Well, it was a Jewish day school, so all of those things were considered equally bad. ;)

I went to a religious day school where we were banned from spending classtime on making or passing out Valentines because of their Christian/pagan/secular influence. The popular kids still passed them around anyway.

I went to a religious day school where we were banned from spending classtime on making or passing out Valentines because of their Christian/pagan/secular influence. The popular kids still passed them around anyway.

I'll give you that Mal's the O'Brien of the Browncoats, but Wash is clearly the O'Brien of Serenity: the normal guy of the crew, devoted to his wife, not the leader, practical, savant-like in his abilities at his preferred job, and (SPOILERS) ends up being tortured a lot. Mal's more like Kira: highly devoted to the…

I'll give you that Mal's the O'Brien of the Browncoats, but Wash is clearly the O'Brien of Serenity: the normal guy of the crew, devoted to his wife, not the leader, practical, savant-like in his abilities at his preferred job, and (SPOILERS) ends up being tortured a lot. Mal's more like Kira: highly devoted to the…

@avclub-1b1f9a3e639ecc53f335314fc9d8403b:disqus Since I grew up in New Jersey, my experience vis-a-vis the rest of America is skewed. And ridden with trash. 
I just grew up thinking everyone saw him for being a lame failure, like he seemed in the press. Apparently not.

@avclub-1b1f9a3e639ecc53f335314fc9d8403b:disqus Since I grew up in New Jersey, my experience vis-a-vis the rest of America is skewed. And ridden with trash. 
I just grew up thinking everyone saw him for being a lame failure, like he seemed in the press. Apparently not.

Interesting. I grew up outside of Atlantic City, and details of his bankruptcies were all over the papers when I was growing up, so until The Apprentice hit it big, I had no idea anyone, anywhere *didn't* think of him as a washed-up, failed businessman.

Interesting. I grew up outside of Atlantic City, and details of his bankruptcies were all over the papers when I was growing up, so until The Apprentice hit it big, I had no idea anyone, anywhere *didn't* think of him as a washed-up, failed businessman.

He's declared bankruptcy twice, and turned Atlantic City into a hellhole. Why anyone pays any attention to him at all is beyond me.

He's declared bankruptcy twice, and turned Atlantic City into a hellhole. Why anyone pays any attention to him at all is beyond me.

I know you're not saying this, and I know you don't mean to even imply this, and I don't think this was in the mind of Sorkin, or Josh Charles, or Teri Polo, or Donna in the review, or anyone who likes Dan, but that reasoning is the first step to "her eyes were saying yes." It's not up to the other person to figure…

He's said that this exact thing happened to a friend of his. And thus he put it on national television. Twice.

He's said that this exact thing happened to a friend of his. And thus he put it on national television. Twice.

"People say not to a date for all kinds of reasons that don't necessarily translate to "I do not have, nor will I ever have, any interest on any level for this person.""

Having rewatched last week's episode, agreed. If we just go by what Dan does on screen, he's a mensch. But if we go by what we're told he does, he's a stalker. There's a schizoid aspect to the tone of the episode/courtship, and that creates this dichotomy.

Having rewatched last week's episode, agreed. If we just go by what Dan does on screen, he's a mensch. But if we go by what we're told he does, he's a stalker. There's a schizoid aspect to the tone of the episode/courtship, and that creates this dichotomy.

@WrongSirWrong:disqus He was a straight-A student, president of multiple student groups, very popular with his friends, a bit of a dickhead but not overwhelmingly so for a college sophomore, and could not find his way out of a paper bag without being given very detailed instructions. In thirty years, he'll be running…

@WrongSirWrong:disqus He was a straight-A student, president of multiple student groups, very popular with his friends, a bit of a dickhead but not overwhelmingly so for a college sophomore, and could not find his way out of a paper bag without being given very detailed instructions. In thirty years, he'll be running…

Yeah, exactly. There's an interview with David Finch at Vulture (http://www.vulture.com/2010… where they talk about how Finch was directing the actors to use this subtext, and to get the small details right because they say something about who the characters are.