It was interesting to me that the remark came from a birthparent (Scully) when it's usually the adoptee who analogizes him/herself as being thrown out like "trash." Scully is unusually aware of how the child she relinquished might be perceiving his circumstances, which made me admire the character even more.

I hate to break it to the reviewer, but if they want to treat the emotional fallout of Scully & Mulder's relinquishment of their child with any degree of realism, then said child needs to be referenced, to one extent or another, every episode. Because no one gives away their baby and just forgets about them. You think…

As an adoptee I'm obviously extra-sensitive about the issue, but damn this episode was powerful as hell to me. Gillian Anderson's performance was heartbreaking.

This series screamed for ambiguity in its ending, as such life-death mysteries are unanswerable due to their own nature. So yeah, the "meddling kid did it" explanation might be frustrating for some, but we still have no idea what that kid really is— so that's enough ambiguity for me, I was happy with it.

Let's put ourselves in the writer's chair for a sec. Lou shoots Bear, then Bear tackles him and starts to choke him out. Lou is struggling to reach his gun but it's just out of reach. Then Bear gets distracted by the UFO, allowing Lou to get the gun and kill Bear. The UFO isn't really a deus ex machina here, because…

The UFO is symbolic, not literal. Up to this point, it seems to represent death and madness. Maybe a couple more things will be added to the list, depending on if we see it again next week.

If the writers have no real plan for an ending, then they need go with an ending that doesn't try to explain it all. Go for an ending that's cryptic and evocative without really explaining anything. If they try to impose some kind of logic on to all of this after the fact, it's just going to be a mess.

Should add: Didn't think anything could make me feel sympathy for Serge in S1, but Milan sure did the trick.

This is an amazing show. I'm guessing the American audience is largely turned off by the subtitles, which is a shame. This level of art is what all horror stories should aspire to.

I'm starting to see a lot of Livia Soprano in Betty. She's just a joyless person.

In answer to Todd's question: He (or she) is called the Ass-Crack Bandit because by dropping a quarter into the crack, the crack is filled and therefore no longer a crack, i.e., the ass-crack has been "stolen," however temporarily. Hence the "Ass-Crack Bandit."

"…what the viewer is left with is something strange and remarkable, but beyond explanation."

Probably the last time Eddie Murphy was on.

Spoiler: Everyone on the show is already dead. (Spoiler-Spoiler: I don't actually know this for certain, but it seems like the direction they're headed.)

On first watch, I thought Don might have actually brought a gun (not money) to Adam's apartment for the purpose of killing him to ensure his silence. Anyone else get that feeling on first viewing?

It's had a handful of obvious moments in six seasons, but it's not as bad as some of us make it out to be. A lot of stuff that appears obvious only becomes so in hindsight. Plus, the show seems to have an inordinate ratio of very literate fans who really dissect the hell out of each episode for its symbolism and other…

Yeeaah… but he's also kinda-sorta a borderline date rapist in season 1 (keeping in mind, of course, that no one considered "date rape" to be an actual thing then). No one on this show is 100% good or bad, which helps it feel much more emotionally real, imo.

Whoa, what episode were you watching? Joan directed a great deal of racism toward Sheila directly when Paul was not even present. Although it would have been considered subtle by the standards of a character of Joan's age at that time in history, it is still there. (And of course, by today's standards, it wasn't very…

There's no arguing subjective preference— people like what they like. But I believe it can be argued that Mad Men is the more artistically successful show than Breaking Bad. In fact, I'd contend that BB pretty much forsook its artistic aspirations after its second season. For the first two seasons it was right there…