I am stopping for a second just before the Natalie part to say: I'm so moved by how you've written about these characters with such beauty and emotion and love. I don't really have anything intellectual to add, because it's not really an intellectual analysis, but I think you captured something vital about why the show feels like it has come unstuck, which made these episodes exhilaratingly dizzying.

of course Natalie is exactly the sort of person it seems Laura is searching for, and vice versa (she's stepping into Three's position in S3, essentially). so moving on...