Slovenly Muse

Ha! I LOVED that! This whole series, I've been a good deal more sympathetic to Mike than other posters seem to be, just because I buy that he actually DOES want to help people and is basically a good person, and always kind of took his blindness to his own narcissism as one of those conceits of the show, that you have to ignore in order to enjoy the story. But this episode made me go, "Oh, nope! They were right! He has always been an irritating shithead!" And I cheered when he resigned, because in the context of him ALWAYS having been awful, this might be the first really good decision he's ever made. And then I cheered even more when he got arrested, because it was so well-deserved, and that is a story with some potential! If it turns out he was arrested for something OTHER than impersonating a lawyer, and The Secret still looms large over the next season (well, half-season, I guess), I will be very disappointed. My theory is that whatever is done to get Mike out of trouble (and/or the investigation into where the trouble came from) will somehow necessitate him staying with the firm (to use their resources to either find out who turned him in, or for protection?), thereby invalidating his decision to resign and resetting the show back to its default. Harvey, of course, will not lose his position, as he will not follow through on his own resignation in order to retain the power to help Mike. All the Forstman stuff will get swept under the rug, or vanish thanks to a miraculous loophole, perhaps to rear its ugly head again in time for the next finale. However the hell they do it, I sure as shit hope that the next goddamn season of this goddamn show will get its goddamn act together and try and remember why we all started goddamn watching it in the first place! Because this season shit the goddamn bed, goddamn it!

I liked Lisa too, and I get how she's not easy to get on board with right away. But that's one of the things I LOVE about this show, is that it does an excellent job of peeling back the layers on all its characters and connecting with their basic humanity. To Nate (and by extension, the audience), Lisa was controlling and paranoid to an unreasonable extent (which made her unlikeable). But the thing is, she's not wrong. This isn't who she is as a person, it's how she's driven to behave in her relationship with Nate, because she can sense that he is only hanging onto her by a thread and that any obstacle, no matter how small, legitimately COULD be the excuse he's looking for to walk out on her. So when the tiniest things make her fly off the handle, it's actually not "psycho" behaviour, but a reaction to the total lack of security she feels in her relationship. Nate and Lisa are in this totally toxic relationship, and it's not because Lisa is a psycho, or Nate is incapable of commitment, but because they are both good, decent, loving people who are fundamentally incompatible: They feed each others' insecurities and bring out the worst in each other. I loved the subtlety of that dynamic and how it grew into the kind of really engaging dysfunction that makes for great television (capped perfectly by the emotional sucker-punch that ended the season), and it wouldn't have been possible if the writers had worried too much about whether or not Lisa was likeable. I think she was just as likeable/unlikeable as Nate, it's just that she got the majority of the blame due to Nate being the main character/audience proxy. All the characters were deeply flawed, but ultimately human, sympathetic and likeable... except Rico of course. Shut up, Rico. Other unpopular opinions, hmmm... I know Claire's art school shenanigans get a lot of side-eye, but I like them. In terms of coming-of-age tales and the rocky road to adulthood, art school was a good choice. Art is subjective, and it's nearly impossible to set a common standard distinguishing "good art" from "bad art" which makes it the perfect way for Claire to navigate her budding creativity without ANY roadmap or easy answers. It was really interesting watching her balance the art school social philosophy of "do everything, try anything, life is art" with the real consequences the resulting behaviour had on her relationships and ultimately her happiness. It was frustrating, sure, the way it's frustrating watching ANY teenager act like they know everything while never managing to do anything right. But it paid off big time in the finale when, after navigating disasters, dealing with pretentious fuckwits and posers, and making awful choices her entire adult and pre-adult life, she finally accepted and trusted what she'd learned and who she'd become, and stepped off into the unknown with nothing to break her fall. And I just know she was going to be great.

