I don't remember what we were supposed to think about Burton at the beginning, but yeah, he definitely gives off a bit of an accountant vibe, especially if you don't know anything about him.

Best family therapy session ever!

I've had the same thought about their strategy, yes. I guess we'll see how things go with future shows they'll be bringing out in the next year or two and with the way their current shows develop (well, Strike Back is almost over anyway sadly, but still).

It's honestly been a little too long for me to remember most of the specifics, but I can say that I was definitely glad when they finally buried the Rabbit story (and him) as well as Hood+Carrie (which, with Siobhan's death, I'm really hoping they don't go back to).

Yeah, I don't expect them to kill him off just yet since I think pretty much everybody expects him to face off against Hood at some point.

Yeah, I reached the same conclusion.

Looking at the eight episodes of this season so far, I am less worried about the next season only having 8 episodes than I was when they made the announcement.

I must say I'll be really sad when Burton is gone and am hoping it'll be a while until that point comes. Besides, he deserves to go down in an epic fight against Hood or something like that, not taken out by Rebecca (not that I don't like her character and overall arc so far, but I'm far more intrigued by him). I'm…

Indeed, I really enjoy reading Les' reviews of these eps, very happy that the AV club has put somebody on the job who's not only enthusiastic about the show but actually has interesting things to say about it as well and doesn't just do a dry "recap with a few opinions".

Yeah, just thinking about what kind of amazing episodes and scenes we had in the earlier part of the season and yet they've been mostly overshadowed by the last few episodes in discussions (and my own mind as well, I will admit) makes me realise that the batting average this season is really fucking high overall.

Very much looking forward to the last two episodes, judging from the previews it seems Proctor is finally going to get up to some badassery again.

If you haven't watched them yet, there's quite a bit of backstory in the "Banshee: Origins" webisodes (I'm not 100% sure, but I actually think what they showed of Burton's back story in this episode was from that).

Yeah, it was a rather fun moment I will admit, and despite the things about the show I'm not particularly fond of I'm definitely looking forward to the back half of the season. :-)

Indeed. There isn't really a good way (that I'm aware of) to make cheap sea battles.

I get what you mean about the ex machina thing. To me, the feeling of ex machina in that case came primarily from its rather convenient timing, as you mention yourself. Sure, Boyd did have an influence on the outcome, but if the Mexicans had been less patient with him and just decided to start cutting him up or w/e,…

Sometimes in life, things line up just right for that kind of pun.
'Twould be a crime to waste such an opportunity.

The moment the wife mentioned something about "deeper secrets" and all that, I knew her hubby was [spoiler].

It's been a long time since I saw that episode, but I think the basic setup was roughly like this:

I shall never forget the day they reconstructed sound from a piece of pottery. Dear gods of science, please forgive us…

In Soviet Russia, James Van Der Beeks you?