The thing with Shandy is that Keeley actually was right that she saw some talent in her, but also, she was obviously really rough and would need some mentorship and guidance to harness and focus that talent. I don’t think we ever really got that. It was just “Okay, do your thing,” and with Shandy being so wild and…

Yeah, I think that was intentional on the writers’ part, with the “his dad would have been proud."

I guessed rehab, especially since he looked cleaned-up. I didn’t think prison would be nearly as nice, and there's too wide a range of ages there for it to be some kind of nursing home.

Random aside, is anyone else having trouble consistently loading the comments? They fail to load a ton of the time for me, on either mobile or desktop, between all the ads that get stuffed in at the bottom on mobile, and the way on both that as soon as you approach the end of an article the perpetual rolling feed they…

Roy seemed to have some thoughts of his own on a twisted MILF arc, haha.

I feel like this would work better, then, if we saw Nate putting in more effort to change. As written, it kinda feels like Jade took an interest in him and that just brought back the old Nate. We really didn’t see him do much to try to improve himself or make amends until these last couple of episodes.

Oh, two other really funny moments:

Yeah, agreed. Keeley’s story has kept her away from the rest of the cast unnecessarily, they didn’t even really much explore her growth as a boss and learning how to run a business, and really the most notable part of that storyline is that she had a fling with her funder which ended badly. I think she’s been the…

Yeah, I think I do agree with that final paragraph. Especially in terms of throwing in every idea they had, some of the stories earlier in the season (I'm thinking of Shandy and Zava most specifically) now in hindsight feel like they were detours that didn't really add much other than putting off other developments.

Your point about letting the audience connect the dots is a good one, although I find it to be a mixed bag in its execution. Sometimes it works, but other times I feel like the scenes that are left out could have been really satisfying or engaging if they were included. I don't mind connecting the dots a little, but--…

I guess his two friends (Bug and the other guy whose name I can't remember, since it's not "Bug") pulling out the flasks right before they cut to him was a subtle hint.

The length doesn’t matter if it all feels essential. The problem is that a lot of the time I feel like these longer episodes could stand to be trimmed down and we wouldn’t really lose anything, and also that somehow despite the length they still skip out on scenes I’d consider important to the story. (As someone else…

I mean, that was a great scene, but it was one scene in an episode that ran for one hour and nine minutes.

Oh, yeah, the Keeley hotel video was great, and called back to one of my favorite episodes. I really loved how they used the callback in that same season 1 episode too, when the team is deciding where to go out after they beat Everton.

Being an asshole about someone’s opinion of a TV show and using ableist language to do it is certainly a choice. Doubling down on that is certainly a choice, too.

Oh, and in one of my favorite Jamie moments, I did love his little dickhead smirk he gives when he re-enters the game and the crowd starts booing him again— even more than the “come on” type gesturing afterward.

You’re welcome, and thanks for reading, and for the kind words. I agree there isn’t enough real in-depth, quality analysis of TV storytelling these days. So I try to share it when I find it (or just write it myself). But, yes, I have a lot of the same problems with Schur’s shows, and things like the protagonist-based…

I thought there was a chance Roy and Keeley were going to bang on Jamie’s childhood bed.

One other thing I’ll add that’s a separate thought— rewatching some of the first two seasons, I’ve come to notice more callbacks I didn’t before. The opening to this episode was definitely a reflection / re-creation of the opening scene of the season 2 finale, after the story about Ted’s panic attack runs.

First thoughts, I feel this rating is about right. We got lots of moments that feel like the show at its best, but some parts still felt half-baked. Either dragged out too long without being explicated, or not really being developed or shown in the first place. The important moments all landed, though. I just felt…