I like your predictions, CaptainCranky! (Meaning I think they're damn good, not necessarily that I'm looking forward to seeing them play out!) But for the near-misses or dangling cliffhangers you predict, I'd expect at least one of them to be a sort of "shocking", show-changing moment (Mike and Rachel break up, Donna and Harvey get together, Mike quits law, Mike's secret is revealed to the world, Harvey leaves the firm, Hardman takes the firm back, etc), that will seem like it has changed the very fabric of the show, but be completely undone within three episodes of the next season.

And yet, there is a meaningful difference. The lottery pays out. You give money to the lottery with the understanding that the lottery will be giving money back to someone, and it might be you. They'll even tell you the odds so you can make an informed decision. Televangelists ask for your money, and they themselves will give you nothing back, ever. They just say, "give us your money and God might give you something, maybe, it's up to Him, don't look at us." Which is much less like the lottery and more like panhandling. I've seen homeless people with signs suggesting that giving them your spare change is "good karma," which is the same idea, but actually slightly more legitimate, because IF karma exists or IF God rewards people for making donations, then it stands to reason that the "return" would be greater for helping someone in need than it would be for buying a charlatan a private jet (whether giving change to people on the street is the best way to help people in need is another issue altogether, but this is for analogy's sake). These pseudo-religious millionaire panhandlers are loitering on my airwaves, and I'm of a mind to call the cops and have them removed!

Guys! Guys! Guys! Noel Fisher just posted this on his twitter feed! Anyone hear anything official? Is he guesting next season? Looks pretty clear he'll be back for at least one episode (script says "episode one," but I can't make out anything more)!

That is so horrifying. I have never been so glad to be Canadian. My sex ed was amazing. Apart from getting information about how to have various types of sex safely (vaginal, anal, oral, same-sex partners, etc), and how to protect against pregnancy and disease, our teacher had a collection of interesting questions she'd amassed over the years and would pose them to us, like "Sometimes when I give oral sex to my boyfriend, he holds my head and makes it difficult for me to breathe. He knows I don't like this, but continues doing it. Is this a kind of sexual assault?" And then we would discuss it as a whole class and really reason out what was problematic with this behaviour and whether or not it qualified as assault (It does). And best of all, no one EVER compared me to a piece of tape, stick of gum, or any other object that gets used until it is a piece of garbage. I don't understand abstinence-only education at all. What possible value could there be in it? Apart from a few religious nutjobs sleeping better at night thinking there is less sex happening out there in the world (which there isn't), who is benefiting from this? Even people who choose abstinence as teenagers are expected to have sex EVENTUALLY, right? Like after marriage? Don't they still need to know about safety, respect and "family planning" (i.e., birth control) for when they DO become sexually active? Or is that what porn is for? (Except in India, amiright?) I don't understand how wilfully denying people information they need in order to be safe about their own bodies (and the bodies with which they may eventually become intimate) is expected to benefit society in the long run. I just don't.

