I blame my sister for wanting to read it so much for whatever reason, and then me needing an easy book to read while travelling. It at least worked out okay in that way.

That moment that the gears were turned to begin being a generic mystery novel, I still held hope, that the horror of her alcoholic blackouts and very much unexplored depression, would form part of that story.

My complaint is that I actually liked the book to begin with too. Despair, mixed with anxiety and alcoholism was seeming like a good basis for a character study, that might have some mystery to it. The rest of the book may as well be any other mystery novel though, but damn I really liked the first third or maybe even…

I remember this being mentioned in the review here of Spring (2014), because it actually had the main character (the man) react very untrusting of the aggressive advances of the female.

People suggesting they want a show of just Bertie and her new boyfriend may have also not thought that through. Okay, so a show of two confident and well-meaning people that find each other and have the occasional uncomfortable moments navigating their works lives…that is not going to amount to much more than some…

Ok yeah if that is how the show has presented itself to you I totally see how frustrating it is.

Gus's side - he is in a tailspin because he thinks his job is now toxic because his boss hates him, and he thinks he has lost his chance at multiple great-looking women through his own ineptness. To me this was all highlighted when he looked into that close-to-empty fridge and realised that whatever he has been doing…

It was totally like an alcoholic saying to themselves, "I'm going to go to a bar and not drink to prove that I can beat this addiction!"
Unfortunately, not everyone can sustain that strength when faced with it.

You could see that innate desire in her speech and body/face, to feel the sense of accomplishment that her fellow addict had to work a full year for. I get it, and I feel for the character, which makes the way it ends with them kissing so heartbreaking.

The two of them don't work in ways TV and movie relationships work, but they are still drawn to each other (possibly a decent part of that is their own insecurities).

Yep ok I kind of cried in fear while watching Mickey and Gus go at it at the end here. I was crushed for Bertie losing her fun day with Mickey, scared that Mickey was spiralling, and frustrated that Gus can't know when to keep his mouth shut.

I made a comment to my sister when we were watching the second episode of this show that "if the best thing the show does is Gus throwing his bluray movies out the car and talking shit about them, then this is still well worth it."
So at that point, I was convinced this show would be a hilarious romp through a…

Yeah I can agree with the idea it is not common to see these pairings in real life, but I don't see any point in the wish fulfillment argument, especially as Rust's wife writes and co-created the show.

Could it still be wish-fulfillment if one of the co-creators and writers is Rust's wife?

If you have 10 minutes, to me his perfect moment was his 'iBrain' story on Comedy Death Ray - https://www.youtube.com/wat…

It was Hayes though, right? That was the best Who Charted all year. Howard and Hayes need to do a podcast together, they had great chemistry.

Just the way he pronounced the name of the podcast entered it into classic territory, and then it got better from there.
Their stories of fucking up parties to bring the other party guests together in hatred was the point where I could not control my laughter.

Yeah this was really the only episode that has suffered from my love of Myles Barlow, especially because that Cult bit on Myles's version was pitch perfect.

I love the insanity of the show at times, but here the show felt disjointed in when it wanted to be crazy.

'Game of Pricks', and on some days that is my favourite song, period.