Black Knight

I would've liked to see the Lions make the Super Bowl, but I don't hate this outcome. I'm curious to see who wins a match-up of Niners and Chiefs. The Chiefs have the better QB, but the Niners have more weapons. Yes, they met in 2020, but the Niners are a very different team now. Ravens-Niners would have been boring, as we've already seen that match-up this year. Mahomes is spectacular but not unbeatable. The Chiefs lost Super Bowl LV quite badly and didn't make Super Bowl LVI. He's been dubbed the new Brady, and the Chiefs the new dynasty, and that's true enough. But that Brady/Belichick New England dynasty once went ten years between Super Bowl wins. It's just really hard to win Super Bowls because every round of the NFL playoffs plus the Super Bowl is just one game. And in the NFL, Any Given Sunday is the rule.

Glad the game's not a blowout. Let's see what happens now!

Yeah, the Lions knew they needed to follow the Ravens' blueprint for beating the Niners: Do whatever you have to do to jump out to a big early lead.

The Pistons are a bad team, but not quite as bad as their infamous streak would suggest. Some of their losses were close and could have easily gone the other way in the last minute of play. That's another reason I wasn't rooting for them to break the record, because this roster doesn't really deserve that dubious distinction. They're going to lose most of their remaining games, but it'll follow the more normal pattern you'd expect out of a bad roster of an occasional win among the losses. They'll get to 10 wins probably within a month.

NBC reported that there are multiple teams thinking about Belichick, and that at least one of them currently has a HC. My prediction is that the team that hires Belichick will be one that already has a franchise QB in place, needs the defense brought up to a superior level, and is in win-now mode. The Falcons didn't make sense since they don't have a franchise QB and are at least a couple of years away from real postseason success, and it sounds like they realized that. It would not surprise me if one of the teams thinking about Belichick is Buffalo. The sentiment among many Bills fans is that McDermott has hit his ceiling, and there may well be similar feeling in the organization too. And there is concern that Buffalo's window won't be open much longer. Since the Bills are a AFC East team, Belichick would be in a division that he knows like the back of his hand, and in a league he knows like the back of his hand. And he is used to winter conditions. With all those powerful AFC QBs out there, when you have a top-rated QB of your own, then maybe what you want to give your own top-rated QB an edge in these AFC shootouts is a top-tier defense. Buffalo makes a lot of sense as a landing spot.

CBS Sports put up an interesting article yesterday recounting 9 incidents during Griffin's short tenure that help explain his firing.

He’d been consulting with the team since December. So he’s not coming in totally new.

I was actually rooting for the Pistons not to make NBA history with their losing streak. That kind of thing would have been fun to me only with certain franchises. I would have laughed my head off if the Lakers (LBJ) or Mavericks (Kyrie) were on the losing streak. But Detroit? Nah. I felt sorry for them and was glad when they finally won.

Aleida. But thankfully, apparently Irina never did catch on to that. Going in to this episode, I was expecting Margo to agree to return to Russia in exchange for Aleida being safe. Instead, she confessed to what she did because she saw Aleida was about to be in a whole lot of danger from Irina for sabotaging the asteroid mission. Of course I loved Aleida just having to run to hug Margo. I thought it was telling that Ed and Dev were hugging and celebrating with not a word to check in with Sam to see if she was actually okay and not flying off on a one way trip to deep space. They knew she was without her tether, they knew she'd been fighting Palmer, but in the end, neither of them gave a rat's ass about her even though she's the one who accomplished what they were trying to do. I expected Ed to go out in a blaze of glory in this episode, just like he wanted. How ironic that he was instead safely inside while someone else did all the dangerous stuff on the mission. And please tell me they're not going to keep Ed as a major character in this 2012 time jump. I read an interview with Krys Marshall in which she mentioned that Dani was the youngest of everyone and she's now going to be in her 60s if she's back for S5. So what would that make Ed? 80-something? Krys Marshall said she had told the writers before S4 that Dani should be killed off, for the gut punch of it, and right up to a few days before the finale script came out, that was the plan. They actually wrote her death and then changed their minds. I agree that that was the right choice, especially for this show. Like Marshall said, the show's not euphoric, but nor is it dystopian - it's more optimistic. It's not that Dani can't die, but the way it would've happened here wasn't the way to do it.

