If he lets himself think about emotions, he'll become a less effective killing robot.

To me they were just inspired by that White Widow British lady who might have been behind the Kenya attacks. Makes total sense to me. It's not clever or subtle, but it's timely and appropriate in that sense (rather than Muslim sleeper cells in America, like we so often saw in 24 … that fad is too played out now, I…

Yeah, I was surprised after we got one lingering shot of her that they didn't cut back at least one more time. 24 generally likes to beat you over the head with these things.

Oh god, I remember a lot of shitty things from that season … but that subplot was so shitty I had apparently erased it from my brain. Ugh.

I'm surprised we didn't get a shot of Kate opening up her phone and selecting "Enable 4G Verizon Hotspot" or something.

"and no fire department shows up,"

Hopefully another round of 12, not 24.

She's actually doing a pretty damn good job. Normally the faux-Jack Bauers fall kind of flat, especially in the acting department, but Yvonne Strawhatever has been pretty effective and believable. Especially when she's forced to look pained whil people lecture her about what she missed with her husband every god damn…

I was going to guess the time break will allow Jack to fly back to LA or New York or DC, and they'll finish the season there. I can't think of any other good reason for a giant time gap.

Season 1 is absolutely the best. The terror plot feels so tame compared to these world-altering attacks from Season 2 on, and that helps it stand out for me. And Jack at that point was an actual character, not a robot.

I wish I could erase the memory of Homeland's first season from my brain so I could watch it again completely fresh. That was an incredibly layered, compelling season of TV.

Didn't think of that, good point.

Agreed. A lot of wheel-spinning this season, I think – not advancing the story much because they wanted this big move to happen in episode 11, but weren't sure how to get there without blowing their wad too early.

That sequence with her and the bed – either the episode-opening one when she's found, or Will's vision of it – is so fucking terrifying.

The bailiff murder reconstruction was awful. But so good. The slow shot of Will grabbing and lifting the bailiff, then throwing him right on the antlers was gorgeous – I was expecting them to cut away before impact, and they followed through. It was a really impressive shot.

I would watch that. Sounds more interesting than the movie it actually ended up being.

Yeah, I'm actually not a Wes Anderson fan, and maybe that wasn't the best description of the tone. But it was all I could think of early in the morning. Quippy and not overly-serious.

The early previews made this look like a kind of fun, quippy take on this little-used true story. Like a Wes Anderson WWII film, almost. And then in the last few weeks, all the previews feature this dramatic, swelling music, vague threats of import, high-risk missions, blah blah blah.

Season 7 was insane, stupid fun until the last 5-6 hours, when Tony Almedia officially picked a side and tried to blow up a bomb on the train or whatever (I think the exact point it stopped being good was the bad Tony reveal, when he kills … a government agent of some sort who was a big character that season, don't…

Cool, but I'm more excited for Jeremy Davies' guest role this season. I'm hoping it's just Dickie Bennett dropped straight from Harlan Co. Kentucky to Hannibal Lecter's Maryland office.