Double bass. The sound of the tubas imitating cattle with bone cancer was a constant source of aggravation for every other section who had to practice in the same building.

As a former symphony man, I laughed very, very hard at the scene with the tuba player.

Okay, I'll admit it: I liked season 3. Both because I'm a sucker for IRA plots and because kidnapped baby = less baby screen time. They were really shoving those babies into our faces tonight. Can't Jax find a Dexter-style magical 168-hour-a-week babysitter and reduce their plot importance to a photo in his wallet…

"Insane" is a little harsh, I think. "Mistaken" would seem more appropriate (and you're correct that the death penalty has been struck down for kidnapping alone, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't carry some pretty harsh prison terms). But I wasn't thinking that Marie would even end up going to trial, just that it…

Lube, folks. Works for money and anal.

Should've let her take Holly. Kidnapping's a federal death penalty charge, and AFAIK there's no "the mother's married to a criminal" exception. Might be a nice bargaining chip.

Just to be pedantic (it's certainly not something the show knows anyway), it's a three-volley salute. The fact there are often seven people firing what's therefore a total of 21 bullets makes it easily confused, but there's no requirement there be 7 there. A 21-gun salute is something performed with cannons/artillery,…

Officially shipping Skyler/Lydia hatefuck now.

I'm a bigger fan of Engrenages, translated by the BBC as "Spiral" (though it means "gears"), as far as French shows involving dirty cops go.

Dex gets wheedled into keeping the incriminating stuffed dog. How appropriate if what finally brings him down is that fucking kid.

Please.

I noticed that! (Along with a couple of lines that must've been ADRed out late in production.) CC is fascinating for that sort of thing. FX's scrolling CC (like what you usually get for live programs) is obnoxious, though.

It'd have to be Saul's first dealings with Mike, right? Saul didn't even know who Gus was, except by reputation, when he set Walt up with him.

It also has Michelle Forbes's performance of a lifetime, if you ask me. According to her, the character got so deeply under her skin that she needed to go play a murderous maenad in True Blood to cleanse her soul. (And I will never not have a crush on Laurence Leboeuf.)

I like the cut of your jib, Kumagoro. Maybe we can start a petition, or something.

I had that echo problem last week (on HBO Canada) but it seems better this week.

Don't we all?

Well, if we're going to get clinical about it, real people with antisocial personality disorder ("sociopaths") are impulsive and lack self-control, instead of being the Hannibal Lecter stereotype of the cold, calculating chessmaster. They're superficially charming and manipulative, but usually have a long list of…

Is reviewing both episodes as a unit instead of in separate pieces of the article the new way things will be done? It's not bad, per se, but it's different from the reviews of the first two seasons.

Boyd Crowder would sue for trademark infringement.