Sir RaiderDuck OMS

At least the interminable Rachel storyline is over. I had zero interest in what had happened to her or desire to see her again.

My favorite is from the first episode of the series, and it's Frank talking about the difference between money and power: "Money is the McMansion that starts falling apart in ten years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries."

I loved the contrast of Remy's realizing how little Frank cares about any but himself, coupled with Freddy's bluntly telling him that this is what Frank is, and you can't blame "the snake for having fangs" or whatever. Freddy's already experienced the limits of Frank's faux friendship last season, and now just accepts it for what it is: Frank will be your best friend right up until the moment that friendship might cost him personally, at which point he'll dump you without a second thought.

I LOVED Claire's horror at gradually realizing that of all the doors she could have knocked on, this one belonged to the trashiest family in Iowa. No lady, it is NOT normal for a married woman to go down on some guy just for putting together a baby crib. Nor is it normal to contemplate matricide, let alone admit it to a complete stranger, especially one surrounded by law enforcement officers literally 24 hours a day.

Petrov wouldn't budge on the Corrigan thing and then, against all evidence, directly blames Underwood for the Jordan Valley incident when it's obvious it wasn't the US's fault. Underwood wouldn't have made either mistake.

I'm assuming that Gavin found Rachel, but feels for her and just wants her to be left alone. So he came up with the "Jane Doe died in a car wreck" story, knowing Doug won't find out different as long as Rachel (who just wants anonymity at this point) doesn't resurface. Petrov (the show's screamingly obvious Vladimir Putin stand-in) is way too pigheaded and stubborn. He should be the Russian equivalent of Underwood himself: a crafty operator bar none.

Gotta disagree. I understand where Freddy was coming from, but to just shoot down a boy's dreams like that is cruel. I would have preferred something like "Lots of people want to be President, DeShawn. Let's just concentrate on your grades right now." I assumed Benito Martinez had some obligation that forced him to pull out of the remaining episodes. Too bad, because he's an awesome actor and I liked his character.

When Frank said "[Corrigan] was a coward and I'm glad he's dead," I found myself agreeing with him. Corrigan could have just read his stupid statement (EVERYONE would have understood he was just saying it to get out of a Russian prison) and gone home. But he chose to traumatize Claire (who was trying to help him) and leave his husband a widow.

I actually thought he was going to inject himself with it, a la Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx in one of Motley Crue's more publicized incidents...

I'd be perfectly happy to never see Rachel again. Season 2 devoted WAY too much time to Stamper's unhealthy obsession with her.

I was getting more of a Bulworth vibe from this sequence. Gods help us if Underwood starts rapping. Still, Frank's plans are coming into place: He's going to be "Mr. Honest," hopefully become popular because of it, do his damndest behind the scenes to pick the weakest possible Democratic Presidential nominee, then backstab him right before the convention so he can be drafted as the new nominee (note how he didn't pull a Lyndon Johnson and say he wouldn't ACCEPT the nomination, only that he wouldn't SEEK it). Also, I loved how Sen. Mendoza pushed her buttons during the hearings, then freely admitted to her later that he'd done just that to see if she'd lose her cool. One BIG point that bugged: The Postal Revenue and Federal Salary Act of 1967 specifically prohibits a president from appointing any close relative (presumably this includes a spouse) to any job in the executive branch; this law was passed in belated response to JFK appointing his brother Bobby as Attorney General in 1961. Hillary is "only" 67 years old. When she runs next year, she'll be younger than Ronald Reagan was when he ran in 1980. I think it's so he can honestly say "No" when asked if he's been drinking; he hasn't actually been DRINKING any booze (although it's getting into his system nonetheless).

Remember that Ep. 26 was supposed to be the end of the series (as HOC was originally a 26-episode order), so it would make sense to close out Doug's arc with his death and Frank's with his ascending to POTUS. Then when they decided to come back for season 3, they obviously didn't want to be without Doug. Hence, the slight retconning.

Was that the one where Farley talked about the "Paul is Dead" thing and directly asked Paul if he was, in fact, dead?

Love the dynamic between the two, but Richie's way more dependent on Seth than the other way around. Seth would be fine on his own. Richie? Not so much.

I liked DJ Catrona as Seth: he captured Clooney's no-nonsense arrogance without outright copying his characterization. Brandon Soo Hoo was a HUGE improvement as Scott Fuller over Ernest Liu in the film. I hadn't realized how terrible Liu was until I watched the series. Zane Holtz was also an improvement as Richie, as he was actually playing a character, as opposed to Tarantino in the film who was basically playing a psychotic version of himself.

