At least Sharon was able to overcome Michelle's inexplicable insistence that everyone appear in her version of glamor.

Yeah, what was up with THAT? We barely got to see the safe girls' outfits. I was DYING over Detox's gorgeous emerald lip.

My husband and I are on our, I think, 4th rewatch of this, this time with our 11 year old (who loves it) and we're both former theater people. He's Canadian, too, which makes it even closer to home for him. We've been having this discussion throughout this time around, as well as trying to probe why (in his view) the…

This was going to be the week I stopped watching, but as a former dramaturg, I kind of feel I need to watch one more.

This is why I quit the profession. The year I was getting out of drama school, the job everyone wanted was an INTERNSHIP. In BALTIMORE. With a $10K stipend.

Exactly right. It's a show with a lot of love and respect for faith, even as it mocks some of the absurd trappings of religion.

I haven't even watched this yet, but just knowing that my former profession of dramaturgy has finally hit the big time by being included in the title in a major network TV show episode — and that TV show is Smash — makes me feel shriveled and depressed.

You mean like nobody to root for as in The Sopranos or Breaking Bad?

Given the discovery of Russian spies living in the suburban USA just a few years ago, of course it could have been set in a time closer to the present, but I think it's much more dramatic to make them Soviet spies during the Cold War. In addition to giving them more time to have established roots, as FortyTwo points…

I agree, the FBI boss is really irritatingly wooden and obvious. However, I kind of buy it as the way a senior FBI guy would parrot the gung-ho party line during the cold war.

Margo Martindale is such a wonderful character actor. I'm so glad to see her becoming better and better known through these great TV roles. (P.S. yes! I did watch The Riches)

I believe that you and your friends may have been living DESPERATE LIVES!

It didn't bother me so much because obviously the FBI will see right through the OD staging and keep following up, but you're right that they could have started there with the next ep to keep that wonderful button to the episode with the baby on the table.

I might have to open a new account with the login name "Earth-Toney As Fuck."

Yeah, it surprised me too, since COINTELPRO and other anti-radical efforts seemed pretty aware of the potential connections between American radical movements and the Soviets.

I loved the introduction of a member of the American radical movements of the 60s-70s. In 1981, that would not have felt like the ancient history it does today.

one of the most subtle homages to Hamlet, in a show full of brilliant little things like that. so clever.

But that's where she wants to be! Calling the show is the highlight of a production stage manager's life!

And me. Inclined to agree with all this, she brought lots of potential but they did everything possible to destroy it by making her character loathesome.

Having seen only one episode so far, I think this is basically Peep Show for teens. In a good way.