Cogs can think.

It’s weird, almost intriguing, how the death of a loved one can make people transcend their normal abilities, cross their own borders. It makes some people rise far above themselves. You see this in the weirdest of places.

8 Simple Rules. A fairly mediocre, but at times quite entertaining comedy series. I watch the syndications every day, but more as a matter of ‘roomfiller’ than anything else. It has a few fairly clever jokes each episode.

Until I watched today’s episode, where the main character of the show actually died. The show transcended its normal abilities, and the actors delivered an outstanding performance. In fact, it was moving. Their pain felt extremely sincere, honest. The arguments, the frustration, the emotions - it felt as if I was being sucked into my television. I stopped doing my dishes right there, and sat down on my coffee table. I’d never seen an episode this good - it stood out like an American in Paris. I went onto Wikipedia to investigate this anomaly of an episode a bit more closely.

And that’s when I realised why this episode was so good.

That main character, the actor portraying him. He had in fact died. He really died right before shooting that episode, and the makers decided to incorporate his death into the show. And they did a marvelous job.

I’ll be watching the show with more attention now.