As I said above, I watched OOTP today. I found that the gaping plot holes and production errors in this episode bugged me a lot more after a long break than they did originally. But the
feel of the episode was wonderful, and the ending was as wonderful as I remembered.
On a shallow note, I loved the deep, gravelly-velvet quality of Mick's voice throughout the episode, and the little "feeding growls" he was making as he fed on the redheaded freshie made me

What really struck me was the beauty of both Mick and Beth, and the gorgeous way they were filmed. They both seemed to glow in this episode. And their hair and clothes were fabulous. (I also noticed that 80's Mick was already partial to Henleys.

) I was surprised that Josef was only in a couple of scenes, because he seemed to permeate the whole episode. And he stole the scenes he was in. I really love those two vamps together.
Story-wise, I found this episode to be pretty thin. But the casting was fabulous, and the acting was absolutely stellar. They really turned a so-so script into gold here. Alex, especially, was at the top of his game. He really sold Mick's frustration and confusion at being fooled by Lee Jay, and I loved the little nuanced expressions he used throughout. The eyebrow of disdain was in evidence at the end of Lee Jay's speech at the book party, a great way to show what he thought of that load of hogwash.

In fact, there are a bunch of individual scenes in this episode that are among my favorites of the whole show--Mick sitting on the stairs, playing with his lighter and brooding; the "Trust me" scene; his amazing scene in Bobby's apartment; the Red room...

"You made the news"; that adorable one-sided grin he gave to Beth when he said, "Wanna navigate?" (What girl could refuse?); Beth's line about the girl always having to wait in the car. And, of course, the ending was absolutely enthralling. We could feel Mick's pain and shame and self-loathing as he was forced to reveal himself to Beth. And even though I totally knew it was coming, I found myself again amazed at the audacity of the show to do the "big reveal" so soon. I'm so grateful that they did it that way--especially since we got only those precious 16 episodes.