Wow, I am loving this story so far! I know the Dolarhyde/Reba stuff seems rushed and weird, but it was easily my LEAST favourite thing about the book, and it never really made sense to me or worked for me in any incarnation. Rushing through it now is actually helping a lot. Fuller has been remarkably faithful in his adaptation of the book, but in the past has always put a unique twist on the story. The moment we saw Reba "clothed in sun" I GOT this story for the first time. Seeing Reba as not just a potential victim of his, but THE chosen victim of Blake's Dragon, makes his fear for her life and his fear of becoming what he is becoming, so much more real. He was afraid for her when he drove her home, but as for eating the painting, I like that Fuller left his motives unclear. Here, could it read as a kind of compulsion, a neccessary step in his becoming. But the interpretation from the book, that he is attempting to conquer/defeat the Great Red Dragon by destroying it's source (the original painting) is still very present. I got a chill when he bared his murder dentures at that painting and started tearing into it like he bit his victims. In that, we got a taste of his thinking. I imagine we'll explore the reasons for/consequences of that next week! Funny, I had the opposite reaction! We'd been told so little about this patient and this incident that we took Bedelia's word that he attacked her (and many of us equated him with Miggs, the only other character in Harris canon who swallowed his own tongue, lending to the idea that he was some violent nutjob). Now, as she is discussing Hannibal's tactics with Will, we see just how cunningly they were used on her. Hannibal sent her that patient, but not to attack her so that she would kill him in self-defence. Rather he was "progammed" to need help, and in trying to help him, she killed him. I'm not even convinced that it was intentional on her part, my read is that she really was trying to save his life, and things went horribly wrong. Hannibal's "alchemy of lies and truth" convinced her that she had killed him because she's a natural murderer and needed to side with Hannibal to avoid discovery, but along the way continued to unravel the layers of his manipulations until she could see how she'd been set up, which gave her the insight and skill to travel with him and avoid becoming dinner! And to see just how entangled Will has become in Hannibal's manipulations so she can warn him against being played the same way she was (trying to save/protect something vulnerable, and falling into a trap). So much of her character, relationship with Hannibal, and role on the show makes A LOT more sense now! And the revelation that she didn't kill a psycho in self-defense, but rather an innocent man she should have been saving is a pretty huge bombshell! So excited to see how the rest of the season plays out! This is the most I have ever enjoyed the Red Dragon story!

Yes! And, wasn't this already covered? I'm sure some seasons ago, Jessica told Mike that he'd never rise in the firm and often wouldn't get credit for his most impressive work, because it put them all in danger. And then Mike and Harvey talked about it, and Harvey told him that he had to decide if living his dream of being a lawyer and making a difference for the people he supposedly helps was worth never getting to be in the limelight. And Mike decided it was. So why is this coming up again? I'm not sure that they're trying to show Mike believing he should have the partnership (he only pointed out that turning it down would draw attention to him since it's "every associate's dream," he didn't say he wanted or deserved it. He was upset about how difficult it was going to be to convincingly refuse it, not because he couldn't have it, I think), but it feels very much like territory they've covered before. Actually, most of the episode did. This show is getting so GD heavy-handed, it's just painful. It's always lacked subtlety, but Harvey connecting his behaviour with Esther to his mother's affair, and then Louis going off on him and calling him a "cheater" for NO REASON AT ALL, THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! was genuinely hard to watch. How dumb do the writers think I am that after the therapy session they assume I somehow haven't understood that Harvey is wrestling with his own manifestations of his mother's behaviours and I need it shouted at me many times in a grossly shoehorned-in way to make sure I get it! I know, they always do this, but it really felt extra anvilicious this week. Probably because there was the potential for some real emotional storytelling with this, and instead the only feeling it inspired was irritation that they couldn't stop shouting the point at me and just let it happen. Also, it failed in large part because the writers tried to equate the betrayal of a cheating spouse with the betrayal of Harvey breaking a stupid, meaningless promise to Louis. Of everything that could be considered morally dubious about Harvey sleeping with Esther, having promised Louis he wouldn't is really the bottom of that list. Louis isn't a wronged party here. He has not been betrayed by Harvey in a way that is anything like marital infidelity. So, while Harvey's guilt makes SOME degree of sense given his mommy issues, Louis' anger does not. So the entire confrontation was bizarre, ham-fisted, wholly unrealistic, and stripped of any emotional resonance it may have otherwise achieved. I'm trying to think of one thing that worked for me in this episode, just one... and I'm coming up empty. OH! Jessica's wardrobe. There. The only thing this show is doing right can't even be credited to the writers or showrunner. How on earth did things get this bad? I remember that I used to consider this show a must-watch, but I can't remember why.

Diane's NPR ringtones always slay me. "Your telephone is ringing. I'm Ira Glass. Thank you for being a sustaining member of public radio. Everyone has a story, and your phone's story is... that it's ringing."

