Dowel Jones

Well, I wasn't too impressed with Liz's general survival skills (unrelated to her skills under attack). She moves to Alaska. Does not prepare for winter, unlike every other resident. Poor maintenance on the generator, no communication, no transportation. She could star in one of those manufactured reality shows about the place. I wonder about the packages, too. If she shipped them, there would be a record of an address at least. The action sequences were pretty good, I have to admit, though those four mob clowns were laughingly dense. It's a wonder her cabin didn't collapse from all the anvils they dropped in conversation. Ranger Collin deserved to die, simply for his naivete'. Didn't hear about a plane crash, dude? You're the ranger for the area. As did the fool who went into the root cellar filled with LPG. If you can't figure that one out before you go in.... I was waiting for Red to apologize to Liz and say that he didn't quite keep his promise either. He would admit to selling out the location of the guy in WitSec to the mob, which inadvertently led them to Liz.

I was sort of hoping for a Primal Fear twist, with it turning out that she was the mastermind behind the whole thing. Just to keep this series interesting once in awhile. The courtroom scenes continue to grate on me (Wait, what? You can't do that!). What really bugged me overall was that Bull, as an authority figure, puts his arm around a traumatized teenager and gives her a hug. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. No side plots? Are we resetting for the new year?

Zapata knew to go to Sam's apartment because Patterson decoded the ID of the contact (the "Ohmigod" scene) and forwarded it to Zapata just before the FBI burst in and arrested her. Since the info came off of Hirst's phone, maybe she had people over there first who did the ransacking. They missed the obvious furbee, however, just like the rest of the FBI agents on this show. Whatever device Sam used to upload the Stuart murder conversation to, it seems to be mostly impervious to the corrosive effects of chlorine vapors.

As if the Russians would ever be interested in using social media to create dissent and confusion (/snark)

Line of the night: Patterson: "Wait, how do you know my login?" Rich: "Please."

Senator Asshat from Madam Secretary decided on his own to do a crossover, figuring "I'm gonna get me at least one uppity woman in a powerful position."

And how exactly did the CIA director get a hold of the selfie picture that Dmitri took on his own cellphone? Another opportunity lost. They should have had her say "You could take up downhill skiing."

As much as Weller & Co. bend/break the law in the pursuit of their suspects, it would seem more expedient to just put paid to Ms. Hirst in a quiet, out of the way place. She knows everything; they know she knows everything; she knows they know she knows everything. Throw the cards on the table.

I'm evil, so I was hoping the Pres. would make a deal with the cabin christians, to wit: "If you all come down off the mountain, I will offer my wife Alex and her mother as substitutes for you in the cabin. Maybe even my son. I wouldn't let anything bad happen to them, right?" I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have, but a couple of points on the holdouts. One, if they were on federal property, they are trespassing after they have been ordered to evacuate, and can be forcibly removed if necessary. Two, if they are on a private inholding within the NF or NP, the county sheriff has the authority to forcibly remove them if necessary. Public relations be damned. Three, if evacuation was not going to work at all, it would be a simple matter to burn everything around the cabin for a couple of hundred feet and soak the cabin with foam, and then wrap it in fire protective material. I was a wildland firefighter before retirement and these things really do work, but they have the negative effect of taking all the melodrama out of tv shows. So, I guess you're not going to Hawaii then, Hannah? Unless you take Chuck with you.

Personally, I detest Hallmark-style Christmas episodes, but I was glad to see that Marissa came out on top, though. You think Kyle would entertain hiring TAC for his trials? On the down side, I almost turned the tv off after 15 minutes when the writers had Bull not only following a minor into her own house, but putting her to bed (at her own request) and waiting around in said apartment until the father arrives. Bull, have you no sense whatsoever? Can you say molestation accusation? Those do carry some weight, you know. With regards to questions about Marissa, she was out $75,000, so, yeah, it's worthwhile. The betrayal is probably even more important.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of the ranking Senator falling prey to Russian blackmail. They just glossed over the end result after he caved, but I would think the repercussions would be gigantic for the President and his party. It would overshadow anything else on tv, and eventually some investigative work would likely turn up the fact that Americans had died as a result of his treachery. Yet the characters are mildly talking about how the party was a success.

I would have had a great, hearty laugh if Stevie had left to confer with Javi (as she said), and then, 10 minutes later, Javi walked into the house and said to Bess; "I need to talk with Stevie about the party." Bess: "STEVIE!!!!"

So Bess is going to do her best to hold Russia accountable for their actions? Uh, that's what countries do to each other. Madam Secretary, don't think for a moment that the CIA isn't trying it's hardest to infiltrate the Russian government, too. While Team Henry was surveilling in the park, there was a dark banner across the top of my tv, as though they were trying to shroud something. Anyone else see this, or was it even connected to the storyline?

With nearly 1500 posts since the series began, we may have to retitle this thread to "Popular Opinions."

Maybe she'll go Xenia Onatopp on him (from Goldeneye).

If the CIA was on its toes they could send in a ringer for the kid, and have their own guy running the show over there. Was that a poke in the nose at Scandal by naming the assassinated king Cyrus? Shallow end (really shallow) of the pool pipe dream: Jane and her daughter are actually both tattooed and the bio-luminescent ones light up when they stand next to each other, forming a third 3-D tattoo.

I have to admit, even as it happened in this ep, I was saying to myself "This is the third time that thing has blown. Fix it, for pete's sake!" Until I caught on once again that it was the same flashback.

He gets together with Dr. Phil to talk about cases.

But that's like $300,000 after 60 payments (snark).

Harry is the mole. That must be it.

I thought that he poured more than one drink's worth of vodka in that OJ glass. More like 2-2 1/2, which would certainly give him enough instability to fail a field sobriety test. Maybe the BAL test would come up short at the hospital.

Spurt - Streaming the Best of Your Dreams???? Lyor picked a winner, there. Glad they moved the CIA safe house to an undisclosed location, since both DS and MS blew theirs up in the last episodes. Maybe they shouldn't get mail addressed to "CIA Agent in Charge" at the location. So Kirkman lives up to his name and goes StarTrek on his latest mission. Maybe sometime they could do an episode crossover and have him meet up with Henry McCord.

Hermann and Otis are going to dream up some moneymaking scheme by offering Mr. Sprinkles out as stud service for lonely guinea pigs in Chicago.

The Honorable Senator Asshole on stationery. This episode brought up a question from me. As I am not an attorney, I assume the legalities have long since been assumed, but what authority does the USG have over foreign nationals who operate in their own country, even though they are allegedly violating US laws? I see quite often news items about the US Coast Guard intercepting ships off the coast of Chile and searching them for drugs or other contraband. The ships' registry does not seem to matter. And is this reciprocal? Does any nation have the legal right to arrest a US citizen in America and put them on trial for violating their own laws? Thanks for any accurate replies. Along those lines (heh, bad pun), what the hell were you thinking, Mr. Pres.? An armed incursion by the US Army into a sovereign country? Not to mention that the closest border point from Veracruz is 500 miles away. It's more than a little unlikely that someone wouldn't notice a fleet of USA helicopters flying through Mexican airspace. Not that we haven't done it before (coughGrenadacoughPanamacough), but the risk far, far outweighs the reward. By the way, producers, according to CDC data, deaths from prescription opioids outrank deaths from heroin. Maybe that's why it's so hard to fight the epidemic. They could have touched on that.

If you ever come across A League of Their Own, a very young Tea Leoni is the first base player on the other team at the final game.