I initially missed this episode, but I'm shocked that everyone missed the seemingly deliberate parallels with Live Free or Die Hard. In that film, Olyphant plays the master hacker who has to spar with a goofy, tech-unsavvy cop; here, Olyphant is the cop. They re-used elements like a hacker living in his grandmother's…

This episode kind of seemed like a step down from the previous three, more of a way to resolve the Clarissa plotline than advance the other, more important plots. But wow, apparently next week will have some crazy wedding action, even though the finale is a few weeks off.

I'm firmly in the "Mujaheddin and Taliban are not the same thing" camp, but that said I wouldn't characterize the conflict as a strictly black and white, "freedom-loving Afghans vs. Russians" thing. The Saur Revolution that installed the Communist regime was home-grown. I'm sure that a fair number of the officials and…

Well maybe the Farsi speaking factions didn't get weapons because their guys in the US were shot to death by Phil…

It kind of seemed like a post-90s McMansion like you'd see out in Fairfax county or beyond, not the really denser, smaller houses you'd see in Falls Church. But it might've just been the angle, I dunno.

Eh, I don't know about that. The Nazis allowed the Vichy French government to pretty much handle their own affairs in the South of France until 1942. They didn't even have significant numbers of soldiers in French North Africa.

I saw "The Lives of Others," and had mixed feelings. The unflinching depiction of the East German surveillance state was very good, and the plot was tight and compelling. It's a country that's only a generation removed from us, but that many people even in Germany have little understanding of, so the film is valuable…

For the Reign blurb, Mary/Francis is a romance between two Renaissance-era monarchs, whereas Mary/Frances would be some sort of unattested lesbian relationship.

Ah. I thought it was some sort of assault rifle, which is why I was confused when he reloaded after relatively small number of shots.

Speaking of incompetence, was that Darryl Crowe's entire plan to get money back from Boyd? Go to his bar, ask nicely, get paid? Because that seems like a poor plan to me.

I'm thinking Mara put him up to it.

I kind of wish Michelle had been able to do better in the last couple of categories, to turn her strong victory into an absolutely crushing one. Also her FJ answer (Australia) was pretty weak for anyone well informed on monarchy.

Maybe it's the whisky and sleep deprivation, but that was an incredibly satisfying episode. Lots of "plot of the week" goodness, but also a fine job of introducing new characters and overarching plots for the season as a whole.

Yeah I'll probably just keep getting the episodes on Amazon or whatever and watch them after work.

Yeah I also caught up last month, and am pretty excited to finally watch it week by week. Only I sadly can't watch it live, because it airs at 10 and I have work at 11.

That's the case here in Fairfax, where 2 high schools (out of the 6 named for historical figures) are named after Confederate generals (Lee and J.E.B. Stuart). Also, Fairfax High School is on the corner of Lee Highway, Old Lee Highway and Rebel Run.

I tend to agree with you, but on the other hand, all the stuff in the campaign about Napier being an elitist who looks down on common folk like Shelby makes a lot more sense after this episode.

It happened in September. Gretchen left on the 13th, Elisabeth's first show was on the 16th, and Gretchen's afternoon show started on the 30th.

Right, the new blonde on F&F is Elisabeth Hasselbeck. A lot of things got shuffled around recently.

Did that ending seem Holocaust-inspired to anyone else? You had the police dragging away people based on their status, not their actions, while everyone else stands around too afraid and apathetic to say anything.