This show has become all about Jessica for me. She is just the best. I'm not sure about this wedding plot. I wondered if Rachel's reaction to getting the Plaza didn't seem a bit... forced? My immediate thought, given her "My fiance is smart enough to let me do everything" comment earlier, was that she already had plans in the works and was kind of... annoyed? That Mike had unilaterally disrupted those plans for a comment she didn't think he'd take seriously? But then there was no textual hint of that, so I think I'm supposed to interpret her reaction as being sincerely happy? I don't know, it didn't play right for me. Also not playing right for me? Donna. What the hell? ITA with the poster who said Donna just destroyed an innocent couple's dream wedding to feel better about herself. It reminds me of shows like Leverage, who, when they needed to get civilians out of the way so they could run a con on some baddie, would drop a surprise contest win on them and send them off on a great vacation for a week while the team did their thing. Or, it's been awhile, but I seem to remember on The Pretender, Jarod would arrange winning lottery tickets and unexpected good news to get people out of the way so that he could take their place temporarily without doing them any harm, and then this OTHER pretender showed up and arranged these awful disasters to get people out of his way, and that was how we knew he was really a bad guy. Donna played like a bad guy for me this episode. We're seeing how unhinged Harvey's been getting all season, but if they're trying to show how Donna is being affected, like losing her grip on her sense of goodness, then they are NOT telling her story right at all. And if we're supposed to see her as some kind of miracle-working hero for getting her friends the venue, then that failed as well. Her methods were just too heartless. What I DO like about the Donna story is her interaction with Gretchen. Specifically, that Gretchen is shown to be her match. Firstly, because Gretchen is great and shouldn't have to come across like a second-rate replacement just because Donna is "special." But secondly, because it introduces the idea that Donna is actually not that special - there are other secretaries out there (not even hard to find, apparently!) who can do her job just as well as she can, which nicely clarifies that Donna's specialness to Harvey wasn't really professional, it was personal. That said, I have defended this show long after many fans on this site and TWoP jumped ship, but damned if this episode didn't really make me tired of seeing deals yanked back and forth like a blankie between toddlers, who then have to go crying to mommy so she'll put her foot down. With Harvey in a slightly removed storyline, it really is falling to Jessica to clean up ALL the messes and kick ALL the asses, where historically Harvey has been able to deal with many of these issues before they make it to her level, maintaining her air of being the "big guns," so to speak, and making it more effective when she DOES have to take action. This season has really been bringing Jessica down to the level of everyone else in the firm, dealing directly with all their squabbling, and while it hasn't tarnished her awesomeness, it is starting to feel strange. Like, there's a growing focus this season on the internal politics and power structure of the firm, and yet we don't even have a sense of what that power structure IS. I mean, "the partners" and their votes and opinions and machinations and pay structures seem to be a particular concern this season (or maybe it just feels that way because the only other arc is Harvey's personal one), but can you actually name a partner who isn't Pearson, Spector, Litt, or Jack whats-his-face? Or even anyone else who works in this place besides Mike, Rachel, Donna and Gretchen? Remember when Mike was one of a pool of associates, and he'd have to work with the others sometimes? And there were mock trials and group activities that brought other characters into the picture? And then the main cast would have to prove their greatness in contrast to their peers, so that it actually meant something? (Lookin' at you, Mike!) Remember when the main cast wasn't the ONLY cast? I swear, Katrina, who works for another firm, gets name-checked more often than any other employee of Pearson-Spector-Litt. I don't neccessarily have a problem with this on its own, but it is a STRANGE foundation on which to build tension and interest in an intra-firm power struggle. I tell you, if Jessica hadn't been wearing that dress at the end, I might have started to question why I watch this show!

This is so much why I love Mr. Peanutbutter. Other shows would be tempted to make their gloomy, asshole protagonist the "secretly has a heart of gold" type and balance him out with a sunny, good-natured rival who is secretly a real jerk. You know, "prove" that their protagonist is a real anti-hero by setting him up against someone even worse, so that the audience is forced onto his side? But Mr. Peanutbutter is a bit dopey and self-involved, but a genuinely nice guy, and the triangle between him, BoJack and Diane is very human and nuanced - more so than most non-animated love triangles turn out! Mr. Peanutbutter is not only a source of joy in the show, he's actually why I respect the show so much. Well, that, and Vincent Adultman, who has so much to teach us about what it truly means to be a grown-up who is definitely one single adult. Rock on, show.

