Her brother got the best non-verbal moment though: subtly parodying the TV cliché of breakfast scenes that are way too short for anyone to eat anything by exasperatedly throwing his hands up as his mother told him to get to the car before he could finish his cereal.

I'm quite surprised by the acclaim this pilot has received - it boasts an intriguing premise, but so far, the performances of Danes and Lewis are the only thing remarkable about it. Additionally:

Not exactly a high point, but Joan's jug of beer being half full while the boys were almost finished with theirs was a clever detail that I doubt many other programmes would think to include.

Joan, Dawn, Shirley, and Caroline standing in a row in Roger's office was a pretty picture as well.

Since y'all are talking about callbacks here, I'd just like to add that the restaurant that Ken, Pete, and Don are meeting in is the same one that Don, Roger, and their respective wives at that time visited back in the second episode of the first series.

This obviously isn't good, but hot damn, if this wasn't one of the most entertaining things I've seen in a while
- I loved the correspondence of the background voices coming out of the TV and what was happening on AHS during the pre-credits sequence: "I imagine you did it with your usual subtlety and tact. You are a…

Spoilers for the rest of this series, at least for the first dash
- Jesus, Erik. You actually start speculating about as tiny a detail as the John Deere logo on Shea Whigham's mug, but you miss out on the one detail that is actually relevant to the story: John Deere is known for fabricating lawnmowers and which…

- I guess, you could say that Margaret's daughter caught quite a harrowing look at her new housemate. Puns aside, that cut from Richard's dream back to reality was outstanting.
- I'm not usually among those complaining about BE's lack of subtlety, but I can't excuse Margaret's overtly explanatory "One more state. Then,…

That was some A+ stuff, seriously
- "You're right. Actually, he didn't say 'Hello', he said I should blow your fucking brains out."
- That Western Union running gag was wonderful, especially when it relieved the enormous tension in the scene of Jimmy returning to his wife.
- Anna Katarina would make a convincing evil…

Boardwalk Empire
You're about as subtle as a kick in the teeth, you know that?

No love on here for Pierce's "And Annie knows a thing or two about guilt."? Seriously, this is the hardest the programme has cracked me up so far.

- According to wiktionary, "the term [cooze] is not documented in the United States before the Second World War", so let's all ring the historical inaccuracy bell on this episode.
- That cut from "Mr Thompson is a very nice man." to said gentleman saying "Are you trying to sass me, you greasy cocksucker?" was obvious…

It would appear that Benioff and Weiss have tried to copy Mad Men's MO of saving money by having characters talk in lifts. The thing is though, if your lift is on the outside of a wall that's 700 feet tall and gives you a view of the whole continent…

I was really distracted during that whole scene because Señor Chang was busy bawling out a phalanx of "Ha. Gay!"s in my brain, so that sudden burst of violence was a surprisingly effective jump scare. Even better than that was the beautiful image of the bloodied naked woman standing next to the Eyes Wide Shut extra…

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that's racist.

Margaery seems to be the most logical aside caster, sure, but the "someone younger and more beautiful" that is referred to being Daenerys, not Margaery, would be a great twist and would also make sense in the plot.

- I don't think anyone has ever said "I like mowing my lawn" with that intensity ever before.
- Well, reading oratory books certainly paid off for Eli Thompson.
- Brilliant visuals, as always. I especially liked the image of Marty treading over pasture with a woman in a light dress on either side of him.

I considered (and still consider) the progamme's first two episodes to be phenomenal, but with this one, I'd call it even worse than the critics' consensus suggests. Besides all the over-the-top violence and spitefulness, the development of Van Alden is majorly disappointing. That awkward dinner scene with his wife…

- The way that scene between Nucky and Margaret turned out was a hugely pleasant surprise and a considerable portion of that is due to my incapability to believe that Steve Buscemi, even in fiction, can have two good-looking sex partners at the same time. Sorry pal.
- Steve Buscemi being told that he "ought to grow a…

I wish we could have witnessed how, one day, either he or Ted just came into the office unshaved and then, how their discordant tufts of facial hair gradually evolved into the glorious moustache that they are now.