This Week on Dear Television:

• "Children's Death Games," from Lili Loofbourow
  
• "An Education," from Jane Hu
• "Hipster Inoculation, or Radical Sheik," from Evan Kindley
• "You Probably Think This Show is About You," from Phil Maciak
   

Last Week on Dear Television:

• "Black Men, Republicans, et al.," from Phil Maciak
• "Bad Art and Betrayals," from Lili Loofbourow
• "Flip It and Reverse It," from Evan Kindley
• "He's Not Reading You," from Jane Hu
   
   
  

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"Children’s Death Games"

Dear TV,

THIS WAS THE FIRST episode of the season that made me laugh. Hard. A lot. Jazzhate! Power-clashing! “Just Leave your fucking mark, Hannah.” (Hannah pauses, whispers: “In urine?”) One can really go through their whole life wearing shorty-shorts and offend almost nobody is a hell of a line, especially coming from a place of blind rage. And Andrew Rannells’s delivery during his confession was pitch-perfect, but I especially loved how thoughtfully he said “yeahhh, she’s very ribby.” Elijah might be pathologically selfish and really, really high in that moment, but he’s trying hard to answer Hannah’s question honestly and completely. He’s a fifth-grader with a No. 2 pencil.

Then there’s poor Laird, so quick to tears, so fond of Pom. Of his turtle: “I will never not have him.” The scene in the pharmacy aisle was comedy gold, as were Marnie’s facial expressions during sex with Booth Jonathan. How wonderful, by the way, was her outburst afterward? It’s rich territory, the terrible urge to laugh when a bad partner gets carried away while one watches, waving, from the station. Booth’s, alas, is the comedy of the failed dom: great setup, no follow-through. “Give me everything,” he says, sure he’s programmed Marnie as promised in season one, when he said he’d scare her because he was a man and knew how to do things. Poor Marnie. After Charlie and Elijah she just wants some good sex, even if it’s mind-gamey sex, but instead she gets locked in a TV booth and forced, again, to watch. Booth: “Let me control you. (Grunt.) Look at th...