What I love about this show is that it has characters like Victor, who are technically on the side of good, but are not "good guys." Victor is on the right side, but he is NOT the kind of flawed, morally grey character who really has the heart of a hero deep down. He's the kind of guy who brings corpses back from the dead for his own curiosity, and even takes sexual advantage of them. He's the kind of guy who would shoot his own creation for mocking his lack of sexual prowess, most likely as a panic/rage reaction to realizing that she is not (and never was) obediently under his control. Most dramas would be tempted to balance that out, to justify his being seen as a "good guy" with some real heroism, like him finding the inner strength to resist Kali's illusions and rescue himself. But he and Sir Malcolm didn't get the heroic "we have overcome the witches!" moment, not like Ferdinand Lyle did. They needed Vanessa to save them from getting talked into killing themselves, because they are not heroes and the show does not pretend they are. I LOVE that this show doesn't do that "dark anti-hero" thing where they seem to say, "Hey, this Tony Soprano guy has done some really horrible, unforgivable stuff... What a scoundrel! Don't we just love him?" The characters here really do suffer the consequences of what they have done, and never earn a hero status despite their faults SIMPLY for being on the side of good. I find that so refreshing! John Clare's scene with the Putney's was really wonderful. I love that he busted himself out and killed them so quickly he actually seemed to surprise himself. Like he hadn't decided to do it, just realized after the fact what he had done. When Lavinia showed up, I was braced for her grisly death, and I actually gasped out loud when Clare just silently slipped out and left her there to identify (probably by touch) her parents' bodies. That really was the absolute cruellest thing he could have done, and on top of that, it was the RIGHT thing to do. Unlike Victor, who just has this core of moral weakness that makes it impossible for him ever to truly become a sympathetic character, Clare actually has the potential to overcome his past, learn from his mistakes, and maybe even really become a good person. I am also upset about Sembene's death, but I'm actually not as upset about his death as I am disappointed in his development. I don't think he was killed off because he was a minority. I think he was killed off because he was the least developed and most expendable character to the plot whose death would have some impact, and lend some impact to Wolfman!Ethan NOT killing Vanessa. I suspect he WAS the most expendable and the least developed character because he was a minority, and that is what disappoints me. Do better, John Logan. That said, I do love that Sir Malcolm is affording Sembene the respect (bringing his body home) that he did not afford his own son. I am also not sure how the "Wolf of God" threatened the witches' plans, unless it was Ethan the man (and the grounding force of love that Vanessa had for him) that kept her from giving in to temptation. Otherwise, I think that idea, that he represents a threat to Evil's hold on Vanessa, may be explored next season. The way he stopped himself from harming her, acting as her protector even in his Wolfman form, felt like a starting point for something, rather than a conclusion. I am excited to see where this all goes next season!

