ohjoy

This is fantastic and I may have to adopt it.

"That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!" I have a hard time believing that spoilers and previews that are released solely online have that strong of an effect on the ratings. No matter how much wishful thinking that LL fan (or anyone else for that matter) does, the heavy majority of viewers don't process online information into their viewing habits. So, with the exception of weekly broadcast previews, things that come out before the episode airs just don't make that kind of impact, and therefore can't take that kind of credit.

I'm officially on the bandwagon with everyone hoping that the current Oliver we're getting is actually Human Target covering while Oliver is MIA, unconscious in a dungeon somewhere. Somebody wake me when the real OQ finally stands up.

I keep seeing speculation that the lady getting out of the car with Fitz in those last few "Framework" scenes was Aida -- but for some reason I just assumed it was his mom. As in, in this reality Fitz is a big science wiz working for his dad (actually made his dad proud, and his dad didn't bail on him and his mom), so he was just helping his mom out of the car to go see his dad at the fancy office.

@way2interested types faster than I do, so I pretty much agree with that post. But what I was going to say was -- This, surprisingly, is one thing for which I don't blame the writers. They shouldn't have had to split the role. The idea was to have a female partner for Oliver -- one that was his partner on the romantic front and on the crimefighting front. Their first plan was to have that one female be Laurel (as LI & BC), but they screwed that up from the get-go. Felicity was the totally organic replacement -- LI + tech wizard that fought daily from within the lair and also in the field occasionally. It worked for me and filled both roles; there was no need to split. The problem was that she sufficiently filled both roles, but for some reason BC didn't go to recurring status or go away altogether. Whether that was on the showrunners or the network or DCTV, I don't know, but that's the arrow with which they shot themselves in the leg. So they finally get rid of the extraneous BC, only to (apparently) simultaneously strip Felicity of part of the duality for which she had been boosted (the LI portion of the equation). Then they go and add yet another BC. So they are really in a tough spot now -- they either have to get rid of one of these so that the other can fill the dual role as originally planned (which was not an inherently bad plan), or they have to figure out who to write for both of them -- which IMO works only if they split the role, with one character being the romantic partner and the other being the crimefighting partner. (Splitting is the less desirable outcome because it tends to flatten the character dimensions of both women -- their layers are reduced so people can clearly identify which one is which.)

Oh, I know (infringement laws and all that). But after that hilarious "how many 'robots destroy the world' references can we make" episode a few weeks back, we'd better be getting at least a passing reference or two to some of the major alt-reality stories as well.

SHOW!!! Did I not say Fitz and Simmons have been through enough?!!! I like Brett Dalton, but I do not need Ward back with Daisy in any version of reality. However, I will forgive everything if Tripp is somehow alive again. The rest of this is BONKERS and hopefully I will be emotionally prepared for Marvel's "The Matrix" by the beginning of April.

Yup. Finally broke me too. I love the show, but I hadn't cried once until tonight. This also was me. I had actually paused my recording, so I collect myself and stop the tears from burning my eyes as they came out (I'm not made of stone, I swear), hit play again -- and then those stupid ducks happened. This was an excellent episode.

MTE. Anecdotal comparison: My older sister and I are about the same years apart as Dean and Sam. Our parents converse with the both of us via text, and many times will text us both the same info or question, but sometimes it goes to only one of us. If the text goes only to one of us, unless it's something specifically for me, that text is probably going to my sister. Doesn't mean my parents don't want to keep in touch with me, or that I don't want to keep in touch with them, just that the default is my sister, because she's older. We've had times when she's left her phone somewhere and I've let them know to contact me. That's the same way I view Sam (at least until the show says otherwise).

I watched that show too -- or rather, the first half season of it. I did lose interest when it because about who was/wasn't sleeping with whom. The developing friendships (+ John Cho) made for much better stories. So I'm in no hurry about Riggs either.

I never realized how much I missed and enjoyed Admiral Chegwiddon's slightly exasperated tone of voice until now! I hope we get to keep him. I'm gonna miss Granger though -- shanked in the spine, dying from Agent Orange, but still a boss with a gun in his hospital bed. Nice. I was with Deeks pretty much the entire episode, from calling out Hetty on putting Kensi in danger to his "Oh Snap!" about "CIA Officer" Taylor. If Whiting is still alive, she better not be going after Deeks still. I'd like for Deeks and Kensi to be safe and happy for a while.

Bumping up this thread because I just realized that this line I say when the moment strikes me, "Too precious for this world," is from a season 2 episode of Supernatural. It's been so many years since I saw that the episode that I never even realized I picked the line up from TV.

Whoa. Until you mentioned Suits, I did not even realize that was the same woman. Lightyears of difference in the quality of characters. Now I'm even more disappointed in how far Arrow has fallen. This is absolutely not the show I signed up for.

