 had a lot of little plots that emerged and were resolved within an episode or two, but there were few…

Was the time wasted?  Who cares if we never see these guys again; they've accomplished what they were meant to do: show Robert where he was destined to go if he had not modernized Downton.  Yes, the episode could have spent less time with them and still made the same point, but I think any time spent opening Robert's…

Mentioning his race isn't necessary to establish the fact that he's lived a life of privilege.  There is no difference in inherent privilege level between a "white guy" versus a nondescript "guy" when all we're talking about are life circumstances that have happened since he discovered he was inheriting an estate.…

Hmmm.  Perhaps it isn't impossible per se.  But I definitely didn't think it was that likely, considering their conversation would have centered around the money and his father's request in return.

I agree.  Sure, this season is not as good as previous ones have been, and I would never expect a perfect A+++ "This is the best thing ever" kind of bias, but some objective understanding of what this series is meant to be and whether or not it accomplishes that would be nice.  I wonder exactly what the reviewer…

I will say that some traveling salesman must have been out selling everyone love potions, because it felt like there were quite a few out-of-character flings happening.  Some new maid we've never seen and a still-grieving Branson?  Mrs. Patmore and a guy who spoke so incomprehensibly that I could barely understand a…

I will say that when all the men were out hunting, I half-expected him to die in a tragic shooting accident.  I was having horrible visions of them pinning it all on Bates somehow, so in comparison to that potential method of offing him, death by car accident turned out to be a relief.

So Clyde is Elementary's equivalent to psych's pineapple?

It would have been a stretch to have Andre be an investment banker not because of his race, but because of the needs of the plot.  The plot called for Andre to be a potential suspect of a drive-by shooting and a murder, not really frequent crimes of the typical investment banker.  Also, I doubt that kind of Andre…

My first gut reaction was to say "he's old enough to be her father!"  Then I realized that no, technically he's not.  Damn you, Lucy Liu, for being immortal and why can't you share your secrets with all the rest of us poor steadily-and-irrevocably-aging women?

She's never had a limp.

I don't really agree with what you've said except for one point:

This is where the procedural nature of shows like this backfires.  These shows are so episodic that you know as soon as a new character is introduced that they'll either be a) the culprit, or b) suspected culprit who turns into a victim instead (if they want to throw a red herring out there).

@Scrawler2:disqus  and @LurkyMcLurkerson:disqus : Exactly.  Remember when Bates returns and "greets" Thomas by saying his first name.  Thomas corrects him, "It's Mr. Barrow now" or something along those lines.  Because he is a valet now, he is supposed to be addressed as "Mr" something or other, whereas when he was…

The surgery just came out of nowhere.  I admit I hated that part of the episode where they were discussing it over tea.  There were no foreshadowings of "Mary has to go to London again?" and there was no mention of any kind of recovery time.  I think there was one tiny reference in which another character asks Mary if…

@avclub-d7f43e1fb2d4977c86163d9b0cb07814:disqus : "But I definitely think that he was already in the trap before he realized who had set it and that, by then, he didn't have enough power left in the situation to play *any* cards."