Right... The obvious question, folks: anybody know what the overnights numbers show?

I don't like Paul much in this episode. He seems to have "Nice guys finish last" syndrome. I even said to my boyfriend at one point, "Maybe the killer is some guy who got rejected by one of those women like Paul did, and followed him around to punish those women..." It was a half-baked theory. In any case, his snap judgements really irritated me. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme. Which, if I liked all the characters on the show, something would be wrong. (And I do like Web, at least in the sense that I find him terribly fascinating.)

Still hoping for more of Mel & Danny, though of course keeping in mind that as they aren't part of the power struggle, they are more peripheral characters.

...I often feel like Rebecca is River, speaking through Inara's mouth. She says things that are dream-like and spooky, but she says them in this incredibly formal cadence. Again, on rewatch I bet I will be able to reconcile the two, but I still find it a bit jarring first time through.

My favorite part is how it WASN'T church-guy. Because that would've been the easy way out.

No, you're remembering it right. Thank you. So do you think it was a sincere comment, or a snappy wisecrack, when she said it at the end?

I think it was sincere given what she said to Paul later about "Who do you think was really in control here?".

Also, off-topic, Emily - where did your tag come from? It sounds like a riff on the last line of RAISING ARIZONA.

Oh, I meant to say last night. What's up with the shadow puppets? First on Firefly, now in guy's apartment. A shoutout? Obsession?

So do you think it was a sincere comment, or a snappy wisecrack, when she said it at the end?

Put me in the sincerity wrapped in a barb category.

Was it a "good" thing to do? Not really, but Rebecca's judgement's a little skewed in general.

And I don't know that I buy the "control" thing as presented by Rebecca (I keep wanting to spell her name "Rebekah", which is my spelling. CogDiss baby) vis a vis the murderer/dom thing.

Because I'm thinking that if the session ends with you dead, you pretty much by definition either didn't have control or had a very intricate suicide plan.

very intricate suicide

Nah, that was last week.

I don't think Rebecca meant it as a wisecrack, exactly -- but I think she was very aware that there was some serious edge to her saying it.

True enough, amych, but if you're also manipulating someone else into doing you that's an extra layer of weird complexity.

Death by snarkery. I wonder if that's a checkoff box on the coroner's forms?

I don't think Rebecca meant it as a wisecrack, exactly -- but I think she was very aware that there was some serious edge to her saying it.

I don't know - in a way it read to me as a really tender moment, which gave me a kind of shocked thrill. Wherever the control lies, in the earlier scenes she was in his world - and now suddenly he's been thrown into hers, and she becomes the guide. So I didn't take it as just a suface "you were right, and now you'll see how much stronger you are after suffering" exactly. But - eh, I don't know. I can see how you can definitely take it as barbed, but I thought there was something else going on there.

Because I'm thinking that if the session ends with you dead, you pretty much by definition either didn't have control or had a very intricate suicide plan.

Wait, wasn't she saying that Brandt was in control, that Strong was never in control? And Strong was the one who died. Or did I totally misread that line.

Or am I not understanding what you're saying?

I can see how you can definitely take it as barbed, but I thought there was something else going on there.

Actually, I agree -- I think it was both pointed and sincere, and not a surface thing at all. I'm still poking at it with my brain to get at all the tasty layers of that exchange, but it was the prickliest bit of tenderness on record.