Is it just me, or physically, does McCurdy sort of resemble Julie Dawn Cole as a child (the actor who played Veruca Salt in the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)?

NOT just you. She looked familiar but I knew I'd never seen her before, and you just put your finger on why.

I loved that when Ellen took Madison, I was worried about Ellen. I was actually worried that she'd kill Madison and go to jail forever and ever, but she was the one I was worried about.

I had forgotten all about Paul's impending fatherhood by the end, so I guess I needed the anvil.

I figured Madison was going to turn it around somehow and gut her. I didn't see the mom getting into it.

I liked that we got to see a little more of Carter as well, from the "It's technology" bit to the conversation with Mel about decaf that I didn't even really understand or hear what they were talking about, but it was amusing.

I can't get over how beautiful Rachel Nichols is. Stunningly beautiful. Hauntingly beautiful.

She also gives good raised eyebrow look.

The moment the little girl was first shown on screen, I knew she was the killer, but that's not a bad thing. Some of it was just in her face. Some of what tipped me was how long it took to reveal her (first the dad was shown, then the mom, then finally the kid). Some of it was the expression on Nichols' face, when she saw her.

I knew it as well, but I was excited to see how they would put the whole thing together. And for a little while I thought maybe Madison forced Nora to do the dirty work.

That's what I thought as well, Wolfram. It looked like they were pushing the angle that Nora was an accomplice, which would have been incredibly surprising since, like Rebecca said, she didn't seem very evil.

Also, TWoP really liked this episode. The Jane love runs deep.

On another board, someone said last week "wouldn't it be cool if it were the kid!" and I reiterated what I think I read here: "One of Tim's shows has already done the kid fakeout" and they said "he could do it again!"

I was so relieved there was no fakeout here, because my brains aren't spicy enough for me to enjoy eating my words.

I apologize for continuously blathering about Veronica Mars since my conversion a few days ago -- somebody point me to a better venue (if there is one) where I won't get spoilered. :)

I've now nudged (by the simple tactic of handing them a CD with .avis on it) four coworkers into checking out VM's first two eps. Hopefully there are toasters in my future, I haven't gotten any feedback yet.

And humor the newbie: why toasters?

Hee. I've got two words for you, lilserf: Blather. On.

Unless I'm mistaken, the "get a toaster for converting a new fan" comes from the coming-out episode of Ellen, where it was implied that you "get a toaster for converting a new lesbian."