I can absorb a lot of information off my screen in very little time.
When all the recent comments or posts are laid out, including the bodies, it takes me about a minute to catch up if I've missed a day. Currently, only the comment dashboard has the bodies. The Post one doesn't.
Some boards have an "expand all" toggle that lets you flip back and forth between modes.
On the right of the comment list, "view post" flips me back to the thread if I want to go there.
It works pretty good for me right now.