Eolivet

Well, that was a twist! It occurs to me, as others have said, how Annalise may have directed Wes in the exact method to dispose of the body, but she went completely overboard to throw suspicion off herself as a suspect -- the night with Nate, the voicemail, the call to Bonnie about something terrible happening. I'd be extremely nervous if I were those students -- any time she decides she doesn't need them, she can dump them, and it's her word against Wes' that she knew anything about the murder at all. She owns those students now, even more than she did before. They'd better stay on her good side.

I don't believe Fellowes will kill a child. He might have Edith lose custody, but that will be the extent of it. Blake was supposed to be gone for a year -- if it hasn't been a year in between 5x08 and the CS, I don't see how he shows up again for Christmas. Again, I keep going back to the idea that I believe Fellowes wants viewers to love Mary's new husband. The specter of M/M hung over that entire suitor plot, and I think Fellowes wants to prove he can create another super couple. Since neither Gillingham nor Blake seemed to click with the majority of the audience, I believe he's done with them both, at least romantically, for Mary. I believe the last thing Fellowes wants is Mary settling for a guy who's only going to draw negative comparisons to Matthew in terms of chemistry, storyline, etc. I feel like his goal for Mary is to build a better Matthew: more conventionally attractive, with more of an intellectual spark. That's why I now think if viewers really like Matthew Goode in the CS, Downton will move heaven and earth to accommodate his schedule to have him back next year. Matthew (dead Matthew) is never mentioned -- Fellowes wants viewers to forget him. That definitely won't happen with this current crop of suitors, but it could with Goode. (heh)

Finally finished this last aired episode. As others have said, I liked "My Fair Selfie." Keep the "buzzy" word in, but with a nod to the traditional story as a way to attract viewers of varying ages and demographics.

Sorry, WendyCR72. I should put "Trigger warning: Ross as a sexual being" next time. ;) I, too, had seen "Please Note..." before, and I have several ideas why it's a ridiculously long title. The first is controversy. The episode is about kids being murdered in front of their parents -- not exactly an easy or fun sell for the show. "Death Comes to the Playground" doesn't really appeal. The long title "softens" the subject a little. The second reason could be clarity. It's about kids getting in to pre-school, but the show has done several stories about "school" before. A title like "Permanent Wait List" conjures up the image of colleges or older kids -- one doesn't generally talk about wait lists for preschools. Finally, they may have simply decided to embrace the absurdity of the case. A serial killer targeting parents so she can get her child into preschool, because her mother-in-law makes her feel unworthy, crosses from soap territory into a kind of theater of the absurd. This title is exactly what I'd expect from some absurd play. Maybe they thought the title just went with the theme. (And I've officially now thought too much about this.)

Good one, WendyCR72. Bobby did like the tow-headed terrors (except Leslie LeZard, blah). Interesting, as his mother was a brunette. Hmmm...

I guess Marla from "Please Note..." can join Nicole Wallace's Brigade of Tow-Headed Terrors: -"Ill-Bred" -"Consumed" -"Semi-Detached" -"Blind Spot" -"Bedfellows" -"Beast" -"Please Note..." -"Faithfully" Just realized that's the second "Crazy parent kills to protect their child's education" episode: -"Bright Boy" -"Please Note..."

Touche. "Betrayed" is so indicative of late season Law & Order CI: a really convoluted case that seems like it's going to have some kind of twist ending, only to end up really straight-forward: Kathy finds out Woody is planning on running away with Avery, hijacks the GPS to find them, kills them both and then initiates her cover-up. Again, the cover-up is worse than the killing. I found it hard to follow -- maybe because they ever actually found either body. The fact that she confessed to basically the perfect crime was sort of a letdown -- but I guess they counted on her narcissism. And why was she humming in her nursery if she'd already killed the guy? I expected them to reveal she was pregnant. I guess she thought that Ross would father her child now (ewww)?

