TVSquad

Despite its overall mediocrity thus far, those of us out there who have been sticking with Bored to Death in the hopes that it would get less, well... boring, were finally rewarded. Not only was "The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer" the best episode of the season to date (I know I've said that before, but clearly I spoke too soon), but it definitively justifies the show getting a season two renewal. This episode proved that the ensemble can actually work well together, and it also made one other thing very clear -- individually, Schwartzman, Danson, and Galifianakis are funny guys. But, together? Comic gold.

(S01E06) "Maybe a chapter on my dyslexia?" - Frobisher

Up until this episode, I've had a hard time deciding who I ultimately wanted to root for. Patty and Arthur are both horrible examples of good human beings, but I still found reasons to like both of them. Not any more. After this episode, I'm finding it incredibly hard to sympathize with Frobisher. Not because he's a bad guy. He's an idiot and doesn't even realize it!

It was pathetic really. He honestly believes that people give a damn about anything in his life other than the current scandal. No one cares about his speech impediment, how he played varsity sports, or his time in the Boy Scouts. All along we've known Arthur did it, but up until this point I at least though he had a brain. The man is delusional. He truly had no idea how that book deal was going to play out. Maybe he does actually think he's innocent.

(S01E06) For the first few episodes, I was was really enjoying picking out all the swears, slang words, and racial slurs that this show was getting away with at the time. Now I'm having way more fun picking out all the random guest stars. Every episode is just crammed with a bunch of people in tiny blip roles. So far we've had some good ones like David Schwimmer, Michael Rappaport, and Luis Guzman. But this episode added a whole bunch more.

• James Pickens, Jr. (you'll recognize him as Webber on Grey's Anatomy)
• Tobin Bell (he's played Jigsaw in the Saw films and he was Kingsley in season two of 24)
• Michael Jace (he played one of the ADAs, but most will recognize him as Julian on The Shield)

I think it's incredibly interesting to see all these guests. First off, this was 12 years ago and a lot of these people didn't have the careers that they have now. Secondly, I think it mirrors a lot of what David Milch does with his shows. Look at the first season of Deadwood and think about all the notable guest stars that were involved (Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars comes to mind). I just like to dissect all this stuff. You can point and laugh later. On to the rest of the episode.