天下制覇

Wrong night.

As part of my continuing July of computer-related headaches, I’m spending the next week at a friend’s because my building is currently toxic due to mass floor sealing. I didn’t anticipate an internet connection being an issue, but apparently the Powers That Be decided they’d rip up the cables under the street here this week to replace things, so everything’s on some manner of ad hoc nonsense that has glorious 1995 AOL-level speed. I’ll be a little ‘slow’ until whenever it’s safe for me to return home. Probably either Friday or Saturday. I’ll have the premiere wrap-up posted on Tuesday, even though I still haven’t really figured out Thursday or Saturday yet.

Impressions:

Hey! An episode with minimal Hatred, almost minimal Rusty (good lord, have we ODed on him this season), no Dean being an obnoxious putz, and no spastic What-A-Twist! moments! It’s a bleeding miracle. Well, maybe the end part counts as a twist where the Squid Guy went off to call about something else entirely. Or the Revenge Society watching in on the Guild, but I’m not even sure what that was doing there. Perhaps to remind us that they exist after being completely ignored for the last… uh… Wow. Has it really been nearly three years? Ye lords. They used to all be regularly recurring characters. Now we have… Hatred every damn episode. Come to think of it, the Triad’s been all but gone this season too. I miss Jefferson.

Anyway. Easily my favorite episode of the season although I still don’t think it’d hold up very well to earlier seasons. As usual, the subplot of Rusty tagging along reeked of being tacked on, likely for the cliffhanger lead-in to the finale next week. Granted, an excellent stinger going into the credits, but the first 85% of the episode had putz all to do with the last 15% and they may as well have fallen through a portal into a different world. I don’t even know why Head Shot and that other guy were doing there besides sucking out any humor from Brock and Shoreleave. They’ve been snappier too, although did have a few moments. Regardless though, the plotting was tight for once, stayed mostly on focus besides the above, and had a few good (well, awful, but good awful) jokes in there along the way. A rarity for all too many episodes.