Blakeston

I don't think this was a case of male writers underestimating the horror of rape. Paige didn't freak out because she thought Elizabeth was wrong to defend her with violence. She freaked out because she realized that her mother can kill someone without breaking a sweat, or even being particularly phased by it - and that this clearly wasn't the first time she'd done it. When Paige asked if it was necessary to kill the guy, Elizabeth said yes, and Paige seemed to accept it. I think that's a reasonable question to ask any time you see someone get killed. It doesn't mean that Paige didn't think they were in a terrifying situation.

I've been in this situation, too, as I've had an FBI agent tell me more than he should have, just because we were friends. But he didn't tell me that he suspected that an enemy nation assassinated an extremely high-ranking FBI official - or anything remotely that bombshell-ish. And I can't imagine he'd ever lived under a secret identity for years amongst terrorists. For someone with Stan's background to be blabbing such extraordinary information, it would mean that he's breaking. Speaking of breaking - I think there may be an element of that with Elizabeth. I don't think her killing the guy was as simple as "he had a knife, so her training kicked in." She wouldn't be trained to kill every attacker, no matter what the situation. She'd be trained to assess a threat carefully. In this case, I think she reacted the way she did because she's under extreme stress, and a creep was interested in raping her daughter. That is to say, I think it was more about mother instincts than spy instincts.

Sounds like I missed one of the more memorable scenes of the episode! ;-)

I guess he was right - going back to before the show, when Dan and Amy briefly dated.

I kind of hope they don't go in the obvious direction of having Jonah decide who the next president is.

When it comes to the age issue, corporations will pay more to advertise on shows with young viewers because young people have fewer brand loyalties. By the time people are older, they've decided for the most part which brands they like. You're unlikely to covince a sixty-something consumer, who's been drinking Coke for more than fifty years, to switch to Pepsi. But if you can convince a kid that Pepsi is the coolest soft drink, then that kid could easily be a Pepsi drinker for life.

Jay wasn't given photocopying to do. Claire mentioned that she was about to make copies, and Jay offered to do it, just to prove that he was still useful. And Haley works for a fashion industry douchebag. And she mentioned at one point that she was making money by putting photos of herself on social media, and getting a commission when her followers bought the clothes she was wearing. (It isn't clear if she's still doing that, though.) Those are the only questions I can answer. The thing with Cam dressing like an old-timey farmer so that he'd fit in on a flight to Missouri was ridiculous. It might have worked if the joke was about him having no idea how Missourians actually dress, but it's his freaking home state.

Also strange - that someone who's recently begun coaching a high school football team in California filled with 150-pound players was hired for a coaching position with a major college team. Or just telling Jay that he wasn't double-clicking fast enough. Manny was dumber in that scene than Dylan ever was.

Believe me, you don't have to be a woman to be incredibly annoyed by the noise Henry was making. I think killing the old woman last season was one of the few times Elizabeth genuinely felt remorse. I'm not saying she felt as bad as she should have. But compared to the times when she's killed an innocent person and simply shrugged it off, I thought that one hit her pretty hard.

Did it seem like Bob was joking about hating Thorgy?

Alaska and Sharon are broken up?

I think Frankie is the type to go on spending binges. Last season, Sol and Robert mentioned that she has a tendency to blow huge wads of money whenever she's emotional - like buying some extremely expensive yurt when Coyote went to rehab. I've known rich ultraliberals like Frankie who have no qualms about spending lots of money on themselves, so long as what they're buying doesn't violate their standards when it comes to the environment, fair trade, etc. I could see her spending a whole lot of money on things like art, furniture, organic food, homeopathic stuff, and whatnot.

