Cthulhudrew

I love that I really have no idea where they are going with this show. In the first episode, we see Cole change the past by scratching the future watch. After that, everything else seems to be a case of predestination paradox (notably demonstrated during Atari). Then, last week, we see an alternate future timeline that Cole seemingly changes, and now this week, it looks like they're back to the causality loop theory. At the same time, we apparently see the end of the threat that has been driving the story, except that we know it can't possibly be the end of things, if only because Cole hasn't yet gone back to 1987 and met Leland. At the same time, even knowing that wasn't the end of Cole*, they've done such a great job with the characters and the sense of the unknown, that I really felt that it could possibly have been his death somehow. Or at least had that moment of loss. This show is just a real testament to strong writing, performing, and plotting. (*Just occurred to me as I was writing that sentence, but what if that really was the death of Cole? And that the Cole that will be in the rest of the show, or at least the one that meets Leland in 1987, is actually the Cole from the alternate timeline of last episode? Maybe there are parallel Coles splintering through time?)

Harvey made it go away by blackmailing Evan into making the girl who Donna lied to change her story. Without that girl as a witness, the DA's case went away. That's why they said what he was doing was obstruction of justice. I thought that moment with Donna and Harvey at the end was great. Those are the sorts of character moments that made me enjoy this show in the first place, and that they can have writing like that makes it all the more frustrating that they seem to prefer throwing away scene after scene with characters arguing and cursing at each other instead. EDIT: And while I tend to agree with the sentiment that they should have let Louis handle the case, the success of that would certainly all hinge on whether they opted to make Louis a competent lawyer or a bumbling one this week.

I still wonder why they even did the whole hacker/fake degree story anyway. It's almost as if some writer somehow snuck that script in, they shot it, and afterwards, one of the producers saw the finished show on tv and was like "Who the hell let this get made? There goes 90% of the potential drama on this show!" and then did everything they could to undermine that episode afterwards.

I had a feeling that Dooley wouldn't make it through the season, and while I'm disappointed, they gave him a really great sendoff. I actually thought for a moment that the evil doctor had actually sent him home to live a contented life with his wife and kids, turning his back on the SSR (and wouldn't that have been a twist? If the bad guy did something completely selfless for a troubled individual even in the midst of his mad plot to destroy the lives of countless strangers?) I don't recall seeing any of Shea Whigham's work before, but he (and the writers) crafted such a complex, nuanced character in a relatively small amount of screentime and with a rather sparse bit of dialogue. I'm continually blown away by how this show demonstrates that it is possible to accomplish some very real character development and growth in the increasing vacuum of the television medium. To add to that, all of the characters have been given a lot of life by the writing and acting, and it has been a slow but wonderful build. So much so, that I found myself fearful at various points for all of the non-Peggy and Edwin characters in this episode (especially Sousa and, of course, Dooley). The creators of this show have been able to get me invested in a way that many other shows do not (particularly that other Marvel one, to which this show puts to shame. Shame. SHAME!) EDIT: Oh, and that confessional of Peggy's? Great, great scene. I really hope she (and the rest of the cast and crew) get a second season.

I'd have found the collar burning scene more moving and honest if Gabriel hadn't been sitting right in front of Maggie when he did it. While he didn't look directly at her, or even acknowledge her, it still came across to me as being more than a little manipulative, if not necessarily between the characters, to me the viewer. Now, if Gabriel had been sitting on the other side of camp and Maggie had just happened to notice him having this moment of crisis and dropping his collar in the fire without having been provoked by her presence? To me, that would have made the scene much more powerful, each character having their own private reaction to what was going on, and not making it seem like a martyrdom.

I'd love it if the next time someone starts to drink something, everyone pauses and looks over at Abe, who starts to raise his hand to slap it away, then grins, and everyone has a hearty laugh. End scene.

Are we sure that there are actually different timelines at all? Based on what happened in "Atari," it looks to me like this is all one self-contained loop.

Pull the drowning victim to the surface first, then cut them free of their bonds, Harvey.

Cole did mention a woman named "Helena" that Ramse didn't seem to want to talk about. I assumed it was someone (like Max) that he'd met when they were with the West Seven, but then we saw the flashbacks and it didn't look like that was probably the case. So someone from before their time with the West Seven (which was 2032 - 2035, IIRC?) or else afterwards (2035 -2043). There still is some back story about how Cole got tossed into the cage where Jones found him, and how he and Ramse ended up with the military-science team that we haven't seen, so I'm guessing more likely Helena is somehow tied into the Post-West Seven time period. BTW, did anyone get a good look where the Night Room was located? From Cole's expression, I got the feeling that it was right in his hometown in Philadelphia that he'd just finished telling Cassie about, but it could just have been disbelief that they found it so soon and wasn't connected to that at all.

I thought so, too, until the end when Harvey was going to tell Mike about Professor Whatsisface. :(

I really enjoyed this episode. Up until this episode, I thought that Ramse was going to eventually betray Cole because he was jealous that he wasn't chosen to go back in time, but this one really laid out that Ramse is the moral center without which Cole would have turned into someone cold and dangerous and completely unsuitable for the task ahead of him. As is, we have already seen that he's got a very dark temperament that allows him to make hard choices when needed, but without Ramse, he wouldn't be able to pull back from that. I thought that was a great touch. Their brief convo at the end is something I hope gets expanded upon, too. Specifically, when Cole says things happen for a reason, and Ramse says "Why bother changing anything, then?" Made me a bit disappointed when Cole said he had no interest in Max any more, because I think having the double connection to his present- his best friend and his lover- would have presented a real interesting moral dilemma for him going forward: do I continue to try and avert this catastrophe, knowing it will cost me the ones I love, even though it would save billions? Which would make a great parallel with his convo with Cassie earlier in the episode when he tried to tell her that she needed to make a similar choice- kill other people to save billions. Really enjoying this show, and I like that even though it's based on an existing property, it's enough of its own thing that I really don't know where they are going to take it. That is refreshing in this era of cookie-cutter entertainment.

Haven't they done daylight rooftop scenes before on this show? I would have sworn they did. Wow did that ever look horrible. Why even bother blowing any portion of your budget on cgi when you have a show that doesn't remotely need it? This isn't The Flash. I'm going to choose to believe that they were trying to indicate that this season is actually taking place in the Matrix, and this whole season has been a VR dream of Louis'.

Tom Noonan's character is obviously pretty strong; IIRC, Cole is supposed to be full of nanites and stuff that make him nearly superhuman, and Noonan (whatever nickname we're giving him) manhandled him twice. So that's a strange thing.

Practically every single scene on this show is an argument, just with different players arguing. It's gotten to the point of ludicrousness. It's like they just toss names in a hat, pull out argument pairings, and throw in a bunch of S-words. Lather, rinse, repeat. Clearly, this seems to be working for them, as they are in their 4th season now, but I miss the days when the group worked together and had lighthearted moments, and tried to jointly do their best to represent their clients and beat other law firms. Not this incessant tearing down of each other that has been going on for way too long now. Who in their right mind would work in a place with this much constant antagonism? Who would hire these people? The cast and characters deserve a lot better than this, writers. Stop it.

Is it just me, or is that the best Oliver's Flashback Wig has looked in the entire run of the show so far? Hopefully this means they're setting Quentin up to become the next mayor.