Out of the 4 AFC teams, the only one I didn't want to advance was KC. I'll be rooting for Baltimore next week. We'll see how much the NFL wants Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl.

The equipment failure occurred because a striking worker deliberately stole a part, necessitating a workaround that literally blew up in people's faces. So calling the theft of the part terrorism is not so much a political cover story as looking at the theft in the worst possible light. Since nobody stepped forward to confess to the theft, the truth, which was that the union just wanted to stop the work from going forward, hasn't been vocalized. And there are people who would assume, until told otherwise, that the union didn't just want the work stopped, they wanted the explosion and people dead. We see that again in this episode when Will and Eli and Irina all basically conclude that the reason why someone wants to communicate with Ranger is for malicious reasons that will endanger the Ranger crew. It doesn't occur to any of them that someone is just trying to grab the asteroid. So now we have torture and murder happening in the Mars colony. Great. No, I think Lee killed Cho because Cho saw him there and knew he was involved in whatever was going on. If Lee had let Cho live, Cho would've in short order sent him on a one-way trip back to North Korea to live out the rest of his life in a prison. Or be shot. It was sweet (pun not intended) to see Margo re-enacting her old candy routine with Javier and introducing it for the first time to Aleida's daughter. One thing that worries me is that Irina may have cottoned on to Margo's attachment to Aleida. Margo was quite careful in earlier episodes not to speak of any personal feelings for Aleida, but going to Aleida's home may have been a mistake. Assuming Russia was behind Sergei's murder, Irina may know that he was expendable because she has someone else whose life she can use to force Margo to do her bidding. Goodbye, Sergei. I was surprised at how he really didn't seem to give his wife a thought. I'm not sure Margo was really behind his Brazil idea though. I had the impression that to her it was more of a whimsical fantasy. At her level of accomplishment, the idea of building up a fledgling space program wouldn't be that attractive, and first and foremost Margo is about the work. If she were going to defect anywhere, it'd be back to America. (I suspect the humiliation factor would make it palatable for the American government to strike a deal with her. And then they would just claim she'd been a triple agent all along.) But I predict she goes back to Russia to keep Aleida safe, and she mentors Tatyana there as she did Aleida. And Tatyana becomes the next generation of ROSCOSMOS on this show. I certainly felt a bunch of anvils being thrown at my head during Dani's video, but I'm hoping that's misdirection. After all, this show spent a good chunk of last season's finale on the "Karen is going to be CEO of Helios" plotline, seemingly setting her up for big S4 story, only to kill her off. I would argue that Molly Cobb also received a happy ending. Yes, she died. But any story that goes on long enough will have their characters die, of old age if nothing else. (In another time jump or two we might be hearing in the news montages about the funeral of Ellen Wilson, two-term POTUS and heroine astronaut who legalized gay marriage and enabled NASA's push to Mars.) Molly was in a loving marriage for decades, learned to adapt to her blindness, and found new fulfillment in art after her NASA career ended. And I suspect she felt very much along the same lines as Ed vocalized to Kelly here, that she'd rather go out in a blaze of glory, doing something meaningful, than die of dementia in a nursing home. Yes, I think Molly got a happy ending.

