ABay

Furryfury, I agree with a lot of your post, especially the part about the ridiculous kiss and appreciating the lack of romances on the series. But I wanted to quibble (just a little) with your comment about Reese. Although his time on screen (and Finch's, too) has been shortened for the sake of adding new characters, he's not irrelevant. He's become the glue that holds the group together, imo. He's the one Harold has the closest bond with and has known the longest, he's the one who press-ganged Fusco into what has become his redemption, and he and Shaw understand each other and he's the model she can use in her own redemption arc. Root is the only one he doesn't have a close relationship with, but that will come (preferably without stupid 'shipping). He's also the one who keeps Zoe helping them.

What I've learned about Naples from The Borgias and this show: Don't go there.

That was a very good episode.

Lots of forums have a Small Talk topic, but I didn't see one for POI. So here it is. I'll start: How are you all planning to celebrate the start of the new season? Theme party? Rewatch all previous episodes (I just finished the 3rd season DVDs)? Subscribe to a VPN? Learn Dutch? I expect I'll be having my traditional sangria and finding parallels to Lost in spite of myself.

Now that "Northern Lights" has been revealed by Vigilance/Decima, the Machine could try to recruit more actively. Until it was publicly known to exist, it was a secret people were killed for knowing. That's also part of why Harold only gets numbers; any more information would've alerted Control and co. to the backdoor. Exactly how the Machine would go about convincing useful people to do its bidding, other than saving them via Harold and friends to create goodwill like the Rooters, I'm not sure. But it's a super computer genius so it could probably think of something. When I start thinking about the Machine and Samaritan, I can't help thinking about Hitchhiker's Guide and Deep Thought. Which would make Samaritan the Earth?

It would be nice, but probably too much to hope for, that any nudity be equal opportunity and not just naked women.

Root said the Machine only gives numbers to Harold, rather than talking to him the way it does Root, because that's the relationship Harold wanted and the Machine respects his wishes.

Has anyone bought the DVDs for season 3? I got the Blu-ray/DVD set and have been having trouble with the BR ones freezing my player.

Jason Segel is really annoying.

I don't understand the question. What else could they possibly be implying. That line was not exactly cloaked in subtlety.

Doctor #6 immediately trying to kill Peri is what first endeared him to me. Go with your instincts, honey.

Probably muscle memory from Whose Line. Brandon Johnson can come back any time. The Sklars need to stay away for a while.

TWoP=Television Without Pity.

Future Stephen should've been Future Esteban, in my opinion.

No need to choose--be both!

Yes! I couldn't believe how much he looked like Ainley as the Master! I really enjoyed the episode and love grumpy Doctor and the OTT bickering with Robin didn't bother me. I was hoping for a reference to DaVinci's submarine when Robin and Clara went into the water--the actor playing Robin is Leonardo in Davinci's Demons.

Rick, you may be focusing on the wrong part of the ad... Edited because I had the wrong poster's name. I don't know how that happened.

I think the keys to liking Shaw, if it's ever possible when beginning from the point of hatred, are knowing that Sarah Shahi was really great in Life with Damien Lewis (I try to pretend her USA show didn't exist because...the world would just be better that way) so it's possible for her to do good work, and seeing her character as a distaff revisiting of Reese's character from season 1. I wasn't keen on her at the beginning but I'm used to her now and enjoy some of her one-liners, and her relationship with Lionel. Root is taking a bit longer. I've loathed Amy Acker since Angel, and Root often makes me roll my eyes, but I love that she calls Harold Harry and that she's ruthless in a different way than Reese and Shaw. I still resent the shift away from Reese and Finch, because that's why I watched the show to begin with, and I would've been fine with case-of-the-week for a lot longer. However, I understand that the focus of the first 2 seasons was Reese and Finch building trust and a working relationship, which they achieved at the end of season 2, so things needed to shift. I'm not really sold on the new direction yet, but I've mostly enjoyed the ride so far and will continue to watch, while still hoping for more Harold and Bear and John.

I know, right? It's right in the episode! I didn't like the finale, but I understood what was going on. It was spelled out with unusual clarity right in the damned episode. I do not really understand where the confusion came from. It was floated in the press afterward that the network's use of old footage of the plane debris on the beach during the end credits confused people...but that seems stupid. Although, maybe when combined with how we were taught as viewers over 6 years to not believe a word anyone said because there was no reliable narrator and the repetitive baits and switches, it's a bit understandable.

Haleth, you've reminded me: Thanks to folks here and at TWoP, my life has been enriched by the phrase "Seymour butt necklaces".

Most of the people I know who hated the ending of Lost didn't hate it because it didn't answer the questions, although that's how Lindelof has tried to characterize it. Much as Joss Whedon dismissed fans who didn't like the last season of Buffy by claiming they just couldn't deal with the dark instead of addressing the real problems. Here's my UO of the day: I like Veronica Mars. Sometimes her tone was a little too sharp and I would've liked to have stepped into the room and suggested she dial it back a bit, but I really like the character and wish the show had gone on a few more seasons. My even more UO: If Veronica was male, she wouldn't be criticized as harshly as she is.

Or pick up a copy of We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy. It begins with a chapter on Rivers and her contemporaries, like Phyllis Diller.

Jeez. I thought Hook was supposed to be the scary one.

I'd take expresso back even further (farther?) to "Sugar Shack" from the 1960s: There's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks/And everybody calls it the Sugar Shack/It's just a coffee house and it's made out of wood/Expresso coffee tastes mighty good/That's not the reason why I gotta get back to that Sugar Shack. Jimmy Gilmer, 1963.

Mandy Patinkin and Tom Selleck have become twins. It's probably the facial hair.