I don't think anyone is saying that Violet is 100% for sure an alcoholic. But it seems like the direction they're headed in. I say that partially because this is a TV show, and the storyline would be poignant and juicy. And partially because the evidence suggests it. For schlubby Gregory to dump his hot young fiancee just before the wedding, most likely because he feels her drinking and partying has gotten out of control - that says a lot. Her responding by showing up at his place in the middle of the night drunk out of her mind says a lot, too. Plus, we know she has a genetic predisposition for substance abuse. And when Christy asked her about it, she responded in classic addict fashion, by getting offended and then trying to turn it around on her.

I'm not sure how I feel about a storyline about Violet as an alcoholic. On one hand, I think this show is at its best when it's super-dark, and when it deals with alcoholism. And seeing Christy dealing with this news could be pretty interesting. But on the other hand...Violet is just so unbearable.

Wow, they really did a crappy job of making it clear what Marina was doing. It looked like she was just adding the stars to Julia's arm.

I'm not sure why she took it the way she took it. All Sol said was that he fucked up - and that seemed pretty accurate to me. He didn't imply that sleeping with Frankie was his only fuckup, or that it's uncharacteristic of him to fuck up that way.

I don't see Elizabeth's treatment of Paige in this episode as a misstep in handling her, the way that some people do. Paige just didn't get it. She still, after all this, didn't realize that it was crucial to stay in Pastor Tim's life. She thought that taking a day off was no big deal. As her handler, Elizabeth had to get it through to her that she could destroy the family by failing to stick with the plan. I don't think laying down the law like that would promot her to turn her parents in. Now that Paige knows that her parents are Russian spies, there will always be a risk of her blabbing to the authorities. But I can't imagine her choosing to send her parents to jail, and ruin her brother's childhood, unless something really severe happens - like if they kill Pastor Tim and/or Alice.

I've seen every episode of this season and last season, and it's not much clearer to me. They established not that long ago that she didn't have a college degree, so it would make sense for her to be getting her bachelor's - but the most recent episode really made it seem like she was in law school. (Unless she's in an undergraduate class that's just like a law school class, which would just be confusing.) I suspect they're handwaving her lack of a four-year degree so that they can go straight to Christy-in-law-school plots. Maybe we're supposed to believe that she was only a few credits short of a bachelor's degree, and she completed that since she mentioned that she doesn't have a college degree.

One thing irritated me a bit - surely any law school has procedures for letting someone who was in the hospital take a final exam at a later date. I get that Christy wasn't thinking entirely rationally, but you'd think one of the other women would have pointed it out to her. i liked Jill being glad to finally have a chance to do Christy's makeup.

This show has really begun to remind me of The Golden Girls (which is definitely a good thing.) Marjorie is a Dorothy type, Jill's the Blanche, Wendy's the Rose, and Bonnie is such a Sophia.

The USSR didn't have an extradition treaty with the US. Neither does Cuba. I'm not arguing that Cuba would be an ideal place for the KGB to send Martha - just that the USSR isn't their only option.

Couldn't Cuba be an option for Martha, rather than the USSR? (Not that I think she'd exactly blend in there, either.)

I would love it if they revealed that, because I wasn't buying that turnaround for a second. Someone being as over-the-top nasty as the sister isn't going to have a complete change of heart so quickly without some serious prodding.

The main reason someone like Betty hasn't been called overbearing is because people have been too busy calling her far, far worse things. As far as the judging goes, we may not see the entire performances, but I think it's safe to say that no one has ever played two celebrities for Snatch Game before, or given themselves as many extra lines in an acting challenge as Bob did. And both those performances were awesome! Michelle clearly thought they were awesome, too. We didn't see her disagree with Bob's win. She merely cautioned Bob that it's possible to go too far in that direction - which I think is very accurate.

I understood what Michelle meant with her comment about showboating. Bob is obviously great, but the scenery chewing can be a bit much. It's pretty strange to feel that way about a drag queen, being as they're not exactly known for sharing the spotlight. But Bob's shtick can be overbearing (just as Bob herself can be overbearing). I wouldn't say it's a real issue yet, but it could see it becoming one.