Yes, I remember this episode too - just without commercials, and in better quality. It was good to see the episode again...as you said, Giff had so much potential as a character and such natural chemistry with those a round him. I never understand how characters like this are so easily sacrificed. What I like most about the Giff and Dinah Lee scene is when she tells him she's the only person in Corinth not related to the Aldens, and he reminds her he is in the same position. The concept of Corinth having a higher class and people tied to them, then "others" like Dinah Lee, is so much more compelling than Dinah Lee going through various Alden men or the husbands of Alden women.
Carly is such a draining character. Any time she's onscreen I just feel a weight hang over the room. I think Colleen Quinn was a fine actress and she worked as Ava's sister and Kate's daughter, but that whole story with Paul and Ava is just very good actors coping with middling material.