The NFL has a compelling NFCC game on its hands, for sure. On the one hand, there's the Niners with arguably the best roster in the NFL and which has seen a lot of success in recent years, albeit not a Super Bowl championship, and a QB who was Mr. Irrelevant in the draft; and on the other hand there's Detroit, a longstanding joke of the NFL, whose longtime franchise QB had to be traded elsewhere to finally get a ring, and now are in reach of a Super Bowl with the QB they got back in that trade, whose team had given up on him. I'm hoping for a great game between these two teams, unlike when I was so excited about last year's NFCC game between the Eagles and Niners, only to see that be a total freak of a disaster because of what happened with the Niners' QBs. I'm rooting for Detroit, but I'm okay with a Niners win too.

That actually didn't occur to me, that he wouldn't go back to his wife. Initially I thought he just wanted to see Margo in person and thank her for all she did for him and his family, then when he told her about Irina I thought it was also about that. It's just hard for me to see him actually leaving his wife. I've never thought of him as a cad at heart. I kind of suspected when Aleida and Margo first reunited that her real anger with Margo was about her letting Aleida believe she was dead, and about her not being there to help Aleida through the trauma of the bombing. The theft of the engine design and the defection to Russia were just the safer reasons to express. Part of Aleida will always be that teenage girl who had lost her mother and wanted Margo to take her in and be a mother to her, and was denied. And then Margo came looking for her years later, and gave her the job, and although Aleida never said it outright, she felt she finally had what she wanted. Margo had a title of honorary aunt with her son, and she wouldn't take the Helios job when Karen offered it because it would have meant leaving Margo. I'm glad Sergei explained to Aleida how it would have been impossible for Margo to reach out. Ed and Dev's plot has such a feeling of impending disaster, and the thing is, Ed can't say he didn't get plenty of ominous signs. There was the death and multiple injuries that came about because of the strike, then he thinks he hears something come crashing down on his grandson, whom he put in that situation. I suppose he'll finally come to his senses once the asteroid gets knocked onto a Very Bad Path, whether that's Earth or the spot on Mars that Kelly is currently in. The good news is that I feel like we should soon be getting the kind of awesome space action that the first three seasons had and this one has been short on so far. I grant it's hard to top strapping a pregnant woman to the outside of a spacecraft and launching her off a planet...

Agreed. All that would matter here is what the Soviets would think happened. It doesn't have to be proven in a court of law. And if Margo died, the Soviets would absolutely think that the CIA did it, and it would color the Soviets' actions towards the U.S. They'd do something punitive in return. I really loved that whole sequence of Margo being escorted to the Molly Cobb Space Center in a limousine, her expression inside the limo before getting out, and her expressions as she made her way to the building. I was amused by Ed's actions in the last episode, not because I didn't think he was being selfish and hypocritical and childish, but because I didn't expect it to lead to all that much. Unfortunately it got a little more serious that I thought it would. Shut up, Ed. I'm tired of his "us" shtick given that he didn't care a whit about these people until Dani found out he wasn't fit to fly and grounded him. Dani called him out a little bit during the meeting, but she should've gone on more. Kelly also called him out a teensy bit, but not enough. He hasn't been there for his daughter and grandson in eight years, and he's actually not planning on being there for them for the rest of his life, however long that is (three episodes to go, right? I expect that long). As for Helios? As problematic as it is to have various countries in control of space, having a corporation in control is even worse. All I need to remember about Dev (and Helios) is that back during the Martian space race, he refused to rescue another spaceship. There is at least some sense among the countries of the M-7, even despite their competing agendas, of something that is occasionally bigger. And, who are the striking workers in the employ of? Who are they really so unhappy with? Helios. But sure, it'd be great to have Helios be who gets that asteroid, and control of a Martian colony. A number of people who were there were representing various groups. The first guy to cross the line mentioned he repped a group of 12, and Dev then told the remaining people that there were now 88 slots left. At least one other person crossing the line mentioned that they repped a group of 18. So the numbers would actually dwindle pretty fast. Between the two people we heard specifically from, that's 30 slots right there - almost a third of the slots.

