I thought the writers had set him up as a cynical expert for hire, which is who you'd expect an Evil Corporation to bring in. But then he turned out to seem nice. Not sure what they were going for there aside from comic relief.

She didn't know what jiujitsu was. And she seemed more spooked by the gun nut than ready to do business. What we've seen of her demonstrates mostly impulsive decision-making, not long games. (long delusions, yes; long-term planning, no)

He doesn't care how he looks, but he does want his children to share in the joy of getting lost in a song. Just a few minutes earlier, he lectured his daughter about being bored.

My favorite moments:
• not-dead Jake praising Russell for his killing skills (mentioned above but worth mentioning again and again)
• "You'll be perfectly safe here in my apartment, Ensign Martin. The screaming next door? Oh, that's just a little torture project I'm working on. But seriously, you can trust me."

I feel the need to point out that even silly Sally was able to stab a man to death….and she did it in high heels.

I like that comparison, and I agree. Don was definitely not deflecting her attention. If he wanted to discourage her, he would have said something parental, like "You're too young to smoke." But I don't think he was seducing her, either. Just playing the game.

Might the photos of Jake in bed be flashbacks? Like, while mourning him Olivia remembers the good times?

I was thinking about how Joan is probably plotting revenge on the juvenile ad men by firing them when she gets the chance, and it occurred to me that Ken was fired for making ethnic slurs against the Irish Catholics at McCann. So we got a view of the other side of that scenario too.

I don't remember the details, but wasn't Michael involved in a blackmail scheme against Cyrus? And that's how he ended up in the sham engagement? (he is a wonderful sad lil puppy, though)

I can't quite remember (and I can't be bothered to go back and watch), but there's more to the threat to Liv than just guilt-by-association. She was kidnapped because of some photos, right?

That's the thing about this show. It's a lot of icing (great jokes) but not much cake. After a few days, when I've forgotten the specifics of the jokes, I'm left with just the story and it doesn't make sense.