I love it! You could add a corollary of "times criminals set Goren up with cases meant to mirror his father." -"A Person of Interest" -"FPS"

One theme from "Purgatory" was fairly unusual... Female cop turns to life of crime when she can't get promoted: -"Badge" -"Purgatory" ...And one fairly standard. Good law enforcement officer goes bad when he gets a taste of the high-life: -"The Insider" -"Purgatory"

So...Danny Pink's dead cyber-penis saved the world? I think I preferred the "Tinkerbell Jesus" ending of (new Who) season 3. At least Martha did some actual work besides hug/fly/go boom.

I want to say a writer on CSI gave an interview about it -- that all their corpses were names of their friends because of the intense process involved in trying to clear a name -- making sure nobody else owns it or has it. Like, if Law & Order used the same name, you can't use it. Or if it's been used in a movie before. Something like that. I just remember hearing that all fictional names were registered, and if you came up with a new one, it had to be cleared. The process may be different for books, but I definitely remember hearing you had to clear a name used on a TV show, and the problems crime dramas had because they needed so many different names each week.

I think I know why this happens, as I remember reading about it a while back: in order to use a name on TV, you basically have to go through an approval process every time you "create" a new character name. It explains why so many writers (including Law & Order writers) recycle names or use names of their friends (with their permission). It's apparently a big deal to try and get a name "approved," and it's not worth it to most writers. For a regular character, maybe -- but for a one-off? That's why I think the perps had a lot of common names -- once it was used, it was fair game, so...why not use it again?

I don't want to belabor the point, so I promise this is the last I will say about it. The recap covered it well, but going on national television and offering a measly 5% of the company and then playing the "we just want to help people" card didn't sit well with me. If helping people is so important, and getting a shark will help you achieve that goal, then stop trying to hold onto all your profits with both hands! It made me believe them going after the medical device market was about money first, and helping people second (since they were only offering 5% of the company). Barbara was spot on in her assessment of the guy. I have no doubt it's a good product, but that company had extremely shady motivations for going on TV, to me.

Since Don had a topic, I had to start one for Sloan -- who's definitely one of my favorite characters. She's smart, but flawed -- quirky, but not overly so. Her quirks are also consistent, which is good -- they don't seem to change with the demands of the plot. Sorkin doesn't always get the female characters right, but I think he's done well with Sloan. The thread quote is from the 3x01 episode (which really sums up her character), but my favorite Sloan quote is still from two years ago: "Balancing the checkbook is to balancing the budget is like driving to the supermarket is to landing on the moon!" Just her delivery on it was great. Looking forward to seeing what Sloan gets up to (and ends up with?) this final season.

This one's sort of obvious and I'm pretty sure other cop shows have used the trope, but it stood out to me today: Welcome to Prison, Where the Guards are Killer(s): -"Stress Position" -"Untethered"

Good point about them being half-siblings. And having just seen "Endgame," it was sort of sad/creepy to hear Bobby's alter ego was "William Brady." Interesting commentary on what his life could've been, given who his "father" was.

"Untethered" is such a letdown. After all that, you'd think we would've get to have seen Bobby interrogate the Warden or the guards. What was their motive anyway? Sadistic yuks and giggles, under the guise of "keeping order?" Talk about a story that went nowhere. And it brings up another point: in what alternate universe did they decide Tony Goldwyn was appropriate to play Bobby's older brother? Maybe it's because Goldwyn is botoxed to the hilt, while VDO aged more...naturally, shall we say, but I feel like they got the birth order wrong. (Also, according to IMdB, Goldwyn is a year younger than VDO). But man, Goldwyn was everywhere on these types of dramas in the early 00s.

I apologize if I sounded snarky. I do think it's a legitimate product -- as a health-related product. But going after insurance money or trying to get it subsidized by taxpayers as a legitimate medical device, as another poster pointed out, crosses a line for me. It's the difference between a vitamin and a drug: one merely enhances health, while the other restores health. Do I think doctors should be able to recommend someone go out and buy it for $25? Absolutely! Do I think doctors should be able to write a prescription for it and have it subsidized by insurance? I'm sorry, but I don't.

