Well, that was certainly unexpected. It's always a delight when there is a shocking twist that nevertheless is completely logical. So far as I can tell (but the series heavily relies on withholding key information long past the time it should have been revealed,) there was no reason for Silas' defection. If Meyer had…

Disposables are out of period, but that's probably what the director had in mind.

It's always interesting to try to figure out why you made a mistake. Trying to figure out why I didn't notice the chamber pot along with the food tray, I have a vague impression that each time he took a tray away he was leaving for the rest of the night. Skipping over why they seem to be sending food at night, if the…

I have no idea why they didn't just have the goblins haul away both Zoom and Flash, leaving the Flash destroying the magnatar. I don't understand time remnants though and am pleased when they die.

But, they don't want the show to be canceled, so shows almost never have a plan. On the other hand, open-ended serialization means you can arbitrarily reset the show so you can do the same stories again. You know we're going to have a new Flash origin story next season, for instance. And a new Flash/Iris romance. And…

Wait, wait! Now Wally's her brother.
Also, Barry was only sort of her brother, which made it only sort of incest. We can move on with a light heart.

For those of us who haven't read those comic books, seeing the trip to Barry going back to do it right has possibilities.

By the way, Holland March was very much influenced I think by The Thin Man and Topper, especially noticeable if you've read the Hammett and Thorne Smith originals.

The problem with talking about stakes in a superhero comic is that with magic powers, or with magic powers thinly disguised by semi-literate tone deaf nonsense, that there are no problems that can't be magicked away. Which is no stakes at all. And any stuff you make up to do away with the magic powers will inevitably…

Bedlam may put abuse of the mentally ill in the background for color, but it is not an issue, neither for the characters nor for the audience.
And neither is it the topic of this episode. It's hard actually to say what this is really about, which is one reason it isn't really a very good episode, especially since it…

Just like where you missed where I wrote that in the comments. Were you trying to stay awake too?

Suppose we go with that. If none of it literally happened, then the episode is an epiphany, an appearance of a fundamental truth, a psychological event. Vanessa in this episode remembers how she dismissed both Lucifer and Dracula. Why did she forget this in the first place? I could imagine trephining destroying her…

I'm not at all sure that I've ever believed Vanessa Ives was mentally ill, nor am I certain that the show has ever suggested she's mentally ill. If anything they've suggested that Vanessa is there solely because of her sexuality. (Which I think is the larger part of Seward's instant "analysis," too.) Since the show…

I don't think that's what's happening when she kicks their ass by chanting devil speak at them. Sure that directly contradicts what she said a few moments before. That contradiction is one of the reasons I'm not pleased with the episode. My main problem is an hour of Vanessa Ives trapped in a rapey room just seems…

True, but if we are to assume Vanessa's perceptions are unreliable, then the whole episode is unreliable, in all aspects.

If we go down the didn't really happen road, given that hypnosis is the opposite of truth serum, we don't know anything happened, especially including John Clare's presence. After all, John Clare is easily recognizable as the orderly (and vice versa.) I'm not sure this doesn't sacrifice the entire episode.

I have fairly standard expectations for melodrama. The world must be a frightening place for you.

I may have dozed off, Eva Green being tormented doesn't turn me on. I thought he kept taking the food out.

When the bed is moved across the room, there is no honey pot. But it is the heightened melodrama that needs verisimilitude in the trivial details. That is especially true for the trivial details that bear directly on the ostensible issue. Lack of toilet facilities is an issue for the treatment of any prisoner,…

As a statement about the treatment of the mentally ill, this is nonsense. You can have a cell without a toilet but you don't have one where the prisoner doesn't piss and shit. Vanessa Ives is not a real person in in this episode. She is so flagrantly unreal that it is hard to take it as anything but camping it up.