Liam Neeson guest-starred on "Everything That Rises Must Converge," but the presence of that stellar actor wasn't actually a focus of the episode.

Granted, it was fun watching the Love Actually reunion between him and Laura Linney. However, there were two major developments that overshadowed Neeson's wacky doctor and his stinging bees. We analyze each below.

1. The Kiss. I wasn't a fan of Todd and Cathy's lip lock. Up to this point, the relationship between these two felt like nothing else on television. A young doctor, facing the first death of a patient, growing close to said patient in a non-romantic sense was fresh and interesting.

But now the show has reduced that intriguing dynamic to a cliche: spurned boyfriend is lost and confused and makes a move on a woman to whom he's grown close.

The preface to the kiss also felt like a quick, unrealistic role reversal: wasn't Cathy the optimistic one at the close of last week's episode? Didn't Todd have trouble supporting her decision to find alternate treatment because he needed her to face reality? Now, we suddenly had Cathy telling Todd to accept her fate, which immediately proceeded the smooch.

2. The Suicide. Conversely, this was a welcome development. Not because I disliked the character of Marlene. Quite the opposite, in fact.

She served a very useful purpose in Cathy's life and the build-up to her suicide felt believable and understandable from all sides. Paul may feel some guilt over telling Marlene to stay away from Adam, but no one can blame a father for being protective, can they? Especially when he's already gonna lose his wife.

I also liked the choice to show Cathy's reaction from afar, and then to bring Marlene's death around to the happiness collage Cathy has created on the ceiling. Well done all around.

I'm curious how the season wraps up next week, as this felt like a finale, didn't it? What did you think of the episode?

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.