Ah, I wasn't sure on that point. (Cool username, by the way.)

My guess is that's a sketch of Clark—the Mr. Eckert look isn't that far off.

Oh, I'm sure that's what's going to happen, especially since William let slip that the agents he worked with were married. That's not what I meant about the William-gets-captured storyline getting dropped. Let's go back to "Persona Non Grata" and look at it from the Gabriel/Elizabeth/Philip perspective. They know…

If it turns out I'm right, I'm fine with it if they don't drag it out too long. My belief is that every artist (especially every storyteller) is allowed one trick (see, for example, Breaking Bad).

Let me shade that in a bit. To my mind, the best season so far has been 2, where there was a shocking event at the beginning that reverberated all through the season and then paid off at the end. Since then, there have been storylines that have yuge potential for drama that just die out: Nina, Kimmie, Pastor Tim's…

The previews for next week hinted at that, which would resolve this one way or the other—also the possibility that Oleg's story will tie back into Stan's, keeping him from exile in Ninaville.

Thanks on that last point, I hadn't had a chance to go back to earlier episodes. As I said below, if I'm wrong it will be revealed quickly, possibly when we find out what the Eckert mission is; if they're misdirecting the Js will need to keep misdirecting.

Agreed. I hope I'm wrong about this, because my biggest problem with The Americans is its continual refusal to advance its storylines. I really don't want to be sitting around for several episodes just waiting for the reveal of something I already know. If I'm wrong, (KGB voice) the information will be revealed. .…

I was thinking that, except that pretty clearly looks like blood when Philip cuts out a William sample. (I want to make a Williams-Sonoma joke here but it's not happening.) Also, do you embalm someone who died from a massively contagious disease? (Really, I'm asking.)

All this sounds good except 3: I'm pretty sure William's body would be a lot more decayed after six weeks. Any forensic experts around who can answer this?

In honor of Buffy week: I've got a theory.

"Why do you always have to take the hard road?"
"You think I see two roads."

Somewhere in her NewsRadio reviews Donna noted that the show didn't just have great characters, it had great pairs of characters, and I suspect that's necessary for any long-running comedy.

The episode is like a perfectly executed Harold—like the Gang took an audience suggestion and improvised an entire one-act play from it.

"The Gang Buys a Boat," "The Nightman Cometh," "Chardee MacDennis: the Game of Games"

"There is no 2017. There is no 2018. There is only 2016, happening over and over again."

See, this is why I didn't want to claim full-CZ status. I don't contribute as much or know the history as well as y'all. I appreciate the welcomes from you, @ogamogat:disqus, and @avclub-7fd1d5cec910c61b1864a51eb7e18cbc:disqus—pretty much from everyone, really.

You've stumbled on the AV Club's longest running, um, community of commenters. It started during Community post-season-three hiatus in that comment section and then just floated from episode to episode until it hung out here. It's a pretty welcoming group—sort by "Newest First" if you want to hang out and chat. …

Most likely said someone heard half of "Everybody Hurts" and decided that was enough to snark the whole album.

The writers on The Shield chose not to give the characters the breadth that we see on The Wire, because no scene appears on The Shield unless it advances the plot: for example, we don't see anything of Danny's job as a security guard until Aceveda goes to see her. The non-Strike Team members of The Shield give some…