People have been complaining about the slowing of the narrative, but varying intensity in a story is how you make the intense events far more impactful. I cannot stop thinking about this episode. It reveals SO MUCH, and imo those who don’t get it are more focused on getting answers than the story.

I’m convinced most of the people who call this a bad episode care more about answers than they do good storytelling, and it’s a damn shame because the narrative so far has been impeccable.

Also, the implications of this episode have made the story so much more complex. It’s not just “Lumon bad”. It’s “someone was trying to deal with their trauma by inventing this technology, but their actions have only brought about more trauma”.

Pacing and varying intensity is imperative for good storytelling. If your intensity is always at an 8, a 10 event won’t feel that impactful to an audience. But if you drop the intensity to a 5 for a beat, that 10 will be devastating. “Sweet Vitriol” is slow, but the slowness feels intentional.

Do not normalize this. If the KKK and Nazis have the right to free speech and right to assemble without government interference, students do, too. If schools want to enforce policies about this, that's up to them. The President should not be allowed to withhold funds based on his personal annoyances

I imagine the answer is going to be "Whatever DJT personally doesn't like". I mean, this is the same man that allegedly suggested shooting protesters in the legs for just...protesting back in 2020, and more recently, he has referred to pro-Palestine protests as "pro-Hamas" protests.