Shep

Sadie, Sadie... Okay, going back (to some recent bad episode): Miss Hawkins is REAL!!! Or was, anyway, in Akron, Ohio, circa 1980. I went to a very 09er high school that would have dances avec courts at the drop of a chapeau. Homecoming was boys ask girls and girls on court, Valentines girls ask boys and boys on court, May dance (seriously??!!) was a co-ed court and I guess boys generally did the asking but it was also more likely that friends went together and your gang cut out after being anointed (yes, I was popular... but my class unusually and luckily happened to be friendly and funny, so assholes didn't prosper) and continued drinking. I do doubt this hideous popularity-contest culture continues. But maybe Sadie does. I'm pro, despite never getting asked by anyone I was way into, but... well, gay (pede, heh), so there's that. I'm ready for the move to college -- Extra Hot Great covered one of the episodes I saw, which scared the living shit out of me. I've never forgotten it!

Sarah and John (Sally and Joe, heh) - I've been racing through these, despite the fact that I've seen maybe four episodes of Veronica Mars ever. Confirmation that your audience does include weirdos who enjoy recaps (with witty commentary, naturally) as much or more than the shows being capped. I find at least one thing per episode weirdly relatable -- something in the plot or (more likely) something you say. John, love it that you are into Delays. Definitely one of my big bands of the aughts, and damn it no one else seemed to know them. (Will confess that I discovered their first CD at a VIRGIN RECORDS OR HMS LISTENING KIOSK!) On a less lovely note, I started having seizures three weeks ago and have ended up in the hospital twice, so that Duncan plot development was uncanny for me when it emerged. Wondering if it's been dropped entirely? My meds seem to be working, so fiiiine. But yeah, in a seizure you are completely out. Murder would be "challenging" given that walking and thinking aren't on. As much as agree with most of your takes, Wallace is SO put-upon and uncharismatic, the annoying guy who willingly takes on shit he doesn't want to do, cultivating a growing shoulder chip, then blows. (Try calmly saying no once in a while.) Also, dude is a pretty mediocre actor. Perhaps not "woody," but not far superior to a potted plant (sans bug). He was the primary reason I didn't make this must-see TV in the pre-streaming era. Keep up the stellar work!