The main reason I watch this is for Nico Tortorella… and that interest only started with New Year's Eve, when he started hanging out with a certain someone…

Given this series can be rather violent, does not (poorly) censor "bad" language, and does not shy away from showing straight physical intimacy (this episode being the perfect example of that)…

I though that was one of Jesus' qualities…

I guess because I am South African it never occurred to me that Pres. Obama would be assassinated during his inauguration.

They should of assassinated Pike before he was elected!!!

I look forward to the arrival of Jesus* next week.

After Eric set Taylor up for a beating by the basketball team, Taylor is rightfully unlikely to want to speak to Eric ever again.

I can definitely relate to that Nate scene…

Taylor could be taking the gun to kill himself, or kill Eric, or kill Eric then himself, or…

Your theory on how Taylor got drugged, and that there was no intention on Eric's part to rape Taylor, matches up with what I was thinking.

Taylor's blood was tested several days after the incident, it is unlikely there would still be any trace of the drug in his system.

It is about as real as fiction can get, and it is covering a whole lot of prejudices that still run deep in the USA.

I wonder if both Taylor and Eric will still be alive by the end of the series…

It is (currently) completely irrelevant to the (interesting) main part of this series, and as you wrote, wasting about a quarter-ish of every episode.
Those 5 - 10 minutes could be used to add so much more detail to Taylor, Eric, their families, etcetera.

I wonder if Tony is only back in a cameo capacity, for that little bit of humour (your sister turned me gay), or…

I watched again, it was close but no lip contact was made.

Anyone else seen the "thumbnail", or at least the version used to advertise on iTunes, for this season is some guy (we only see the back of his head / side profile of his face) with his hand on Taylor's throat.

Your *edit* matches up with what I saw…
Their lips were just about to touch, the screen went black, like it does when someone swears, and when the picture returned they were apart…

It is like one person wrote the actual review, which praises the episode as it should, and then someone different rated the episode…

Well that would suck…