On a tangentially related note, both Belichick and Harbaugh are doing second interviews with the Falcons. The other teams still in search of a head coach are, I believe, the Panthers, Chargers, Seahawks, Titans, and Commanders. Setting aside Carolina, which is a dumpster fire, I don't entirely understand why Atlanta is apparently the top open job. I get the Spanii have a poor reputation, for instance, but out of all the teams looking for HCs the Chargers still have the top franchise QB in Justin Herbert plus a few other very nice pieces. The Seahawks and Titans seem promising destinations as well. I don't really know much about Atlanta, except that they do not currently have a franchise QB, unless there's anyone who still thinks Ridder could be. What's the draw? Is their defense stealthy good? Or is it because their division is one of the weaker ones and therefore easier to win? If you're the Chargers, you have to contend with the Chiefs, and if you're the Seahawks, you have to contend with the Niners.

So the Raiders are making Antonio Pierce the permanent HC. I think it's the right move. Pierce did wonders for the defense, while the offense is likely to remain shaky next year no matter who is HC because the team doesn't have a franchise QB. (I don't think O'Connell is the answer.) But having a powerhouse defense will make this a good situation for an incoming QB season after next. They can focus on building up the OL this year, a crucial step for making the future QB successful.

I suspect Ed is a goner by season's end, so instead of being infuriated, I was rather amused by his actions in this episode. He didn't want Svetlana to face any consequences for almost killing one of that group, he didn't care about the fact none of them had gotten to communicate with their families in weeks because he didn't make fixing the bandwidth a priority, and he was not only completely dismissive of their financial needs, he looked down on them for it. But sure, because he's mad that Dani won't let him fly anymore with the hand tremor and canned him as XO, he's going to pretend to suddenly care about the below decks people so he can cause trouble for Dani. LOL If he were still XO, he would've signed that pay rates and bonus sheet without a second thought and dismissed the below decks people's anger after. He did the right thing here, but for the wrong reason. Dani I suspect will be genuinely horrified by what Helios was planning on doing, and Kelly and Dev, who controls Helios, are about to arrive, so I expect all of this can be repaired pretty quickly. I expect Kelly's arrival with his grandson will kinda get Ed back on track somewhat, in time for what I expect will be a Molly Cobb sort of exit. I loved every bit of Margo and Aleida in this episode. Margo's reaction to first seeing Aleida on camera, and then wanting to keep watching her. The complex scene of Aleida, Eli and Irina with Margo's voice in her ear, with Aleida I think subconsciously being triggered a bit by Margo-isms. And then of course Aleida seeing Margo alive, and for all of her justifiable anger and grief that she fully vented later, none of that alters that her first reaction was to throw her arms around Margo and sob. And I think getting to talk about the trauma of that day with Margo, specifically, is what she had really needed all those years after the bombing. Aleida obviously vehemently disagrees with Margo's decisions to hand over information to Russia and to defect, but I think still prefers that to Margo being dead. And ultimately, if Margo had not chosen to defect, that's probably what would have happened to her: She would have died in the bombing when her office wall got blown out. I believed Margo when she said she wished she had been at her post, but although I don't know that Aleida will ever voice it, I think she doesn't feel the same way even though she knows she probably "should." Just wonderful work by both actresses in this episode.

Without the dependency on oil, Saddam Hussein wouldn't have invaded Kuwait. The invasion of Kuwait led to American troops being stationed in Saudi Arabia, which is what so infuriated Osama bin Laden into carrying out multiple terrorist attacks against the United States, most infamously and horribly 9/11. So that's correct, without the oil economy, no 9/11. I was glad not to see the face of either of Tracy/Gordo's sons. Hopefully for the younger one, the bit in the news montage will be considered sufficient. I guess we'll have to hear eventually what happened to Danny, but I hope he's dead. Damn, Aleida, huge step back career-wise for her. It's always nice to see Daniel Stern though. I recognize Toby Kebbell from Servant, another Apple TV show. Seems odd that he'd get his name second in the opening credits after Joel Kinnaman, ahead of multiple people who have been on the show longer with major roles. It's not like he's a big name.

