Thanks for catching me up -- I was way confused with who the guy that Keith was driving around (and later getting shot at/by).

Glad to see Mac getting a lot more screen time.

The head-shaving 'rapist' put me in mind of the Tawana Brawley case. Bet you anything one of the young feminists decided to shave her head to get more publicity/concern for the date rapes -- and either there's a sick rapist who decided to go with it, or the unravelling of the fake rape will imperil the Actual Rape case.

it bugged me that Cormac waited until a dramatically significant moment to pull out the gun.

Okay, so him shooting Kendall didn't actually have anything to do with Vinnie following them? That was confusing me. Did he know that they were being followed? And why did Keith immediately assume that Kendall was in danger when he realized that they were being followed?

I've said it before, VM has really confusing cliffhangers. They don't seem to know the difference between HSQ and WTF.

They don't seem to know the difference between HSQ and WTF.

HA. That's a really good way of describing it, Tom. They've had some good HSQs, though, like Lynn's suicide, and Clarence Wiedman's appearance at Barstow. Oh, and finding Veronica's name on Curly's hand was good.

And why did Keith immediately assume that Kendall was in danger when he realized that they were being followed?

Because Liam was trying to find Kendall for "his share" of the money and Keith knows Liam isn't above killing people, and as far as Keith knows, no one else has any real interest in where he or Kendall would be.

And why did Keith immediately assume that Kendall was in danger when he realized that they were being followed?

Because Liam was trying to find Kendall for "his share" of the money and Keith knows Liam isn't above killing people, and as far as Keith knows, no one else has any real interest in where he or Kendall would be.

that wasn't my take. i thought he figured out when he looked in the glovebox for the gun that he'd figured out that Cormac had taken it and Kendall was in trouble.

I said "figured out" way too many times in that sentence. i blame trying to be stealthy at work.

Because Liam was trying to find Kendall for "his share" of the money and Keith knows Liam isn't above killing people,

But it wasn't Liam who killed her, but Cormac. I got the sense that he thought she was in danger from Cormac specifically.

i thought he figured out when he looked in the glovebox for the gun that he'd figured out that Cormac had taken it and Kendall was in trouble.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the gun in the glove compartment. But then, why did he look for the gun in the first place? The way I read that scene, he knew Cormac was going to go after Kendall when he realized Vinnie was following them, and the missing gun was just extra visual confirmation for the audience.

I guess my followup question is: would Cormac have killed Kendall if Vinnie hadn't been following them? And if not, how did he (Cormac) know that they were being followed? I'm confused by how those two plot points seem to be related.

But then, why did he look for the gun in the first place?

I thought he was looking for the gun to use it to protect Kendall and possibly himself.

I thought he was looking for the gun to use it to protect Kendall and possibly himself.

I thought he was looking for the gun to protect all three of them, but when the gun was missing, he guessed Cormac might have bad intentions as well. If he hadn't found the pen, he might have just gone back and gotten shot. Or Cormac might have waited until he had the papers and had gone, but since Keith found the gun missing, he had to change his plan.