Also Mad Men this year was the best it had been in year

I just started watching this show this week and even though this isn't particularly recent I had to come to say how brilliant this episode was. Anyone like me who thought the pilot was absolutely terrible and debated whether to continue, do yourself a favour and… continue.

I think it's all relative. If something is pulpy and a bit silly but really good at that, I don't see why it should get the same grades as something more serious and complex. To put the latter on a pedestal (or put the more pulpy or 'genre' works over the more 'literary') is just intellectual snobbery in my mind.

I agree with your assessment that the second half of season 2 was weaker, but by contrast I thought the first half of season 1 was the show at its weakest and where it took itself far too seriously. (In particular the 'banned' episode was really on-the-nose and dumb). It didn't really click with me until the…

Eh, I don't really get the big deal with The Shield. I sort of gave up towards the end of season 4. All the characters are just so *boring*, save perhaps CCH Pounder and more recently, Glenn Close. It's the only 'show that everyone says is one of the best shows ever'-type-shows that I really don't see where the…

I agree, I think the second half of the season was not as strong as the first. It seemed to be spinning in its wheels a bit at times, the Verger stuff seemed a bit of a distraction and the Will/Hannibal/Jack stuff pushed the believability a bit too far for me (I mean, relatively, this is Hannibal after all), and I…

Since Will will survive (Fuller's said so), narratively Abigail has to die, so that his punishment of Will not leaving with him still, you know, works.

I maintain that that would've been an AMAZING ending. I'm glad it's getting renewed and I'm sure it'll be awesome, but I don't think an eventual series finale would be so gutsy and effective.

Meh, but we saw Hannibal go to her house to kill her, unaware she had skipped town, in episode 4. I think her coming over to his side is something that happened in the interim between then and her return, or possibly something that happened around episode 12, when she came back. Who knows.

I think SW is a great album, but definitely the really obvious starting point in terms of seeing what was wrong with later albums. Long albums trying to full up as much of a CD runtime as is possible, polished and largely unadventurous production, relying on over-processed layered vocals and songs with a far more…

They forgot the one in Revenge, where at the sabotaged launch party someone completely random happened to ask the exact question that caused the app to respond that she should go on vacation to the country her family were slaughtered in.

Yes, her daughter is clearly a decent singer for a 13 year-old and has potential, just not sure of her stylings at the moment (I preferred her contributions on Night of Hunters and Midwinter Graces, for what that's worth).

Nice review - one of the most positive ones I've read out there.

Am I the only one who bursts out laughing whenever Meredith says anything?

Indeed, I'm convinced there were behind-the-scenes reasons for his not returning considering plenty of people who played an even more minor role than him, as you say, did return at least once.

This show has made me cry more than any other, (though it's still probably only about 8 times).

Really? I think it's way too flawed for that. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but there are plenty of issues with forgotten, half-resolved or dumb storylines even outside of season 2. The emotion is always there, but the narrative doesn't have the same attention to detail as The Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood, Breaking Bad,…

It's weird - despite his bad storylines, Riggins was the the only character that really improved in season 2, I didn't care for him at all in season 1, really.

I don't think so. There's plenty of men who would identify as gay who have had sex with women at some point in their lives (and plenty of men who have had some form of sex with men but would identify as straight). To be fair though, I'd probably consider Nolan from Revenge and Frank from HoC 'real' bisexuals but it's…

Pretty sure he identifies as gay, or did I forget something?