Yeah, it was shocking to me too. It also makes me think that if this is the difference between sitcom Neil and Real World Neil (aka from dumb and clingy and willing to be Kev’s bad guy to actually choking a person because she grabbed his phone), then Real World Kevin must be even worse than we imagine.

Are we supposed to feel sympathy for them, though? Olivia and Paula both suck, Nicole and Mark are equally if not more awful (only because they’re old enough to not be assholes) - only Quinn seems at all sympathetic in that family and he spends all of his time fapping.

I’m not so sure it’s a low self-esteem issue. I think it’s more that Olivia has realized her place in the world - a rich, privileged white girl - and so she’s using Paula to get woke but, as Nicole aptly said at dinner, what she really wants is all the control. So Paula is helpful in that she’s making Olivia look cool…

Yeah, there are definitely enough homages to it in other movies, as well as popular culture references, that I wouldn’t think it weird if a mid-20s guy made a joke about it. 

Agreed. Hell, he may work really hard, but I get the impression that if he has a job, it’s one that he’s been allowed to coast in all his life. Nicole is a hustler; Mark is not. (Which is not to say an unbalanced dynamic isn’t normal or even useful, when it comes to having kids. Someone is going to be the one who has…

That the “dog” speech seems to be the theme of this season makes me think it will all come down to Ted and Jamie’s relationship. (Perhaps also Ted and Sharon’s.)

I really enjoyed the finale, and I thought the glimpses we got into the characters to be really interesting.

I don’t think she has a crush on Paula, necessarily.  But I think she wants absolutely everything that Paula has, and more.  So if Paula hooks up with a guy, Olivia’s going to make a play for him too.

Oh, I would bet money that the 75K for the bracelets came out of the joint checking account, to which Nicole deposits much, much more money than Mark.

My feeling from Paula is that she’s a not-rich person struggling to fit into a rich person’s world.  I’m not exactly sure how she met and befriended Olivia (my guess is that they’re dorm roomies) but stepping into Olivia’s world has her trying to emulate Olivia’s behavior in some ways.  She’s definitely rude to…

Sure, but in the same way as Native Americans are Americans and reservations are subject to most of the same federal and state laws as any other city, native Hawaiians have their own traditions and language.  If you were telling a story that was set alongside or in a reservation, it would be very weird to not spend…

Oh, I’m almost positive Shane has seen Baby Jane. Shane seems to have been raised in that particular style of being his mom’s “little man” and I imagine he watched a lot of older movies with her while he was growing up. That, or a film class in college.

Keeley wanking it to Roy’s retirement video was the best joke of the episode, for me. Especially as it’s set up to be (and another show probably would definitely go this way) a video or photo of Jamie. But no, just fiddling it to your boyfriend showing his emotions.

Phillip used to present the children’s television hours back in the 80s, so my household of Xennials was very happy to see him.

Football is the proper name for the game, but some people do use soccer as sort of a nickname for it? But yeah, they were just trying for alliteration, I guess.

It’s just SO out of left field that it makes it hilarious.  

I think he did it for two reasons: 1) to piss his Dad off and 2) because he thought it would make his star rise for the general public.

I think Nate’s deal is an inability to let go of his former job.  We get the sense in S1 that Nate toiled in that job for many years, and took a great deal of pride in his work, and I think that creates a feeling of ownership.  Now he sees Will come in and do things in a different way, and it’s bugging him, because…

Ah, good call.  Trent Crimm would love it either way - the cynical reporting of a team’s descent into the lower leagues of the Champions League or (and what he secretly wants, I think) the cheerful detailing of Richmond’s rise to the top.  (Though with 8 straight draws it’s going to be a real slow climb to the top.)

One can only hope