Wait a second — the epilogue of "Natural History" featured a diorama of Corporate Marshall (Extinct). So we knew Marshall wasn't going to be a GNB drone forever.

Yes, the miniseries as a whole hews closer to the novel's plots and incidents.

Argh. I have not cared about Pia one whit until this week; her power and commitment to the song completely shocked me. I thought it was Lauren's turn, or maybe Stefano. But for some reason I don't understand, people in my social circle love Lauren. Also the outfit she wore on Wednesday was one of the worst I've…

The Good Wife "on the bubble"?
I'm glad I didn't hear that last night while I was enjoying one of the best episodes of television I've seen this whole season. I would have thrown something at the nearest CBS number-crunching executive.

Not weak — I really think that reversal was quite masterful — and certainly quite funny, but I've been convinced I slightly overrated it grade-wise initially. By my own standards, A episodes should have themes that intersect and come together elegantly or poignantly. The B-story was a well-executed throwaway this…

Only the Captain, clearly grading on a curve, would call Ted "lion-hearted."

Oh, come on. When the Captain said, "And his name is … Ted, I want you to know this …" you're telling me that wasn't hilarious?

Did I write "shoe"? Has it already been fixed in an edit? Help me out — I can't seem to see it.

I think I've been desensitized to aggressive racks by watching Sofia Vergara every week.

Any mention of Pit is immediate time travel back to family game night for me, complete with my straight-arrow dad cheating repeatedly and shamelessly (by trading mixed groups rather than all one commodity).

AlwaysBeenTim is correct.

Phil did try to dissuade Claire from aggressively pursuing her shaming techniques. I imagine that if he said, "I'm trying to get her business," Claire would have marched right over and told Laura off, scotching Phil's chances. Once Claire got the identity, she was not going to cool off and lay low.

The latter.

The comparison with "Natural History" is instructive. The out-of-nowhere seriousness worked very well in that episode. It's not that method of reveal that I object to in "Bad News." It's that our focus as viewers was divided by a production gag, a gag that the characters don't know about, a wink at the audience…

It's the start of a new trilogy, too. Paks is not the major character, but I think that's a good decision — Moon is letting another character travel a road to self-realization.

"Baksheesh"? Sheesh.

Shows I voted for that didn't make it: MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, BETTER OFF TED, CAPRICA, WORK OF ART.

Levar, that is exactly what I thought. I hope one of those guys wheeling in the suit racks was a tailor whose services Barney was also donating.

I knew that had to be a reference to something. Much more fun to hear it from you guys than find it on Google.

I absolutely loved the unreliable narrator stuff, too — absolutely delightful, especially Lily and Barney being relatively befuddled as they acted out Future Ted's mistaken memories.