She's always come across, to me at least, as a sort of unsung hero in this show.  Especially near the end.

Well, some men like'm more even. 

Oh the cootch shows you'll see!

I always liked that humanity "destroys magic" by effectively rending the fundamental constituent of existence; the atom.  Mystery, at last, has no place else to hide from the glare of reason.

Interesting take.  I had always suspected it was a weird for weirdness sake fake out, but now that i think about it, a lot of what goes on in this show has to do with lineages and living up to implied destinies.  In a sense, both Justin and Ben are abortive representatives of what they are "destined" to be.  The fetus…

Going through these comments, I'm glad to see this will be the first viewing experience for quite a few people.
I was wondering how others felt about Nick Stahls performance as Ben Hawkins?  I don't remember whether or not it received any critical acclaim at the time, but i always liked the stand-offish and…

*touches nose, hands over a Daniel Webster cigar*

I like this in spite of the fact that it places her forever out of my purview.  Not only is she apropos for the period, but she's genuinely disarming with her looks. 
Were her roustie days as hot for you as they were for me @avclub-7f7e803ee2d1481fd805f34086a52c37:disqus ?

I still always mouth "Of course you are" whenever a woman introduces herself to him.

Adrienne Barbeau in her lean greatest, that brief shower shot still lingers with me.  Also, i'm after your grandmas.

I think we're all forgetting about a little game called Battle of Olympus.

I'd pass up woods porn for this episode.

As a State Park employee I can tell you, without doubt, that Park Police are some of the lowest most power-abusing mother fuckers ever to breathe air.

DJ Roomba AND Elsworth! This episode was cameos galore!

Touche. Though, that was a criminally small dosage of Gary Cole for my taste.

I warned him not to look at her…
Hey, wasn't that the drunk Dan Dority five-pointed for looking at Flora in the Gem saloon, painting Sookies house and threatening to call the law? Yep, that's all i took from this episode.

I know, i was all "How Ruffalow can ya go?" It turned out pretty low.

Yeah, I'm with CM on this one, especially since it came soon after the touching Wizard of Oz/Tin Man moment with Margaret's kids. Nice dichotomy of presence; that, and his character tells a great deal towards the operatic themes the show has been straining to represent.

So sayeth Cookie Monster… SO SAYETH US ALL!

I don't think the goal here was pluralizing child, i think it was making a case that he is now the type who would do such things.