The ants were defeated. The season finale ended with an epilogue song and everything, it was very conclusive. I don't think the writers were anticipating renewal.

I really enjoyed BrainDead (the back half in particular was really good, once the show started to realise its potential), but given how conclusive the final episode was, its cancellation isn't too upsetting. I'm happy with it ending there.

It's also quite telling that this was a Matt Selman-produced episode. His are usually the highlights of the recent seasons.

Oh, and seeing as it wasn't mentioned in the review - next week's the first of three "off weeks" for the show, meaning episode 4 won't be airing until October 12.

I'm loving the increased emphasis on more dramatic story elements (and
it's arguably the most coherent the show's been to date with its
long-form narratives since adopting permanent serialisation) - South Park's pretty much a full-fledged dramedy at this point, and it's all the better for it.

It's also worth mentioning that M&T kinda need to recontextualise some things in order for the Garrison story to be… well, a story. The moment they decided that a prominent supporting character would be filling the Donald Trump roll in the show's universe, they ensured the election plot wouldn't be able to function…

Season 23's The Book Job is probably the best episode of the past decade, and definitely the one episode from season 20+ I wholeheartedly consider to be great.

The Maude and Edna bit really pissed me off, and not because I consider deceased characters to be sacred and untouchable or anything, it was just SO ridiculously ill-concieved. Like, how the hell did that even make it past the pitch in the writers' room?

It basically became a serialised dramedy, starting from the 18th season onwards.

Is the spoiler in the headline really necessary? I glimpsed the headline on the main page prior to watching this episode, then spent the entire thing anticipating someone getting shot in the heart, which really took the wind out of that final scene. This isn't the first time a plot point has been spoiled in the…

Banshee never revealed the name of its protagonist.

Don't Closure live in the US? I could've sworn they moved there before First Temple was released.

I'd say Circa Survive's discography is almost perfect, with the exception of Violent Waves… Which isn't bad by any means, but none of the songs are particularly memorable (I've heard it more than a dozen times and can only recall a couple of melodies), and it isn't helped by the fact that Green sounds positively bored…

They tried, but he misheard it as "release another album."

I'm betting right now that the show is ultimately going to become Gamby + Belinda vs. Russell. Gamby is an asshole, but he's still redeemable at this point (much like how Eastbound & Down became a redemption story as it progressed), whereas Russell is already past the point of no return just a few episodes in.

Netflix don't always announce their renewals immediately. Sense8's renewal announcement didn't come until over two months after the first season's release (though they have been intentionally holding off for the 08/08 date there), and there was a four month gap between F is for Family's release and the renewal news.

Gotta say, I love this whole "announce renewal within 12 hours of releasing the new season" approach.

They basically reduced it to one or two per season after that point. I think it's less "being allowed to" and more just the general concern that the viewers might find the blanks too jarring, though. Mad Men had quite a few in its final season, too.

They blurred out the nudity and blanked out all the f-bombs when it actually aired on AMC.

The Sims would be fun for a while, then I'd just get bored and start inviting neighbours over, barricading them in walls and starving them to death then decorating my house with their urns.