There wasn't enough time to talk about each episode specifically, so we just focused on the themes of the season instead, with a few specific plot questions.

I read four Tom Clancy novels because my dad was a huge fan, and I like talking about books with my dad. Thankfully, with time and mutual respect, we've found a way to put this behind us. (The Hunt For Red October, Without Remorse, Patriot Games, and The Sum Of All Fears; some of the pulpier elements were fun, but…

I think Walt got the ricin for himself. He's going on a suicide run.

Mike would've been a better example than Gus, but he's still a criminal whose killed multiple people on the show, which makes him fair game; he's also not been part of the main group since the beginning. His death wasn't shocking. (That he died by Walt's temper tantrum was kind of a surprise, although I liked how…

For one brief moment, our hands touched across the vastness of the evening sky—only to be once more torn asunder when you whispered, "He was a CELEBRITY LAWYER for fuck's sake."

That isn't what I was saying, but okay!

Sigh.

I was definitely not saying that it was strange it took Pynchon longer to write a long novel than it took him to write a short one; just that, you never know when, or even if, he'll have a new book coming out.

I was actually a little disappointed in Inherent Vice the first time I read it (although I gave it an A when I reviewed it, because Pynchon), but it held up even better the second time through. And while I agree that Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon are still his masterpieces, it was just cool to get something new…

Oh do hush. Like me, dislike me, whatever, but "Do Not Feed The Trolls" is the kind of self-defeating absurdity we need to end. Because trolls don't go away, and I'm not replying at what's-his-face to make him feel like he's won something. I'm replying to so that people can laugh at the stupidity, and to show…

I am so hot for you right now that I'm asking some serious questions about my lifestyle choices. NEG ME AGAIN, BABY.

Oh my god, I can't believe—okay, everybody, we all need to be cool about this. We need to stay focused here. Mistakes happen, and sometimes, this sort of thing, well, these women, with their fingers and their typing and their, hahahahah, "opinions" that they express in "well-reasoned, compellingly written reviews,"…

"Huh. Shark blew up."

It's not a realistic show. I can completely understand if that bothers people enough to put them off watching it, but it's also not an effective criticism, because it's so clearly a choice Fuller and his team are making. This isn't a procedural. It's something else, and while it's certainly possible that the writers…

I had a similar experience with "Entree"—I'd been watching the show from the beginning, and enjoying it, but the realization that Fuller and his writers were lifting bits from Silence Of The Lambs felt like a cop-out. And then he manages to turn the whole thing on its head beautifully. Impressed the hell out of me.…

I agree that this is a fascinating, powerful theme. I don't agree at all that this is what's represented in the show.

Yes, but it's still entirely possible that Junior will end up with a tumor in the TV show version. And it's just being polite, y'know?

Would you mind throwing a spoiler tag up there? We don't know how the show is going to go, and some folks might want to read the book at some point.

Yeah, I wanted to try and get at this better in the review, but obviously didn't—my problem isn't so much that everybody isn't utterly freaked out all the time; it's that we jumped from "Dome" to "We're being patient" without any "HOLY SHIT THAT'S A DOME" phase. I can completely accept people wanting to ignore an…

You could see what I did from space. Martians are shaking their tentacles at me, saying (in their clicking, vomit language), "Bit obvious, isn't it?"