I completely forgot about Rosamund.  Good point.  Hopefully she can upgrade from the weaselly Lord Hepworth or whatever his name was.

I don't think the show can survive without Carson.  He's the snobbiest character on the show.  Without him the clear line between upstairs and downstairs gets lost.

I never thought Sybil had much of a personality beyond "the hot, political one," especially compared to her sisters, who both do some nasty shit over the course of the show.

Elizabeth McGovern has hinted that there will actually be two weddings in season three.  I would imagine Mary's and Edith's.

They actually don't run concurrently.  For example, in 2011 Classic ran from February to May, Mystery ran from July to October, and Contemporary ran in November.  In 2012, we get Dickens on Classic until April and then Sherlock and an Inspector Morse prequel in May.

Nice to see Edith doing something.  I have a soft spot for her and she was underused this season.  And I've always found Sir Anthony inexplicably adorable.

I thought Lane Pryce's dad was Dumbledore?

Touche.  In that case, the name of the genre itself has a stupid, wrong, grammatically abhorrent name.

I think you can't appreciate Tinker Tailor without having read the book or seen the Guinness miniseries, or preferably both.  If you have a handle on the plot, you can much better appreciate the performances, direction, and the like.

You mean "alternative U.S. history," Sean.  Alternate means taking turns.

Mark Rylance is probably the greatest actor of his generation.  How does that qualify him to opine on whether or not William Shakespeare wrote the plays attributed to him?

I feel the need to reiterate that the plot will indeed get more ridiculous, but then it's TOTALLY REDEEMED by the Christmas special.  No idea if/when that's airing on PBS, but I'm serious about total redemption.  It's pretty damn good.

I remember reading that Elizabeth McGovern has been living in the UK for about twenty years—she's married to an English guy and has English kids.  That might explain her weird speech.  I'm no expert but her accent is bound to have changed to something quasi-British-ish.

@avclub-8f09b270dacd2e783d0c25f669670902:disqus  Quintessential example of the need for the serial comma is the following book dedication: "To my parents, Ayn Rand, and God," vs. "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God."

Wait, help me out here.  What possible justification could there be for not including the Oxford comma?

Nope.  Male primogeniture.  Both the title and the money only pass through the male line.  So if Robert dies, it goes to Robert's younger brothers (if he has any), and then Robert's father's oldest brother (i.e. Robert's oldest uncle, and Robert's grandfather's second-oldest son), and then that brother's oldest son…

I would argue that Williams is co-Ivy League, Bowdoin is sub-Williams, and BC is sub-Bowdoin.

I have an aunt who insisted on a female obstetrician when she was pregnant.  I'm not a lawyer and she obviously didn't have hiring or firing power over him, but are there any legal implications to that?

I wish he would take fewer action roles.  He's a remarkably sensitive, expressive actor.  When was the last time he took a gentler role, Kinsey?  I miss that Neeson.  In the past few years he seems like he's been appearing in a huge quantity of highly forgettable movies.

Ah yes.  My bad.  I meant I Shudder.