"Nora’s letter to Kevin is masterful; “the abandoned ruin of a dead civilization” is devastating."

What a catch-22. If you don't watch it, you didn't give it a chance and inevitably someone will insist it got "super-duper amazing" the second you stopped watching. Watch it through to the finale to see if it improves, and you get criticized for "hate-watching" and slogging through something you hate.

This show, to me, is just proof a lot of people like the idea of prestige dramas better than the actual dramas themselves and will get lost in whatever self-justifying labyrinth of metaphors, clues, and symbolism that allows them to "get it". Some of you could just skip straight to Sepinwall's analysis and save…

I'd consider season 5 (both a and b) as having missteps which is doubly troublesome when considering it's the conclusion.

On the one hand, I'm relieved TV afficionados aren't all unpleasable snobs. On the other hand, that makes me the asshole, here.

Well, that just damaged Lena Dunham's "more 'realistic' bodies on TV" agenda irreparably. How stark the contrast between what you want to want and what you really want is.

Jesus, the directors of this episode had no camera-discipline whatsoever.

So 90 minute TV show run-times is a thing, now?

Agents Of SHIELD's problem isn't the budget.

Unless I find out there's an inspirational behind-the-scenes story about Ryan Murphy letting an AHS fan stricken with terminal scoliosis and a congenital fish-eye lens fetish be a cameraman for a season, there is no goddamn excuse for this camerawork.

There's only so much disbelief I'm willing to suspend in the name of fantasy. I spend all willing suspension of disbelief just hooking up with Lizzy Caplan. Imagining to have made her cum, too, is simply being greedy.

That's a very fair point I considered.

Am I wrong thinking part of the reason I can't get into the show is because it's having trouble establishing a distinct setting?

The only time a twist can salvage previous wasted hours is if it completely recontextualizes those hours making them enjoyable AND the prevailing reaction to them was more akin to confusion than boredom. Considering I was bored by Brody's (any of them) arc, which is not at all affected by the twist, I have to assume…

This episode was such a quantum leap beyond the norm that I fear it only damaged my opinion of this series further.

This is where I tap out. Not because the show is godawful; it has actually gotten better.

I want to like this show. I really do.

Well, the split among fans was fairly predictable.

Wow, AVClub really isn't letting this "we totally mis-predicted the fan reception for Girls" thing go, are you"?

Wow, AVClub really isn't letting this "we totally mis-predicted the fan reception for Girls" thing go, are you"?