This was the worst episode of the series. I’m a hold-out who still claims there are moments of good in a mostly crummy show, but this episode was an F.

I got the Breaking Bad analogue to “Fly.” I thought another one was the Better Call Saul episode where we watch Mike create various devices.

This film reminds me of creative writing workshops, in that it evinces so strongly three of the things you hear most often.

For me, her insistence on clunky puns (“cluns”) is her undoing, and that started with Artpop. “Manicure,” “G.U.Y.,” and now “Babylon” (i.e. “babble on”) and the unforgivable and tragically idiotic “Sine from Heaven,” which does not work as wordplay. When her lyrics went rotten, it was hard for me to pay attention to…

I feel the same way, P.P. I loved the first three releases (counting The Fame Monster, which is her best release period). I love those three, I love electropop, I loved seeing her in concert, and I cannot stand this album. The lyrics suck very badly. There’s not a single hook, as you said. The music is totally toothles…

The marriage decision was explained better by others with more legal knowledge, but the central point was that it made Kim legally immune somehow. The discussion on that episode goes into detail about the specifics of spousal privilege: a legal, logical decision, not an emotional one.

I mean, this being a serialized program, the producers aren’t working with infinite time, but more to the point, the best characters are dynamic, not static. Insofar as this is Kim’s season, a dynamic change in Kim is not only welcome but necessary. Static characters are dull and tertiary, and protagonists of any…

Yeah, I can see that. I posted this elsewhere, but I think we’re supposed to connect the dots with her lower-class upbringing in her accessing a long-stewing righteous indignation against Howard and what he represents (luxury, wealth, ease). I think they could have shown this a bit more, and I wish we would’ve had…

“The truly concerning part is that I’m starting to think that the ‘good causes’ are just a front for Kim to indulge in a penchant for domination and manipulation at the expense of those whom she judges as being worthy of targeting.”

Excellent consideration! I hadn’t thought of that, but as soon as I read it, it rang…

Very well explained and described. I also think we can’t discount the few glimpses of Kim’s past we got, which show her deep sociological drive both to overcome her past and to enact justice, what with her less-than-privileged upbringing and Howard’s continued silver-spoon lifestyle. “It’s only one man’s career”…

Well: It’s got good percussion.

I went into this episode thinking Lalo was definitely going to die, and Kim was maybe going to die, and I love the way the show scolded my crass reductionism (as many other shows, even good shows, require a bodycount in a finale). Instead, my expectations were upended my in a calm, unpredictable, extremely engaging…

Because it’s the right character transformation as determined by propulsive narrative development. It doesn’t have to be “right”—it just has to fit, and it fits. Oh, how it fits! For all of this show’s dynamite shootouts and setpieces, the writers also know and develops the characters extremely well.

Maybe so. I took it similarly to Mike seeing the Sydney Opera House photo. I certainly didn’t understand the significance of that until I read Donna’s synopsis after, i.e. it seemed to be an Easter egg for the eagle-eyed.

Yeah, I hear ya, but you don’t have to die, y’know, to go through hell.

You’re right: The two are simultaneous. However, this is a show that doesn’t really do incidental information. If it’s in there, it’s integral somehow.

The Saul wave to pass was truly laugh-out-loud funny.

Indeed! It was a very Chekhovian element. After Mike a) told Saul no shiny things, then b) produced the shiniest thing, I knew the space blanket would be used again. But I didn’t expect intentionally—I thought it would unwittingly give them away to the last gunman. The way Vince did it was better, needless to say.

In the beginning of the episode, Kim got a piece of mail and seemed crestfallen by it. Does anyone know what this was or what its significance was?

Not only one of the best episodes of this show, but one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever watched. This is one for the record books. I was riveted the whole time.