You could easily reflect things that are already established in the MCU, though, such as Carter and Stark founding SHIELD.

But as you point out, we the audience get to actually see how Ian is responding to Yevgeny and so the show makes us afraid for him even if the other characters aren't. I think that indicates that the show is concerned for the baby, since it transmits that concern to the audience, and both the show and the characters…

But again, she knew how to run the house-selling con because she'd done it before, totally unrelated to Sheila. And while I'm sympathetic to Sammi, her behavior towards Sheila really was not just normal "stepmom stuff" issues—for one thing, a huge part of their conflict was that Sammi felt entitled to living off of…

She sold Sheila's house and all her furniture for cash, and indicated that it's not the first time she's pulled that con! She is literally a con artist, yo. Like, professionally. IIRC she also broke into Sheila's house after Sheila kicked her out. She hasn't conned the Gallaghers at all as far as I can remember, but…

Well, Sammi unequivocally cons people. Just not the Gallaghers.

It was first thing in the morning when he put the baby on the hood, and they'd been sleeping in the car all night. I too was terrified that he was going to roll right off, though.

Hey girl
Hey girl
Hey girl in the moonlight

It also doesn't help that Mickey is only selectively rational, though. He was the one who accepted the original luggage, when even Ian could tell that they would figure out their mistake eventually and come back for it, and he was the one who wanted to take the drugs in the luggage (and wash it down with beer) without…

Especially with no expectation of reciprocation.

To be fair, its not like teenaged girls have that many sources of freely-given head.

He also played a ordinary human in Secret Window. Well, at least until the last five minutes, when he played a silly accent.

Most rapists are smart enough not to rape their family members and coworkers or discuss the great rape they committed last night around the watercooler or the breakfast table. Also, we generally want to think well of the people we love and/or profit from. It's really easy to be "pretty certain" that someone you know…

Yeah, I'm just saying they aren't jumping directly from her declaring her fidelity to science/her kingdom over romance to her dating Finn. The intimacy of this episode suggests more closeness between her and Finn, and she's obviously trying to grow into someone who can put her duties aside and take some personal time,…

It's more that her interest in chilling out and being a kid with her friend has been rekindled. There was nothing overtly romantic in this episode, it's just that the gulf between them due to their age and maturity levels has gotten a little bit smaller.

It really depends on the porn. I get why straight dudes would be into the fantasy of two girls who don't really seem like they actually want to be screwing each other, because that accesses the fantasy that what they really want is him (or at least, dick in general) and this is a performance they're putting on…

Sure, but "is this the height of obnoxious pop culture wankery?" wasn't the question or the assumption, so you can see why it wasn't really addressed in my comment.

The AV Club isn't pushing Serial, it's responding to existing cultural interest in it. It's an NPR podcast that went to #1 on iTunes before it even debuted. I haven't listened to it, but I've been hearing and reading about it pretty much everywhere that covers pop culture at all, so the AV Club is actually a little…

Autostraddle refers to it as an "alternative lifestyle haircut." Unfortunately and confusingly, it does not always indicate that the hair-owner is a lesbian.

Eight minutes is kind of long for a jumping out of a plane scene, even if you include credits.

Captain America's powers are basically just "good at fighting" and "hard to kill" though. He's not really that much more super than Black Widow is, except he can jump out of more things with fewer parachutes.