diff --git a/src/content.js b/src/content.js
index 188eba0..8f2dcef 100644
--- a/src/content.js
+++ b/src/content.js
@@ -182,17 +182,39 @@ async function fetchPlainHtml(url) {
 }
 
 
+// Every individual step below has its own timeout, but acquiring the shared
+// session does not, and it is awaited while holding a browser slot. A wedged
+// chromium therefore parks all eight slots forever, and because nothing throws
+// there is not a single line in the log to say so: content fetching simply stops.
+// That is exactly what happened after the 4 Sept restart, ~328 articles in.
+// This is the outer bound that guarantees the slot always comes back.
+const BROWSER_HARD_TIMEOUT = 90000;
+
 async function fetchBrowserHtml(url) {
   await browserSemaphore.acquire();
   try {
     const maxConcurrentPages = Number(config.browser?.maxConcurrentPages) || 8;
-    const session = await getSharedBrowserSession({
-      requestTimeout: BROWSER_FETCH_TIMEOUT,
-      maxConcurrentPages,
+    let timer;
+    const expired = new Promise((_, reject) => {
+      timer = setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(
+        `browser fetch exceeded ${BROWSER_HARD_TIMEOUT}ms for ${url}, the session is probably wedged`)),
+        BROWSER_HARD_TIMEOUT);
     });
-
-    const html = await session.fetchRenderedHtml(url, { timeout: BROWSER_FETCH_TIMEOUT });
-    return { html, finalUrl: url };
+    try {
+      return await Promise.race([
+        (async () => {
+          const session = await getSharedBrowserSession({
+            requestTimeout: BROWSER_FETCH_TIMEOUT,
+            maxConcurrentPages,
+          });
+          const html = await session.fetchRenderedHtml(url, { timeout: BROWSER_FETCH_TIMEOUT });
+          return { html, finalUrl: url };
+        })(),
+        expired,
+      ]);
+    } finally {
+      clearTimeout(timer);
+    }
   } finally {
     browserSemaphore.release();
   }
diff --git a/src/scheduler.js b/src/scheduler.js
index 639a38b..8b73cee 100644
--- a/src/scheduler.js
+++ b/src/scheduler.js
@@ -129,7 +129,14 @@ function startScheduler() {
       try {
         const perSource = Number(config.contentBackfill?.perSource) || 50;
         const batchSize = Number(config.contentBackfill?.batchSize) || 25;
+        // A round is long and silent. When content fetching wedged on 4 Sept there
+        // was not one line anywhere saying so, which is why it went unnoticed for
+        // three days while the live lane starved for want of enriched articles.
+        const startedAt = Date.now();
+        console.log(`[content] worker ${workerIndex} starting a round`);
         const processed = await runBackfillWorker({ workerIndex, workerCount, perSource, batchSize });
+        console.log(`[content] worker ${workerIndex} finished ${processed} articles`
+          + ` in ${Math.round((Date.now() - startedAt) / 1000)}s`);
 
         // if a worker found nothing in its partition, brief sleep so we dont
         // hammer the db with empty selects