I fully agree. But to qualify that statement — much like what I said in my original post — I believe the onus of culpability lies in Shonda's lap, not Washington's. It's the writing. It'd be like handing the lamest Katy Perry song (take your pick as there are lots to choose from) and giving it to Jessye Norman. She'd…

Yes. That is precisely what was going through my head during this episode.

I'm really surprised by the positive reception this episode is receiving. I hated pretty much every solitary moment of the episode (except when Handsome Spy Man was running through the streets of DC in boxer shorts, cuz, why not? I love gratuitous objectification). I know they wanted us to hate the kidnappers, but I…

Sexual preference is no excuse to not celebrate man ass. I concur! :)

It's pretty much a guaranteed belly laugh from me when I see how excited the gay contingent on here gets with man ass sightings. If only Hannibal were on a cable network… that comments section would explode.

Creative plagiarism is what that writers room is all about. The show sucks, it continues to suck, and the ones who are writing crappy material to which no one EVER laughs keep getting promoted. WHY!?!?!?

You can argue til you're blue in the face about Katy Perry and Britney Spears being talented, and I will argue with you until I'm even bluer in the face that they are indeed talentless hacks with great songwriters and producers and promoters. We can debate the finer points of each example, but my larger point remains…

I guess what I was trying to say is that adding a big name has the potential to shift focus away from the writing. How much better could this season have been had it had less Elsa in it? Focusing too much on a big-name star seems to distract the writers. As does having too large of a cast as we found out this season.

In a world where Kristen Stewart and Heather Graham are accomplished actresses, Andrea Bocelli and Katherine Jenkins are top-selling "opera" singers, Sarah Jessica Parker and Steven Tyler are sex symbols, and Katy Perry and Britney Spears are chart-topping pop "artists", I'd hardly say it's impossible to believe Elsa…

The talent isn't the show's issue; focus on the writing.

I'm so glad this show is over and will be making way for The Americans. It's like subsisting on a diet of Spam and frozen lima beans and then upgrading to prime rib.

Did the actress lose a ton of weight and become a Hollywood waif? She's still very pretty, but I kind of liked with her those 10 extra lbs. She's crazy skinny now.

That's happening all over NYC. Businesses are closing right and left because of all the multimillion dollar condos that Russian and Chinese billionaires use 5 days a year while keeping said condos (and thus the neighborhood) vacant the other 360 days.

My problem is I can't watch this show the way you're recommending. I have my guilty pleasure shows like Celebrity Apprentice or other reality tv trash that I can turn my mind off for, but after Asylum, I know what this show is capable of. These folks are absolutely capable of coherent — nay, excellent — story lines as…

The sheepish "ta da" was the hardest I've laughed at AHS since Asylum. That was amazing.

I think with a little more care, this could have been an excellent season. It just seems like they were writing it as they were going along and had a bunch of random good ideas without any idea how to spin that into 13 episodes of awesomeness.
Point absolutely noted on Elsa. You can pretty much write her character out…

I didn't hate this episode as much as it seemed everyone else did, but there were a number of missed opportunities. When AHS is its best, it's because the writers got all smart and fancy on us. This episode had the opportunity to be an A+ if they had taken the next step, like drawing the parallel between Lobster Boy…

Agreed. Based on your letter grade for the season, I gather I enjoyed the season far more than you, but I'll take tepid enthusiasm.
And how crazy was this story from Pakistan about the Taliban killing 150 people? If nothing else, I greatly appreciate that the show forced me to read up on the relationship between the…

I boldly proclaimed last week that Carrie + Quinn wouldn't happen, but to my credit, I did hedge and said, "watch, I'll be eating my shoe next Sunday."
What goes better on New Balance, brown mustard or horseradish?

It's amazing how Lily Rabe with a little pepper on top makes everything better.