I'm not sure what to think of this season overall. The scenes in the office continued to be consistently fascinating looks into the rapidly changing business world of the early 60s. But I don't feel like I got enough of that, especially in the second half. At times it felt more like The Don and Betty Show than anything else. Important, life-changing decisions are being made by some of the supporting characters, and it's being overshadowed by the family drama going on at home. It's not that that stuff isn't interesting, I'm just not sure it's the reason most of the audience watches.

I'm not sure I liked the way that certain storylines were handled, either. Sal is a gay man, though only the people watching ever knew until this season. It seemed like they were building it up to be a big game changer, but there's a pretty abrupt interruption of the arc, and they made it seem like the little they did with it is all they're going to do, which would be disappointing. And scenes like the lawnmower were great, but made me wonder why they're so rare on this show. I understand that it's trying to be realistic, and insane things like that can't happen with regularity. But the fact that they were willing to go there once made me wonder why it's not shocking more often.

The last three episodes though were outstanding, with the finale being my favorite of the series. Something momentous finally happens with Draper marriage, and Don shows some actual vulnerability for once. We see one of the most infamous events in American history through the eyes of these characters we've grown to understand. And the biggest business uprising in Sterling Cooper history occurs, setting in motion some events that I am completely excited to watch unfold. On one hand it was the perfect way to shake things up before they shut down, on the other I'm going to totally hate waiting another year to see what happens next. I think I'd still give AMC's other show the nod for best on television, but the last few weeks have closed the gap.

New features for Star Trek's second season:

- The first use of the famous arena music is here I believe, when Spock and Kirk are forced to fight to the death. It then pops up again every couple episodes.
- Kirk has a new green v-neck command shirt with a sideways Starfleet emblem at his hip instead of on his chest. I don't really like it, but he only wears it half the time.
- Kirk gets busy with alien ladies a lot more often. Most of them just look like humans, but it happens all the time.
- McCoy gets his name in the main credits. He deserves it, he might actually be my favorite character.
- Chekov shows up. He's a really lame character. In a show where the Enterprise can travel back in time by going really fast, the episode where a gorgeous female member of the landing party is totally into him was the hardest to believe.
- It might just be me, but I feel like the idiosyncrasies of Kirk's speech patterns are much stronger now. This is where people got the justification to mock him until the end of time.
- They've done it before, but this was the season where they really went wild with extremely powerful computers and robots that are always defeated by using logic against them to either fry their circuits or cause them to shut themselves down. It's clever the first time guys, but it becomes a cliché when it happens every time.
- I'm pretty sure the return of Mudd is the first instance of a recurring character who's not an Enterprise crewman, and still the only one so far.
- Another new plot nugget they decided to use repeatedly is that of a planet that has molded its entire culture after a specific period and place in Earth history. You want Kirk and Spock to fight Nazis? You got it!
- Glowing, multi-colored brains in a glass dome.
- It took a while, but we finally have a scene with a bunch of exotic-looking aliens all meeting in a room on the Enterprise. This should have happened in the pilot.
- And lest I forget, we have the first recorded instance of a parallel universe in which the evil version of a character has a goatee. Good stuff.

The thing about Star Trek is I can't decide if I like it more when it's good or bad.

Uncharted 2 is the kind of sequel that all game sequels should hope to be - it makes you never want to go back and play the previous one again. Which is a bit unfortunate in this case, because I still intend to replay the first game for the trophies they later patched in, but just looking at footage of it makes it clear how far Naughty Dog has come in two years. Uncharted 2 is stunning, and easily the best game they have ever made. It's possibly the prettiest game ever, both in terms of technical detail and enchanting art direction. Few games have ever impressed my programmer side (how did they do that?) and my gamer side (woah, that's awesome) at the same time, but Uncharted 2 does it constantly. This is a case where technology is used not just to make the game look nice, which most serious gamers will appreciate, but actually improve the depth and variety of interactions Nathan can perform, making it more fun, which most serious gamers will tell you is more important. There's just things it does that no other game has done, and it could end up being a real watershed moment to transform the action genre into something more dynamic and interesting than just a series of encounters with a bunch of dudes with guns.

The core of the game is still the cover-based shooting, and that's improved over the original. Most people seem to be comparing the aiming and shooting itself very favorably to the first game, saying how much better is. I'm not so sure it's the shooting itself, just that the design and pacing of the encounters is much more thought out and interesting that it often was before. I mean, there are definite improvements, especially where things like controlling the hand-to-hand and grenades are concerned, but what makes the game better is a better understanding of how to make a game like this that comes from doing it repeatedly. Still, if the game was all hiding behind walls and firing guns at people's heads, I'm not sure how much I would like it. The elements of traversing difficult terrain and solving some environmental puzzles are still there, and improved just as much if not more than the shooting.

Drake's notebook returns, but instead of just handing you the answer to a puzzle it often gives you clues to help you figure it out, and you can also flip through it to find some amusing notes Nathan made. Nate has more ways to get around at his disposal, and the climbing is integrated into real world situations more often, when he has to find his way through a war-torn city and fend off enemies at the same time. By the end of the game, I was kind of tired of the escalating difficulty of the shooting segments and their frequency, but for the most part it's an excellently paced, exciting game. The boss fight is better, and the option to improve your odds in some situations by sneaking up on the enemy is nice, although I question the decision to put a mandatory stealth section right up front before the action gets going.

While I did complain about the constant fighting by the end, one of the things that drove me to keep playing was the story. It's no match for great literature by and means, but as far as an adventure tale in the mode of Indiana Jones or something, it's one of the better examples I've seen in any medium. Like the first game, the plot is based on a real-world historical mystery, and ties in likable characters and a touch of campy supernatural elements to keep you interested in the treasure they're seeking. The main cast from the first game all returns with the addition of a few new interesting characters, and the cut scenes feel like exchanges good enough for a real movie. The banter is often funny and witty, and Nate remains one of the more likable protagonists in games right now, even if his easy going personality doesn't quite mesh with him having to kill hundreds of dudes fairly often. I'd be interested to see this team do something a little less violent with the same setting, but in the meantime Uncharted 2 is possibly the best game I've played from this console generation.