I ended up giving this episode a 9.
I just realized that when Hawking goes to little Daniel at the piano, it's probably very soon after she shoots older Daniel. She's visibly upset, like she's been crying (is she wearing the same clothes, even? I'll have to watch again...EDIT: okay she's not, lol).
Broken Daniel is absolutely heartrending. When Hawking tells him that he must go on the freighter, and he asks, "If I do, will you be proud of me?"...okay, I totally lost it. It was bad enough that he was sobbing over the 815 wreckage, but when he asks that, it pushed me over the edge, too.
I said before that it felt rushed, but the second viewing didn't feel that way. It felt logical and well paced. All the reveals, and bringing Jughead back in. Then, of course, a Richard-appearance. I think this is the only time we've seen him really upset. I mean, he drops his coffee cup on the ground and everything.
(Did anybody else think that Des and Richard needed a tan? They were looking kinda pale to me.) Oh, that's another thing, we saw Des. And he's not dead. Always a good thing.
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