Man, I wish I could have enjoyed that fight scene! I wanted to, but I was legitimately terrified that it was going to end in Jack's death. Hey, so many people survived last season's finale, the show's about ready for a major character death, and my money is never on the combatant whose name is NOT the title of the show! I am glad they both survived, and I think Fishburn's "alive" is potentially his greatest line delivery of the entire series. As for the train, I'm not sure what Chiyoh's motivations are, but I'm hopeful we'll find out soon. (My one major complaint with this season so far is that it is creating a lot of mystery, but not really any certainty to hang it on. What is Bedelia doing with Hannibal? How much of a prisoner is she, and what is her agenda? Does Will want to catch Hannibal or kill him? Or join him? Is Jack pursuing Will to help him or to stop him? Is this trip Bureau-sanctioned, or are Jack and Will burning serious bridges by doing this? Has Alanna really gone dark, or is she only using Mason, and if both, to what degrees? What is Chiyoh's agenda?... I'm sure there are more. There's too much that is unclear and uncertain. If we knew some of these things for sure, then the mystery surrounding the rest would have some stakes for us to get invested in! I suspect this season will be MUCH better upon second viewing, when we finally get all these answers and then go back and rewatch it all masterfully unfold.) My impression of the train scene is that Chiyoh, during her brief time with Will, has seen that he has incorporated too much of Hannibal into himself, has been moulded too much into Hannibal's image, and decided to ditch him because she didn't feel any safer with him than she would with Hannibal. I don't think she's loyal to Hannibal, I think she's afraid that Will is, and believes she can't turn Will away from him. But the first real appearance of the Ravenstag I choose to take as a clue that Will is beginning to find himself again, and is being led now by his own instincts rather than the damage that Hannibal did to him. Man, I am REALLY looking forward to the end of this season so that I can go back and enjoy it properly!

I wonder if Vanessa's insistence on going to save Sir Malcolm at night is based (at least partially) on the fact that now that she has delved into the dark magic, she is feeling more in tune with it, feeling some of the same power the Nightcomers do, feeling that she HERSELF is strongest at night when those magics are her weapons. I don't know why, but something in the way she prepared herself for battle gave me that impression. Thank you! Interestingly, I've never seen a complaint in this forum that a male actor's natural features are ruining anyone's viewing experience. Why is it that when a woman on television has traits that don't look identical to every OTHER woman on television, people take this as an invitation to ridicule her?

Wow, finally got around to watching this episode and it was amazing! I actually really liked Dorian's portrait. He is, in many ways, a prisoner of his situation. In the book, he takes every opportunity to relieve himself of responsibility for his wickedness and takes no blame for himself. Each thing his does is, in his mind, a natural step in what he is experiencing, and that is all because of the portrait. He's afraid to leave the house for very long, because while he's away he's afraid of someone stumbling across the painting. He is isolated from his social circle and from all of the trappings of Victorian society as he is pushed further and further into the pursuit of pleasure. And removed from the bounds of mortality and consequences, those pleasures he seeks become darker and darker... I like that the portrait was not just ugly and disfugured, like some previous portraits have been (they're gross, sure, but what do they really MEAN?), but that it actually expressed his situation in a new way, the truth of him. An old, decrepit, pathetic figure chained to a painting. Is that figure really evil-looking? Well, it alters after each sin. Before the casual murder of Angelique, that evil may not have been truly present. Sure, he was always bored and selfish, but seemed capable of real affection too. But after that murder, when it changed, THAT is the Dorian we are dealing with now. I am so on board! Lilly was amazing, of course. Caliban went in there intending to "take" her, believing he owned her. Now it's pretty clear who owns who! Can't wait to see how this plays out! Sir Malcolm deserves to be the damsel in distress after that stupid stunt. I'm trying to remember, has he really contributed anything instrumental this season? Or has he just been a big, dumb dupe the whole way through? Hey, I have no issues with that! After the reveal last season that his exploration of Africa was basically an egomaniacal rape-fest, I have zero problems with the show taking a long, satisfying dump on his head. I'm quite enjoying it, to be honest. This episode was so great, I didn't even miss my two favourite characters, still out on the moors and wearing fabulous knitwear together, I assume!

Right! Well, time to start mailing human organs to the network in protest. I've got my spleen in a jar ready to go. Who's with me?