Squatty Potty lost me when they said they were trying to get approved as a medical device. I was hoping some of the sharks would jump on him for that (Mark and Robert in particular seem to hate "snake oil salesmen" who claim medical benefits for generic health products). Maybe it was edited out. None of the sharks pointed out that absolutely nothing about "Heidi Ho" indicated that it was a cheese substitute? I'm guessing if we see an update, that product will have gone through a name change.

Just saw "Depths" for the second time (deep sea treasure hunters), and wow that case was so convoluted, you would think it was from early season 1. A ship with gold coins on it, if raised, would prove one branch of the family was defrauded by another branch of the family and the defrauded branch could sue the other branch for a lot of money, because some ancestor lied to his father that he had no money and needed a loan, when he was really sending money to the south to support slavery...? My head hurts.

After this episode, I'm now leaning towards none of the students having killed Sam, but they all came into the house and walked through blood (remember they said they could get Asher to walk through blood and make him a suspect). Rebecca is the only one with blood spatter, but she just seems too obvious a killer at this point (then again, that's how Shonda handled Scandal, and if Peter Nowalk is a Shonda disciple, maybe he also goes for the obvious culprit). I actually now can't see any of these students covering for Annalise so much as they're covering for themselves. I thought it would be revealed that Annalise inspired a fierce devotion in these students, but I don't think that's the case. I think they'd all -- with the possible exception of "I'm a good person" Laurel -- run as fast as they could away from a murder and let Annalise hang. And really, none of these students, save Wes and obviously Rebecca, have any motive to kill Sam. Which means I think they would've all fled the scene and saved their own necks, unless there was physical evidence linking them to the crime. So, they think if they all alibi each other, none of them can be suspects. And "no body, no case" means all they have to do is stick to their alibis, get rid of their bloody clothes and they're home free? At least in their minds? Can't wait for next week -- I'm actually intrigued as to what the second half of the season will be: "How to Get Away with Getting Away with Murder?"

Wow, who knew I'd grow to hate "in the sun" as much as I hate "Vermont." In terms of tortured relationship analogies, Charlie has stripped the sun and Vermont both naked, duct-taped their mouths, wrapped them in plastic and is working on them with a power drill. I did enjoy Rowan saying Olivia had been "blinded" by the sun. The sun is not "the light" -- it's far more powerful and potent, and it can hurt you if you look at it too long. And now I'm thinking how odd it is the Olivia and Fitz's theme is "The Light." White hat, light, sun, darkness, black -- and all the meanings of those words. For a show that is so completely about shades of gray, they do love to paint themselves in moral absolutes.

No -- I thought I did, but it turns out what I saw was the end of "Frame." I mixed the details of the cases together and somehow thought Bobby's biological father was his mentor. I kept waiting for Roy Scheider to admit he killed Nicole Wallace. Mark Ford Brady is lucky he never crossed paths with Nicole, or he'd be the one embalmed and mummified in a house for 20 years.

Well, that was my first and last time watching "Endgame." Ugh, Mark Ford Brady made my skin crawl. And bringing in Bobby's mother's death (and tying him to Bobby's mother, ewww) made it even worse. When Brady was describing the murder of that poor woman with her baby...ugh. No, sorry -- if I wanted serial killers, I'd watch "Criminal Minds," thank you. I was uncomfortable for Bobby and disturbed by that psychopath. Rot in hell, fictional character -- I'm glad Bobby was grieving his mother and probably missed your execution. And that was the season finale? What a downer of an ending.

Didn't they establish in previous episodes that Beth was either cheating on/going to dump Andy? He and Haley had conversations about it. The "she serves with 26 men" or something? I like Andy as the idea of Phil's protege (if we ever see that happen), but I'm utterly confused as to where they're going with Haley and Andy. It's like the writers changed their minds about them midway through the story. I did love that whole conversation: "Now make me buy you!" and Andy purposely forgetting how to use "quit," because he "doesn't know the meaning of the word." But wow, major fail at that Downton Abbey reference. Their first reference several years ago (Downton Disney) was inspired, but "the Duke" as the most handsome character? He hasn't been seen since the first episode of season 1! Come on, writers -- I thought Cam was a superfan.