1. Ok, VM is a big "Lebowski" fan, so wouldn't she be at least somewhat amused that wheelchair-guy's assistant is named "Brandt" and is channeling Philip Seymour Hoffman? (Yes, I know that it was supposed to be yet another Lebowski shout-out, just as "You're in a world of trouble, Larry" was a few episodes back, and the dogs in this one. And reverse "Bud Rose"'s name, as
Sepinwall points out. Still.)
2. Slim notes: Why CXI CDIII instead of XI XIX MMIII?
3. And why a "keister egg" instead of a marshmallow if the numbers were for symbolic purposes, as opposed to a Bugs-Meanyesque clue-us ex machina?
4. Not sure how Keith doesn't find out about the haircut (Logan doesn't tell him when he brings the drugged VM home?), but even without that, as Sepinwall notes, Keith is awful blase' about the fact that his daughter was attacked on campus.
5.
Will Baude thinks that the show producers made a tactical error in not publicizing that Patty Hearst was playing a version of herself, but I think this wildly overestimates the degree to which Patty Hearst is a ratings draw as opposed to a mildly entertaining inside joke, a la the Maebe and George Michael appearance last season (or bringing in Laura San Giacamo for a short sub-arc to play off of Colatoni). Hearst is certainly no actress; overall, she was a distraction in the episode.
6. Speaking of Patty Hearst, I'm grumbling about her character's anti-globalization stance being treated as noble, as opposed to an abdication of her fiduciary obligation to her company's shareholders, not to mention an example of the liberal racism that says that Asians are unfit to make goods for Americans.
7. And if the share price was shooting up upon Selma's disappearance, why haven't private equity hedge funds attempted to wrest control of "Hearst-Mart" from its flaky family management? Her brother clearly doesn't like her, and I've litigated enough multimillionaires' intra-family disputes to know that millions of dollars get spent on lawyers for far lesser reason than the "hundreds of millions of dollars" Selma was about to cost the company.
8. Still, best episode in some time. Slim and I were noting that this season's episodes are missing the class war issues that gave the first two seasons so much flavor. Weevil seems to have gained the thirty pounds that I've lost, not to mention picked up horrific acne, so they've been hiding his character, but even without him, the season has missed the townie/'09er tension.
9. They seem to be arcing towards a Veronica-Piz setup. Feh.