Oh, yes! Yes! This is the episode I've been waiting for! Finally, the structure of the season is taking shape! Last week, we saw Will tracking down Hannibal, but with no real context as to why he's there or what's happening back at the FBI or any of the real-world considerations that the show must eventually tackle. When Will said he forgave Hannibal, was he just trying to re-establish their connection, to be the "lure" again and keep Hannibal interested in him? Or was there something else going on? NOW it makes sense! He's in Europe, I'm guessing WITHOUT the blessing of the FBI, because he's unable to let go of Hannibal and the connection they have. But at the same time, as Jack said, Will's imagination was "broken," and he's still struggling to put it (and himself) back together, and it seems like a bit too much of Hannibal has seeped into the cracks! So far the Ravenstag, Will's spirit guide, has been hinted at, but absent. It's appeared twisted and deformed by Hannibal's creations, and this week we saw Will seemingly searching for its antlers in the growth of branches, but he hasn't yet been able to find it. This tells me that Will may very well be trying to trick Hannibal in the same way as before, but he certainly lost himself in a significant way last season, and is still trying to find himself, and return to his moorings, but he's coming up all Hannibal. The damage is real, but is he using it to his advantage to pursue Hannibal and bring him to justice? Or is Hannibal just the only source of stability he can find, and he's clutching at it on instinct and against all good sense? But Jack is there to help him too, bless him! And Hannibal, of course, is also losing his bearings, his control... he can't let go of Will either. Only this season, instead of molding Will into a companion, he may end up hunting him for real to extend some "forgiveness" of his own. I'll admit I wasn't as happy as I'd hoped to be with the first two episodes, but now that the characters and their situations are becoming more defined and a trajectory/arc is getting established, I think it's only going up from here. This season could very well be a doozy!

No one with that little sense should have been able to pass the bar, let alone advance to the Supreme Court. Imagine if Jack Bauer never got useful information through his methods, was never instrumental in preventing another attack, but obstinately continued threatening, brutalizing, torturing and terrorizing people to no effect (well, except for the effect of creating more enemies). THAT is how America looks to the rest of the world right now. I'd expect a Supreme Court Justice to know a false comparison when he's making one.

Timetoread, you said it perfectly. This show is going nowhere very, very slowly. You know you're in trouble when your viewers care more about what happens to the pets than any of the human characters! I'm right there with you.

Something that Game of Thrones did fairly well in its earlier seasons was to balance great defeats and great victories. The show was exhilarating to watch because for every hearbreaking tragedy (like a Stark's execution) there was a joyful "holy shit!" moment somewhere else (like the birth of the dragons) that left you with a feeling that anything was possible. This season has been all tragedy and no victory. Even the things that should seem like victories are not, or have not been treated that way. Theon and Sansa's escape from Ramsay, for example, should have felt like a "hell, yeah! Run for it, kids!" moment, but the way it was done to feel like a "did they survive the fall?" cliffhanger took that away. (And of course they did. They both grew up in that place and knew it intimately. The look they gave each other before jumping, they knew exactly what they were doing.) Brienne's fulfilment of her oath to kill Stannis should have felt triumphant and like a (even a small!) victory for her, but we don't even get the satisfaction of knowing whether or not she even did it! Arya doesn't get to revel in the triumph of having finally found the power to start crossing names off her list before she is punished (and blinded?) for it. Dany dramatically escapes assassination on Drogon's back, only to end up in more trouble somewhere else (taking her away from Mereen and further delaying/limiting the payoff to Tyrion joining up with her). I guess we were supposed to enjoy Cersei's comeuppance, but that's not a victory, that's celebrating someone else's misfortune, and honestly I was thinking about Margaery the whole time, wondering if she's going to have to endure the same thing (or already has) and dreading her suffering. Every storyline that could (should?) have ended on an "up" note leaving us breathless for next season, was resolved into a "down" before the end, and nothing made up for the potential loss of Jon Snow. If this show has lost the ability to delight me, then it's going to be hard to find a reason to keep watching. I'm going to need to see some real payoff from at least SOME storylines in order to keep going, but I am rapidly losing hope. ITA with those who say this season has felt like mostly filler. It astonishes me that a show that has cut down so long and complex a story so drastically is STILL left with so much padding. The show needs to forget about GRRM if necessary, pick a direction and move the story toward it with confidence, rather than going in circles to buy time.

