Also, "ornamentally installing a Chekhov's gun" is such a great turn of phrase (and accurate).

Thank you!

Revisiting this series even at mostly second hand has been at once illuminating and kind of mentally trepanning, because I saw it at an age when I had so little basis for comparison with other television shows and while I was not without tools for thinking about story at that time, I was also *checks airdates* thirteen to seventeen for its original run. I can apply a lot more argument to it now.