That's silly. Her daughter has to be "useful" in order to exist? If she hadn't known, and her daughter had died young, would she have looked back and thought, "Well. That was a waste. Better that she never existed!"

What does "prematurely" mean though? 10? 20? 45? 72?

Nope. The Heptapods aren't saving humanity. Humanity saves them.

Isn't Ian an astrophysist?

Yeah, I loved the serpent-eating-its-own-tail moment. She speaks to him so he speaks to her to make her speak to him. It makes sense since the Chinese also had achieved communication. He might even be on the same path she was on, but slightly more behind.

None that I can remember. Her mother is scared of the aliens and ends the call asking Louise if she's okay.

That would certainly have been much better, though it would have still left me desperately disappointed. There's just something so depressing about the thought that Rory's "destiny" was to move back to Star's Hollow and write about her mother. And then her kid will, what? Live on the depleting Gilmore fortune and…

I loved Emily's story so much. How beautifully it expressed the challenge of moving on when the person/identity that defined you is taken away. I like that they didn't really denigrate her time/role with Richard, just that her life with him dissolved with his death.

You must have missed out on children's museums or science centers. Filled with docents.

This seems nonsensical to me. I mean do you extend this responsibility to non-artists? The ladies of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had only themselves to blame? Coal miners should all just die quickly in mine collapses or from black lung? Who cares if the improperly maintained stamping machine squashes a few…

Totally. It would be like people from Philly parading through Atlanta once a year because of the Civil War.

Yeesh. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch Begins again (for one, I'm so sick of ancient secret societies), but "borderline unwatchable"? That seems a bit hyperbolic.

Aquaman's best friend is going to be a clownfish with a dark past so that question will remain unanswered.

My issue isn't that it's boring so much as it seems so navel-gazy. Rory's destiny was to move back home and write a book about her mother's life? Because, presumably, she's never done anything notable or interesting herself.

Oof. Those were my least favorite things of the episode (give or take how horrible Rory has turned out to be). But yeah, I'd have loved more Emily and Paris and maybe more Lane.

Honestly, at this point, I don't think Rory is worthy of him.

Yeah, I tend to be suspicious of people whose redemptive tales result in them being paid gobs of money in general.

I doubt very many were Satan worshippers but I am fairly certain that plenty were ex-addicts. Or struggle with mental illness. Decades of cuts to government funding have meant that churches are one of the few places you can go for help now unfortunately. My mother was a church secretary and fielded a lot of those…

I'm no fan of Pence, but I'm not sure how you would know if someone "made up" a spiritual/mental experience.

This is "low"? Seems pretty mild, to be honest.