Wow! Is there a more effective way to make children think of pills as dangerous, serious, and "not candy" than turning them into puppets and having them sing a cheery song? I can't think of one! Good luck, Wendy! You're going to need it!

I loved this, and thought it was a really nice touch. In the first scene, he's talking about an entire tribe he helped to wipe out completely, and in the next, he's using a ritual that is rooted in that tribe's culture. Because of him, they are gone, and because of him, some part of them still remains. I never quite knew what to make of him in the first season, but now that the show is taking some time to really focus on his story, Ethan is ROCKETING up my list of favourite characters. I mean, I'm bisexual, but I've usually preferred women and almost never find men attractive, and I never understood why my friends were so in to Hartnett years ago, but damned if I haven't (as of this episode!) developed a major, heart-fluttering, swooning crush on Ethan Chandler. WHY does he have to be so sweet and charming and strong and protective and perfect ALL THE TIME?! It's not fair! Thinking of, I adored Dorian and Angelique, of course. I feel like John Logan heard all the fans' protests about how, with all the nudity and sex on the show, the only same-sex hookup last season only got as far as a kiss before it was off-screen-implied, and he responded with, "Yep, you're right!" Giving us an episode where the only full, lush, nude, sensuous, affectionate sex scene was a Queer couple, and all the het-sex was fully-clothed, sketchy, and ill-advised. Well-played, sir. That's true. It's not like he was skeevily reanimating her corpse for his own use. He was reanimating her corpse as a gift to give to another icky corpse he reanimated! It's a real meet-cute, I tell you. Something tells me these two crazy kids are about to hit a rough patch. I love this show more and more every week. It's really glorious. From fully-developed female characters who can be vulnerable and scattered and in need of protection and in tears and nearly mad with fear without EVER being weak, to equal-opportunity nudity, to gripping storytelling, to beautiful cinematography, to infinite compassion for modern social justice and equality issues that never feels anachronistic... This show hits all of my buttons and just never stops.

I hope this is the series finale. I have enjoyed this show to varying degrees for all six years, but this is the time to end it, and that was the way. Really enjoyed it. Gonna miss it. Would I keep watching if there IS a season seven? I think so!... Probably... Maybe.

So many good ones. I don't think I could keep myself from laughing at practically anything "Vincent Adultman" said! But the sight gags are what really got me. My favourite, the banner at Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's engagement party, which read: Congrats Diane and Mr Peanut Butter Peanut Butter is one word But Todd's scrambled eggs song was pretty rockin' too!

Had this show on my list forever, and finally got around to watching it. At first, I was lukewarm, but by episode 3, when Sara Lynn is telling BoJack that literally every single day, someone tells her that she was the first woman they masturbated to, and we can see how messed up that is and how it has damaged her ability to find meaning in her life... That was when I could tell the show had something to say beyond "fame is a black hole, actors are pathetic." By the end of the season, I was thoroughly impressed. I love how all the characters are really given their due, so that while they play like typical goofy cartoon archetypes, there's something real and personal underneath it. The inclusion of blink-and-you'll-miss-it animal character traits never fails to crack me up (like Mr. Peanutbutter's trunk full of tennis balls). I really appreciated the way the emotional arc between Diane and BoJack played out. It would have been easy to set that up like a typical love story, where he realizes he loves her, bares his soul, and then she either reciprocates or doesn't. The way the complexities of their relationship unravelled was much more realistic. His feelings were partly genuine, and partly a result of the writing process, and partly desperation to be loved by someone who understands him. HER feelings are partly romantic, and partly practical. She could probably be very happy with BoJack, but she chose Mr. Peanutbutter. Diane and Peanutbutter truly love each other and make each other happy, but are they "perfect" for each other? What does that even mean? I really respect the show for not filling in those interpersonal grey areas with trite oversimplifications. Besides that, the opening credits sequence alone is a work of art. Can't wait for season 2!