5cents-worth

I mean, what else is Dr. Doofus supposed to do with that hat? It came free with the Yurt!

I almost can't believe what a good idea this is. It is not possible to have enough Victor Garber on my tv, and he was so sharp as Jack Bristow. Oh, yeah, and Garner is good, too.

Just dropping by to say that Anna Manahan is the best name for anyone this side of Benedict Cumberbatch.

I loved the POV shot of Taffet when Martha was being interviewed. All I could focus on was his nose. And I wonder if Phillip's advice to Martha might come back and bite him in the ass eventually. "You know more than he does, you have the power, turn it around on him," etc. It's dangerous teaching that kind of stuff to a woman with a gun, Phillip. Good thought. They wouldn't even need to go that far - some Russian citizens traveled to non eastern bloc countries for various reasons. And there are plenty of European countries where someone from the Soviet Union might travel for medical treatment without arousing much suspicion. Paris, for example. Which is also a great place for an Elizabeth-Paige getaway. Also, we saw in flashbacks that they arranged for Elizabeth to meet General Zukov in Europe once in a while - and he, being Soviet military, would have been more likely to be under Western observation than a sick old lady.

I actually felt a brief moment of sympathy for Michelle in this scene. In her beliefs, her value as a person rests almost entirely on her ability to birth babies. It is all she has been doing for over 25 years. Who is she and what value does she have if she can no longer fufill her sole purpose in life? Her religion offers little in the way of roles to fill during this "season of life." It must be both terrifying and sad for her.

I recognized them right away, and thought they were a nice surprise. If Raylan is traipsing around the back woods, it's plausible that he might run into some hill folk. I'm sure that the characters on the show are an exaggeration for dramatic effect, but I also had a friend who went to school in Corbin, KY and said they were warned about not going too far off the nearby trails, because you might still run afoul of moonshiners or other shady locals from time to time.

IIRC, Jim Bob might have done this before Josh's marriage, although cameras weren't privy to the conversation. I only remember that afterewards, Josh seemed embarrassed and uncomfortable. In truth, I have to admit to a morbid curiosity about what their sex lives could be like, given how sheltered they have been about anything remotely related to sexual physical closeness with another human being. Unless she was too naive to realize that's what was going on. I agree about it being more social awkwardness than introversion. No one just hangs out with friends, they "fellowship", which seems a lot less fun/spontaneous. I bet they have what a coworker refers to as good "church basement" social skills - superficial chatter with people who have been deemed safe enough to not lure you into a life of sin in the 10 minutes you are exposed to them.

I'm sure JB and MeChelle will think of cute nicknames for the younger ones if they ever spend any significant amount of time with them. Which they won't, ever. Maybe the older "buddies" have nicknames for the younger ones, and the parents can just pretend that they came up with them on their own when it becomes necessary to describe them to the cameras.

The podcast this week (for 3.8 Divestment) was really good. Alison Wright was a guest for part of it and talked a lot about Martha's denial of her situation. For me, though, the star of this week's podcast was Ian McLaughlin, the stunt coordinator. He described how they pulled off the tire fire, and it was surprising to hear that they used a stunt person for it. I figured it was so dangerous they probably used a dummy and tricky camera work. He is also a really good storyteller, and his descriptions of how stunts are designed and how they fit into the storytelling was tremendous.

Sure - they could even stage a small funeral if needed. It would be nice for Martha to have closure. I remember seeing a reference to this as a method of torture/death used in some parts of the world, and that they were occasionally recorded, but I didn't realize that there was intention for the body to be found. In this case, I woudl think the characters wouldn't want any possible way this could lead back to them, no matter how slight the chance of a connection. In any case, getting those stains out of the concrete will not be easy.

What if they "kill" Clark? It would be easier to stage his death than to come up with a plausible story for Martha's. And then she can a secret widow instead of a secret wife. On another note, I've been wondering who is going to clean up the mess from Venter's tire fire? Wouldn't there be residual...stuff that would need to be disposed? Even in unused locations around a heavily populated area, there's a risk of the body being discovered by a random person. That mess has to be worse than a dead body in a suitcase - at the very least a large grease stain on the concrete.

I thought this, too. And Elizabeth looked less than thrilled that Hans was traipsing about while they were still inside. If Todd saw Hans, that is bad news for her, because she will need to get rid of Hans (and Todd) before too long. Yes, they both looked uncomfortable and maybe ashamed as well. Recently, Phillip seems to have become more squeamish about some of the less savory things they have to do in their work, but I was a bit surprised to see Elizabeth turn her eyes away. Then later, by siding with Phillip and letting Todd go, Elizabeth seens almost compassionate, which is really uncharacteristic. And I agree - watching it, I briefly liked her for it, but also thought about what a stupid move it could turn out to be. She better hope that watching his handler go down in (literal) flames scares Todd enough to keep his mouth shut.

Agreed that his hairstyle is awful. This show seems to be missing out on one of the classic late 70's/early 80's hair trends: feathering. At least one of the younger characters, the boys in particular, could have easily have some feathered layers going on. About half the boys in my class still had that hairstyle around that time, and all of them looked better than Stan's kid. Hans definitely looked like he just realized what he has gotten himself into, and he doesn't seem all that crazy about it. The bread delivery lady also had an accent, but I couldn't tell if it was South African before she was done talking forever. In any case, she was a dead woman from the jump, because Elizabeth wasn't going to leave any potential witnesses hanging around.

I've kept all the episodes on my dvr, and yesterday i went back and rewatched the first episode. Sometimes pilot episodes have little relation to a show a couple of seasons down the line, but this show was really strong from the beginning. The writing, the period music, and the intensity were all there, and they have maintained the quality since then, which is really impressive. I had forgotten that Phillip and the moments that followed were powerfully (and wordlessly) performed.

If you use Chrome, you can download an app called Cloud Caster and can subscribe to podcasts available on iTunes, including this one from Slate. Cloud Caster and Podcast Nation are good apps for Android phones as well.