To me, it felt like it was written in one weekend. The direction and impersonation were great, but the writing really lacked the affection and empathy that has made other episodes so strong.

I'm struggling to think what part of Spalding Gray's Swimming To Cambodia points to him as a white saviour, other than the fact that he is white and went to Cambodia? From what I remember he only does one accent, when he impersonates a white South African in the monologue who he gets stoned with, not a Nigerian man. …

Bill Hader's impersonation was excellent, as was the direction of the episode, but the writing of this satire was incredibly cruel and just downright mean without being particularly funny or clever. It was very disrespectful of a man who was by all counts lovely, vulnerable and intelligent, and incredibly influential…

"The artist formerly known as Don Draper."

I want to give this episode a π

I don't know if I've ever seen a good Ophelia!  But I do remember some good things about Paul Gross's Hamlet.  I just forgot about Ophelia altogether.

Sounds like a great way to get students interested in Shakespeare.

As someone who works in theatre in the UK, I agree completely.  The kind of theatre touted as the "good guy" in this show is extremely conservative. It's conventional, classical, male-centric, Western, hetero-normative and occasionally even seems a little (ack!) boring. Although when it's done well it sings,…

I saw Paul Gross play Hamlet at Stratford when I was 16, and I was kind of a dick about it, saying that Kenneth Brannagh in the film was so much better.  I basically thought of him as the mountie from due south and therefore a hack. But looking back, I think it may have actually been very good and I was just 16 and…

Oh Gee.  You're absolutely wrong.  He brought the country from a surplus into a deficit, and Canada was never in danger of a recession in the same way as the States because of Canada's conservative banking policies that Harper opposed at the time they were implemented.  So tired of the "He's a good economist"…

"Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Roland Barthes should understand this."

I felt perplexed by this too - but then decided that I just want to feel like we've moved on from a time where a homosexual character is symbolic of every homosexual or homosexuality in general.  It's nice to think that a homosexual character can just be an individual with their own individual sexuality that is as…

Wow.  You are weird.

Usually people dislike this show because they recognise themselves in it and don't want to.  I disliked this episode because I didn't recognise anyone, including the characters' themselves.  (And I happen to be a person who writes for a living and has latent OCD.)

I am usually one of the greatest defenders of this show, but I'm baffled by Van der Werff's grade on this one.  I disliked every scene.  There was nothing human here.  It felt like a bad episode of Melrose Place but with a money shot.