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.

Hart Bochner? I haven't seen him stalk or kill anyone since Apartment Zero.

Oh, my good lord, that *is* who it was. Dude. He's really good at that kind of character. I loved when he was taking Paul and Rebecca apart in the interview room without even breaking a mental sweat.

They wish the ratings were bigger, of course. But House debuted at about the same place. And they dig the show. They hope it builds.

And who could have forseen that "Dancing with the Stars" would be such competition? (I don't tape it and fast-forward through it later. Shut up.)

Wait, wasn't she saying that Brandt was in control, that Strong was never in control?

I thought that was a little...eh. I mean, Strong ended up dead, so hey, but I'm not sure I would characterize that whole interaction as Brandt being in control.

So last night, I got a breaking news alert in the middle of the show. The big news was that there were a lot of people around Texas without power. Why this was important, I don't know, since if you were one of the ones who lost power, you probably already knew (and didn't have a TV on), and if you did have power, who the hell cares? Anyway, I lost a fairly important part of the episode.

During the re-enactment, I got to the point where Rebecca says: "He let me go." And then the next bit I saw was when Mel and Danny were going after Preacher Boy. Can anyone summarize what I missed while I was cursing at the TV anchor?

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.

Yes, exactly.

I think it was intended as sincere, but for all of her "Bad Paul, no judging!" from earlier in the episode, she does judge him. For daring to make a game out of what she's been through for real and presuming to understand anything about real power or control, even if she also understands that that's a false comparison on many levels, and therefore a really unfair judgement to make.

licks Jessica's spicy brains

Ooh, tingly!

I thought that was a little...eh. I mean, Strong ended up dead, so hey, but I'm not sure I would characterize that whole interaction as Brandt being in control.

Yeah, that had me confused. I also didn't understand why Strong killed himself (surely that wasn't his plan all along), and figure they are probably related by more than my not getting them.

Yeah, that had me confused. I also didn't understand why Strong killed himself

Self-hatred. He was gay, he hated that he was, he hated that he was obsessed with this guy, he went nuts.

insent, jessica

I started writing my book last night (it's a retelling of a pilot I wrote a few months ago). The opening chapter features the end of the world told through the eyes of a cat called Jessica. I'd no idea why I'd used the name Jessica (it wasn't in the script), so I think Buffistas is affecting my brain...

Self-hatred.

That's what I got. When Brandt said, "You're weak," and Strong said, "I know," I knew what he was going to do. He hated what he had become, and he knew he didn't have it in him to change.

There's also that idea of what's the worse punishment -- if he had killed Brandt, it would have been over for him. Now, he has to live with the memory of the rape, and everything that happened.

Which could apply to Rebecca, too, but it's all in how you deal with it, what you take away from violence and how you can use it, good or bad.