It's a little surprising that a careful guy like Nucky would take in his brother's kid as protege, particularly considering the volatile history Nucky has with Eli and how insane Eli went after finding out Will left school.

Not sure if it's a problem of lack of hope, it's making that state of being interesting. That's ever been the problem with TWD, since there's no overarching goal anymore, i.e. find a cure. It's simply a show about survival and the showrunners haven't always been great about bringing that idea across in a compelling…

Tonight was OK, but like Zack suggested the plague thing is too nebulous to be interesting as of yet. Nor is there a connection to any of these new characters getting offed. And I should be getting used to it but I'm sick of the heavy handedness of arcs like Rick trying to be a farmer, putting on his squirrely 'I'm…

Best bit of the show that was..Michonne getting character development is a good thing.

Hee hee…reference.

Nice review..Moretz is a good actress but you cannot have a 'ugly-pretty' girl doing 'Carrie.' And that's for starters. Like A.A. says, Spacek had that fey quality that made you believe she was an outcast. Plus nobody can recreate the ostentatiousness of DePalma's stuff and look anything but ordinary doing it. One of…

Thought that had a purpose, maybe to show a different kind of zombie threat with this disease.

I kind of roll with the zombies having skulls like tissue paper and teeth like adamantium steel.

I actually like Margaret for being the only one to call Nucky out on his bullshit. Don't exact miss her on an ep-to-ep presence, but her being able to see thru Nucky always endeared her to me.

It was a good episode as TWD premiers always seem to be. As long-time viewers know, however, the lulls between action-oriented eps are when the problems arise. I'm trying to remain optimistic even though I felt TWD fucked the dog on the shoulda-been-foolproof Gov plotline. I even liked a character moment last night…

Animating The Simpsons makes up 22 percent of North Korea's GNP. (Have no idea if this joke makes sense, but I'm rolling with it)

Maybe looking for that other "p-word" that's gets used to death to criticize AV Club reviews? That old but goody known as "pretentious."

I wouldn't put the finale in my top five BB eps, but it was hardly upbeat. A doomed man's farewell tour to see all he's destroyed.

The finale's certainly going to get dinged for letting Walt go out badass, but I agree with you. Walt dies alone in infamy, despised by his family, and even the money that gets to his family will not be credited to him. I'm fine w/ giving Walt a little something in terms of choosing how he dies. That's his *only*…

It's a shame about Lydia and Todd b/c I felt Lydia was really warming to Todd's affections. There was a spark there, is what I mean to say.

It's not like everything's rainbows and happy time for the living characters, though. Jesse is going to have PTSD, Skylar's life is ruined, as is Marie's. Walt being able to outwit everyone one more time was a great way for the show to go out.

Right, it's not like there were any surprises left. Things played out as they should have. Execution was very good.

Nothing wrong with predictability when it's well done and delivers this kind of catharsis. Was this a great finale? I don't know, but Walt's road of redemption was pretty damn satisfying. And i for one did not expect how it went w/ Gretchen and Ellliot, so there's that.

that's my takeaway…awful terribleness for everyone, even w/o Walt's poisonous influence.

Worse fate, Jesse or Walt?