No, because Mahomes lowered his head into Elliott's, which is how it happened. If anyone was going to be called for a foul for it, it would have been Mahomes. Elliott never moved his head. It wasn't about attracting new viewers per se, as the other poster thought. It's about the fact that the NFL has future bargaining with streaming services coming up. We are approaching a future where only a minority of people have OTA and so streaming services will pay to air these games. The NFL wants to make sure the streaming services pay lucratively for that privilege. So giving Peacock an exclusive game, except for the fans in the local markets of the teams playing, is a proof-of-concept, if you will. One also has to keep in mind that with OTA being a minority of viewers in future, that means the broadcast networks will not pay the NFL as much money for rights anymore. After all, games on those networks were free to viewers, but they certainly were not free for the networks to air. As the OTA audience dwindles, the rights to air those games become much less valuable to the broadcast channels, because the advertising revenue will decrease as well. The NFL needs to make sure streaming services will at minimum make up the difference, and wants ideally that they would pay more than the difference, thus increasing the profits to the NFL.

I agree about Krause deserving credit as well as blame. And I would have the credit weigh far more than the blame on the scales, because there is never any guarantee of a championship, but dynasties always end. Father Time is undefeated. Krause (and Reinsdorf) almost certainly ended this dynasty a little before its natural end, but really, who's to say? The Bulls might have repeated the next season, or not. We'll never know. A NBA season is long, injuries happen, dark horse teams go on hot streaks in playoffs, etc.

Any talk of whether Cleveland would have beaten this or that team has to take into consideration the location of such a game. At home, Cleveland's defense was amazing; on the road, it was utterly pedestrian. And the offense probably was something of a paper tiger. They had a weak schedule down the stretch, and QBs can't get away with interceptions in the playoffs as much as they can in the regular season. That was always going to catch up to Flacco. In short, they probably couldn't have beat any of the other playoff teams in a road game, and I think they would've lost a home game to most of them too. But I love that it was the Texans that beat down the Browns. I hope Haslam is reminded over and over just how many top draft picks he gave the Texans for that creep Watson. He would have been so much better off using all that draft capital on a QB and other pieces instead. Imagine what the roster might be like. Instead what he has is a veteran team built to win now, and if they don't, it'll be some time before they can rebuild because they gave up so many valuable picks. Mahomes's helmet cracking from the cold was nuts to see. I saw a writer on CBS Sports questioning both why the refs let another play be run before he could change his helmet, which is a legit question, and why Elliott didn't get a flag for a helmet-to-helmet hit. That I don't understand at all, as Mahomes clearly lowered his head while Elliott's head never changed angle. The helmet-to-helmet hit was all Mahomes's doing.

I've seen video. She was on the jumbotron with her name showing in a chyron. Those fans knew. They were utterly classless. If they had such a big problem with a dead GM, then just don't clap. Do not boo the widow. So gross.

So many of the best episodes were scripted by Steven Sears. When you're done watching the series, you should check your list of your ten best episodes against the writers of them (Wikipedia has everything). S4 carried over the excellence of S3 in terms of drama, but is when the comedy started going downhill.

I read some rumors that the Raiders are interested in Belichick because they still want to do Patriots West even though the first incarnation of that with McDaniels didn't go well. Mark Davis loves a splashy hire. Hopefully Belichick is going to go to a team with an established QB, and Davis will have to do the sensible thing and make Pierce the permanent coach. I know Pierce is inexperienced, but you look at the Raiders defense after he took over and man, I haven't seen a decent Raiders defense in so long.

Oh, the Warriors would be done with him too. He’s past his prime to begin with, and he’s of no use whatsoever if he keeps spending more time serving suspensions than on the court. And most Warriors fans are fed up with him, so there would be little backlash on that front. Kerr is unlikely to coach another season, and Myers is already gone, of course. So Green doesn’t have his enablers either.