I confess to not being a fan of Leo Getz in the movies (UO but Pesci's drove me crazy), but I can stick with this version. Solid performance. Riggs/Palmer are alright, although at times it felt like I was watching a grown up, LAPD version of Calvin and Susie from Calvin and Hobbes, if that makes any sense. However... I have a low secondhand-embarrassment tolerance, so Murtaugh's lack of subtlety was a little excruciating. (Why must people go on about the "tension" and "chemistry" between two other characters, instead of just letting me see it onscreen?) That being said, I liked the scene in the morgue. Roger was right, and it was amusing to see Riggs try to be unassuming and nonchalant while hiding in a morgue to avoid talking to a girl. There was also a tiny moment, when Palmer got the gunman to talk, when Riggs was really impressed. I really like the way that moment was played.

I admit to being kind of a hypocrite about the show relationships, because I'm totally on board with Fitz/Simmons, but just as completely not buying Coulson/May. I don't really have an excuse for that; everyone sees relationships differently. But if they hadn't gone there with F/S, I would still like their friendship the same -- I guess that's what I was hoping would stick for C/M. Otherwise it's at that point that literally everyone on the team has been in love with another teammate at one point during the show.

The more I think about the "grand gesture" complex the Pearson men seem to have, the clearer Kate's attraction to Toby becomes. She said she wanted to "marry a man like dad", and Toby's the self-proclaimed king of grand gestures. Jack was always doing grand gestures for Rebecca, and mini-ones for young Kate. When Kevin thinks "What would Jack do?" he comes up with a grand gesture. Honestly, even Kevin's and Randall's meltdowns are reminiscent of Jack's grand gestures -- just the ones he does when feeling angry or out of control.

If LMD!Coulson and LMD!May get together and then die, can that be the end of it? Flashback or no flashback, I'm still not on board with this ship. CG and MNW just never seemed to be playing anything other than BFFs-through-hell-and-high-water until right before this LMD mess started. Please, show, don't kill or permanently injure any part of FitzSimmons. They've been through enough already.

Having established that this show is all about the grand gestures that sometimes defy simple logic -- the ending was exactly what I expected out of Kevin, from the moment Miguel told him to just think about what Jack would do. It was beautiful and emotionally satisfying -- if not logicslly satisfying, since Sloane got screwed in the process. (I just kept thinking, if only he had decided to bail before getting in position behind Sloane! She wouldn't have stepped out on stage by herself, and at least there would have been a chance to blame "technical difficulties" instead of her being stranded on stage by herself with the lights up.) That being said, I love Kevin being there for Randall when he never has before. It hurt to see Randall break down over the course of the episode, even though SKB was killing it. Plus Toby was wise in backing off a bit from the "let's get hitched right way even though we both clearly have issues we've not dealt with and maybe haven't fully learned how to communicate through said issues yet" plan. (What? That's my interpretation of that scene. Just let me have this.) And I even liked Miguel! Will wonders never cease.

Very few things ruin a show faster or more effectively for me than love triangles or relationship stalls.

Is it sad that the most disappointing thing to me about the current flashbacks is that I feel like we're not going to get adequate backstory explanation on the abundance of hair/beard Oliver had by the time he was "rescued" from the island? He just doesn't have a whole lot of time left in Russia that would explain that beard!

I assumed the DEA agaent from a few weeks back was their version of Lorna, or a prototype at least. But I'd be fine if they waited a while (late next season?) before trying to introduce a true Lorna. I agree she's an important figure in Rigg's story, and I really want them to get it right.

See, I got the exact opposite sense from this episode, which is why I liked it so much. They set Cahill up as someone who is going to do the appropriate thing for her patients -- so the idea of her dating one of patients seems even less likely than it did before. They followed that immediately with Riggs intentionally reestablishing his doctor/patient dynamic with her. It made me very comfortable that they are both comfortable as they currently are. Hee. Don't we all? ;-)

From a side angle I think Tinah looks like Rayporter, but from the front I can see the resemblance to Talia (although I don't necessarily think Rayporter and Talia look alike). The casting really went for a specific type of female look this year. They've really toned down Rene. I don't dislike him at all now (I may have even "awww"-d a couple of times tonight), but I wouldn't necessarily miss him either (or Curtis for that matter). I am going to miss Rory. Come back, Ragman! Felicity needs a friend!

It's official: I now like Dr. Cahill. Yes, she's as bad as Riggs, but that actually works in her favor as far as getting through to him. And yes, the ending was manipulative, but I guess since Jordana Brewster isn't actually leaving the show, they needed to a way to explain their dynamic as well as have Riggs buy-in to her therapy process. I'll let it slide. I'm pretty sure the stalker was the one who turned on the gas. There was only one stalker: the uniformed officer. The stalker framed Dr. Levinson by using his saliva in the DNA test, and then called him and told him to go to Dr. Cahill's home. When Dr. Levinson arrived and Dr. Cahill tried to leave, he wouldn't let her because he felt it was unsafe for her to leave her house. Not because he was also stalking her, but because the stalker was still out there somewhere (or so he thought). I usually roll my eyes at teenager "how dare my parents invade my privacy with the things that they actually bought for me!" storylines, but the ending was cute. RJ is going to need to get on the ball with a job of his own.

I too grew up in the south (most of my history classes were in the 90s), and have only ever heard the Northern Aggression reference on tv (and cartoons like Bullwinkle at that). I was taught more about its complexities, but even that didn't get vitriolic against the North. I would love to an one-off with the three of them -- especially if they all died and got resurrected one more time.