I think as good as these episodes are, they suffer a bit for viewers familiar with Whedon's tropes. I remember as this episode aired, when "Smile Time" ended with Wes and Fred getting together, my buddy immediately turned to me and said, "So, which one of them do you think will die next week?"

This always impressed me the most out of a pretty overall-impressive finale. The "should I kill my enemy" or not thing is well-done, but it's not particularly innovative even for children's TV - if a kid has seen superheroes, he's seen this dilemma before (albeit not handled with as much nuance). 
Addressing the fact…

If the Leviathans' plan is what I think it is, it's actually kind of awesome. Think of what we know so far. From the Evil Sandwich episode, we learned two things: 
* The Leviathans don't want humans to know monsters exist. 
* The Leviathans want humans fat, content, and apathetic.

Actually, the current evidence is tending toward the idea that humans are biologically inclined toward religion - that it is in fact an artifact of our neurology, and that if every religion in the world were erased tomorrow, the day after that most people would be busily inventing new invisible people to pray to.

I always assumed he really died when he jumped off the roof. The reveal that happened on the rooftop, where he accidentally kills Sean Penn, is the real reveal of what the game is about. And he really killed his brother. Then he jumps off the roof, and the airbag and everything that happens after is just a happy…

Again, the key idea to me is that Angel =/ Liam O'Badaccent. Liam is a part of him, but no more or less than Angelus is. If you separate the two again (perfect happiness!) then I assume Liam goes back off to Heaven or the ether or wherever.

The big thing is that the division between Angel and Angelus was never as great to the show's writers as it was made out to be by the fans. Especially in the early seasons on Buffy, but to some extent throughout, Angel was never presented as a completely separate being from Angelus. Angel is not just the human soul -…

I really like the conversation about Hell - it does a better job of portraying Angel's weirdly existentialist heroism since anything since "Epiphany."

The treatment of standard Nutty Godlike Aliens feels particularly off on DS9, since one of its more distinct and commendable features is a real effort to examine the implications of such beings really existing.

Uh you do realize you just included a bunch of spoilers for the second episode of the series in there with your review of the first one, right?

I'm pretty sure it was actual physical merging with the other side. People weren't just getting memories from their doppelganger, they were physically merging with them - thus double chromosomes, overlapping eyes and teeth, and Two-Face.

Yep, I've said it in past comment threads, but I'm pretty sure that's where this is going. There is no "Amber Universe." It's the same universe we've been watching since the first episode - it's just that now memories from before the history-rewrite are starting to resurface.

Being vague to avoid specific spoilers, but apart from the pilot, "Captive Pursuit" may actually be the first season episode that, in retrospect, has the most bearing on the events that come to dominate the later seasons. This is really our first glimpse at what some of the people on the other side of the wormhole are…

Does that matter as much now that everyone can cross between universes whenever they want?

My thinking is exactly along the lines of yours. Last season, we saw the Observers wipe Peter out - and we didn't jump to a new universe, we just wound up in the same universe(s), but with Peter revised out of existence.

King actually claims "N." is an homage to Arthur Machen, not Lovecraft.

I'm actually kind of surprised that everyone is so shocked by Dean killing Amy, thinking it makes him unlikeable and whatnot. I mean it does, but it's not new. This has been the show's MO all the way back to the beginning. Remember when they got the actress who played Harmony on Buffy, as an innocent bystander who was…

I think it's a bit more complicated than that. The First isn't just some demon - it is literally made up of all the evil impulses in every living being. It really *is* the Mayor - or at least all the worst parts of the Mayor.

A lot of the secondary cast come back actually, including some pretty big names. Ron Perlman as Clayface, Michael Ironside as Darkseid, probably a bunch more I'm forgetting.

One slight Bill and Ted joke included actually - referring to their evil doubles as the "Monster 'Us'es".