From (I think) the 85-86 season: The sketch starts off like a Beer commercial, with aggressive upbeat music with "Where you're going, you always know it" lyrics. Randy Quaid and a bunch of other high-paid execs are shown being mean to subordinates, and generally acting like jerks. Then the lyrics say ""Where you're going...YOU'RE GONNA PAY!" and beer is shown flowing from a tap into a glass engraved "HELL". The announcer begins this rant about repenting your sins, ending with "You're gonna burn. No doubt about it." while the background text (with flames licking around the edge) reads "A Message from Almighty God."

Two from the late 80s stand out: The Church Chat with Joe Montana and Walter Payton, where Payton ad-libs "I just try to penetrate any opening I can find," and Montana (in another ad-lib) actually grabs the Church Lady's backside, causing her to waddle halfway across the stage (Dana was obviously taken by surprise), followed by Montana's pitch-perfect "Sorry, Church Lady, I just couldn't help myself!" And the People's Court parody, complete with Lovitz in a ridiculous devil suit being introduced as "Mephistopheles (The Devil)," continuing with Jan Hooks giving her occupation as "Barfly," Lovitz/Satan's outraged "Trash on your lawn? Listen here! I am the almighty prince of darkness! If I starting harassing you, YOU'LL KNOW IT!" and culminating with Lovitz/Satan imploring people to worship him, with the sketch's Rusty Burrell stand-in losing patience and hauling him away.

There actually was a way to have tested that water: It's similar to the way the Army instructs Rangers to test plants of questionable origin: Open the bottle and hold it under your nose. Breathe normally, holding the bottle, for the next 15 minutes or so. If at any point you become nauseous, light-headed or suffer other physical symptoms, throw the bottle away. If everything seems OK, pour some water out onto your inner wrist and let it sit there for 15 minutes. Watch for itchiness, hives, etc. Toss the bottle if needed. Next, drink a little and don't swallow, but rather swish it around in your mouth for 15 minutes or so. If everything still seems OK, drink a little and wait half an hour. If there's still nothing wrong, drink some more, a little at a time.

It was weird seeing the normally badass Michonne lose it a little. She's nearing the end of her emotional rope. And for the love of General Motors, GET A VEHICLE WITH FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE! Surely they must have them in Georgia, a state with a lot of muddy back roads and whatnot.

Not sure if this counts because he's passed away, but State of Fear really soured me on Michael Crichton, especially in the way he backed his anti-climate change position with a lot of supposed scientific facts and figures that he'd cherry-picked or purposely interpreted incorrectly to back up his point (in other words, he did exactly what he'd accused others of doing). Add to that a protagonist who cheats death more than most superheroes and a screamingly stereotypical celebrity type who is eaten by cannibals at the end, and...let's just say I prefer to think of the excellent Pirate Latitudes as Crichton's final novel.

And so the saga of Jax Teller of Nazareth has ended. Are the rest of Grim Bastards getting patched in or not? Seems weird to just take T.O. So the dead eyes and stilted speech by Abel was nothing more than a mediocre child actor. During the entire low-speed chase, I kept thinking of OJ Simpson. Gotta love how Gemma gets one last long, loving closeup. And wouldn't squirrels and bugs have eaten half her face by now? More than a few plot threads were dropped, but none I really care about. Series finales are hard to do, and this one got the job done.

It did inspire one of the all-time great TV exchanges: A typically lobotomized Sherri Shepherd: "I don't think anything predated Christians." Whoopi Goldberg: "The Jews?"

I always assumed it was so they could bring the character back later if need be.

He's not doing it for the "crusader" aspect, but rather because he still cares about SAMCRO; patching in the Grim Bastards will strengthen the club considerably. They got retaliation on Gemma's rapist (played by Henry Rollins) and were about to take out the Aryan leader (played by Adam Arkin, IIRC) when they got the call that Half-Sack had been murdered and Abel kidnapped. When Clay and Tig (I think) learned that Juice's father was black, they looked at each other and said "That's still a rule???" Nobody cared. It may portend something, or it may be nothing more than Charlie Hunnam spraining his ankle or banging his knee ten minutes before they had to film the scene, and the producers not logistically and/or financially able to delay shooting.

And Dallas has officially ended. RIP to a great show. http://dallasdecoder.com/2014/11/19/the-efforts-to-save-dallas-have-ended/