That would imply you wouldn't want Corbin to go after Styles right away, yes? Their divergent Mania experiences and AJ's ultimate indie darling status feel like this would be a natural place to go, but I guess then the risk would be of burying Corbin without letting him establish himself?

I'm angry enough at Jericho — who I was previously squarely in "love to hate" mode, because he's just the best as a sociopathic heel — that I almost want to believe this is next-level meta heel heat generation, but nah, he just fucked this one up (or let Vince intercede, which is its own fuckup).

Actually, now that I think about it … how about Baron Corbin? The self-described destroyer of indie darlings going after the ultimate indie darling, *and* he can wave in AJ's face the fact that *he*, an NXT guy, got a Mania moment and Styles didn't. I don't know if a limited-time callup for Corbin would hurt him in…

I'm prepared to push *all* my chips in and say he's going to win the 2017 or 2018 Royal Rumble, because screw it, I only live once. But, uh, my confidence in that may have taken a bit of a hit tonight.

Yeah, I was intrigued to see how Jericho's tactics would change with him having turned heel. And … not much of anything, I guess?

Hi everyone. Nice to see you all. I'd like to talk a little bit about Styles-Jericho, because I need to talk through this with people.

Aw, don't worry Beema. You're already the worst in all the ways that matter.

PAINT. MY. CHICKEN. COOP.

I feel like the day when I worry overmuch about being perceived as a "discerning Arrow reviewer" is the day I throw in the towel.

I think, as a general rule, you don't last long enough to be wrong about as many things as Vince McMahon has if you're not fundamentally right about something pretty major. It takes a really savvy businessman to survive being as clueless as Vince can be for 30+ years.

There were flashbacks in this episode? I feel confident I would have noticed if there were. Surely they just dropped them after that one episode with Constantine?

I mean, he spent several years as a drunken asshole playboy, then spent five years on the island, then spent 4+ years fighting crime. I think it's plausible enough he was only vaguely aware of the movies at the time, then forgot about them when, ya know, everything else happened.

I mean, I suppose they could have punched this point a bit more explicitly, but I think Oliver being a huge hypocrite was kinda what they were going for.

It was fun. I enjoyed it much more than I've enjoyed Arrow lately. I play pretty fast and loose with the grades.

I'm not going to pretend my grading scale is super rigorous or anything, but I think there's plenty of room for Arrow to do a fantastic episode that isn't especially substantial. Maybe there's a ceiling on great villain-of-the-week episodes compared with great masterplot episodes, but I'd say this show really, really…

The grade is *unquestionably* generous. I allow myself one or two "Screw it, I just really enjoyed this" A's every season.

I mean, I wasn't really theorizing — just pointing out that the show appeared to be trying to play up their (not especially existent) chemistry tonight in the way they interacted and the tones they used to talk each other. It could be a misdirect! But it very much felt like a conscious choice on the show's part, and…

I definitely listened to that commentary, so it's possible I internalized that idea as my own. Either way, I stand by it as a good thought, and Fiorentino's disinterest is super obvious either way.

I only wish I could feel as deeply about something as Dan Harmon hates anything.

I'm pretty anti-Dogma these days, but I guess I'll applaud it for someone having a bash at making a Life of Brian-esque film from a religious perspective. The real problem is how badly miscast the leads are — Smith's ideas aren't all *that* brilliant, but Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Alan Rickman can sell the hell out…