Dowel Jones

Henry made it through an entire episode without getting someone killed. He even "rescued" an agent. I had to laugh when daughter #2 whines to Elizabeth on "Do you know what it's like having a DSS agent follow you around everywhere you go?" To which Elizabeth should have answered "Well, yes. To the nth degree. Especially those times when my detail was under attack by terrorists with real weapons and real bullets, and my friends got killed. Next question?" I don't know how that billionare got to where he is with the tactics he used to try and get Elizabeth to quit. That was just, plain, incompetent. But I really did like Elizabeth and Henry's smackdown of him and the way they led up to it. So the French are on our side now, and the cheese is flowing westward. And we busted up the ring, and saved the antiquities! Because that's really worth risking soldiers/SEALs lives.

Basically, both sides spend an inordinate amount of time swearing at each other at the top of their voices, and then introduce evidence obtained through illegal, quasi-legal, or sometimes even legal methods to either exonerate or convict the accused. That is, when they're not sleeping with each other, anyway. That's what I've learned from the University of Hollywood Law School.

Red (after spearfishing story): "Somehow he wriggled free off the hook." Liz: "What does this have to do with me?" Red (paraphrased): "You are going to break Kirk out of the jail." Me: Groan. You have to be kidding. What else is on tv tonight? Lizzie, Kirk just offered up his fortune and all his property to you, as his daughter, when he dies. What the holy hell were you thinking, turning that down? Just that mansion in upstate NY would be worth it. But no, you have to throw a borderline temper tantrum because the hospital is taking up precious time treating the injuries of good, honest people instead of working on your freaking blood sample. I loved the sight of the hospital hallway with a sign that said "To Elevators", which was posted right.above.the.elevator.

Made even better by the sound effects of the nail hitting a wineglass. But, hey, he warned them. And his ideas for the unicorn.... My biggest worry is wrapped up in a throwaway line from Michael, something to the effect of "Oh, my [Bieber]". Please tell me he's not the supreme boss, please. Although it's great watching Janet improve, there's gotta be at least one programmer/coder who made it to the Good Place, right? Help her out!

I meant to post this relative to my earlier comment on that very subject. The fact is, the great majority of viewers don't know either Swahili or Hindi, and in that scene the conversation went by so fast most of us probably assumed it was Swahili, as that had been the go to secret speech. Closed captioning reveals it to be Hindi, but the viewer should not have to employ CC for the entire show to catch a snippet of dialogue. Just poor planning on the writers' part.

Casey sure got his MacGiver on this episode. All those classes paid off. I loved the prank/counter prank between Otis and Cruz. That was just too perfect.

Back to the beer, warm or not.

Was he a willing accomplice or a prisoner? If the former, then now you have the problem of custody. You can't leave him alone in the capsule and trust him to follow you back to the future, nor does watching him do much good. Lucy seems to be mostly used for goo goo eyes at the historical figures they meet, so is she going to boss him around? Wyatt can sit there with a gun on him, but now you have that scenario of "Go ahead and shoot, what are you going to do after I'm dead?"

I laughed at Stevie's reaction to Jareth's snobbery. Here's a hint, Stevie. Democrat or Republican? Protestant or Catholic? Ivy League or State College? Country Club or Public Golf Course? Dow Jones or Nasdaq? Nope, no snobbery on this side of the ocean. He should have added on: "And then there are the children."

Which brings to mind the question, if they kill Flynn in the past, how do they get both time machines back to the present? The show continues to work on Rufus's "fish out of water" character. I say let them go back to, say, Birmingham 1963, or Selma 1965. Step back, Wyatt, let Rufus handle this one.

Yep, every year, in season, out of season, before games, after games...The younger players can't relax, really. A long time ago a player named Curt Flood actually took a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court concerning an unwanted trade. He lost, but it set in motion free agency and no trade clauses in contracts. Consider that even Babe Ruth was traded to Cincinnati, where he finished out his career.

I missed something in the episode. How do you go from decking a guy in the front yard in one scene to sitting on his couch over tea in the next scene?

I liked Rufus's "Viva Mexico" upon hearing that slavery had been outlawed there, and Lucy admonishing him "Don't say that too loudly here." There are larger considerations.... So Flynn waltzes into the Mexican Army camp with a bag load of silver and a letter from Queen Isabella of Spain, and he expects Santa Anna to just roll over? Uh, thanks for the bullion, good buddy, but we just kicked those fools out of our country not too long ago. Hit the road.

The language deal: That was a big WTF for me. She's prattling on in Swahili, and Alex knows exactly what she is saying. Whaaaat? I was thinking maybe the helmets have built in translators, but she wasn't wearing hers at the time. Anyway, the core group of terrorists are bound to notice that their ranks are getting thinner by the minute. Pretty soon even the FBI will be able to storm the building.

Regarding the ashes, it's also possible that Rebecca, after marrying Miguel, opted to give the ashes to Kate, for whatever reason. That sort of thing shows up a lot in the Dear Abby type advice columns. Or so I've heard (ahem).

Attention, Designated Survivor. Scandal called, they want their plotlines back.

I remember reading of an interview with the Red Sox manager when Ted Williams was playing for them. He was asked if there was any friction between himself and Williams, who had a rep as being curt and stand-offish with the press. His reply: "Any manager who can't get along with a .400 hitter must be out of his mind." I suspect he may have heard that monologue once or twice in his career. The guy I really felt for was the one traded first off, only to be bounced around three different teams until he landed right back at San Diego. While it worked out for him, it's gotta sting a little with the realization that management really doesn't want you there, and you're a pawn in their chess game.

To be honest, though, "without really thinking" certainly serves the first guy proper. Here he is, guarding an immensely secret area with missiles that go up into the atmosphere, and a shiny object plops down in front of him in a cloud of dust, the hatch opens, and three highly-unlikely-to-be-German-soldiers look out at him. Yet, he just stares at them in slack jawed amazement and never shoulders his weapon. The other two, I'm sorry about, but dumbness deserves death, at least sometimes.

How would a person who has spent their adult life learning to hack unhackable systems develop mad martial arts skills? I was hoping Kirk would jump, and land on a balcony with an open door just five feet below. Because, you know, the FBI never seems to be able to secure a scene before a confrontation. I don't really understand Liz's obsession with her past, to the exclusion of everything else. So she finds out her mother was a terrorist that killed people indiscriminately, but was tied in with various governments, etc. (Oops, getting off track there; wrong show), and her putative father is an international bad guy too. This is what you wanted to know? How about starting your life from now and concentrating on Agnes?

Evans did have a memoir movie called The Kid Stays in the Picture. I saw it once but can't remember if it matches up to this.

It would have been a lot more fun if they would have called him The Cajun, which is an English shortening of the word Acadian. Someone, at least, woud have had some good one-liners.

Happens all the time in Scandal. And I say the same thing. Sure.... In addition, are there any facilities in DC capable of seating 100 Senators, 435 Congresspeople, plus staff as appropriate? I would think the entire business of government would move to another city for the time being. I'm aware of the secret Cold War Congress hall under that hotel in Pennsylvania, but all that would do would be to increase the level of paranoia in the country.

They all went to the Good Buffett Place. I'll bet that Trevor is playing the fast game and brought out a ringer from the Bad Place, just to say she was Eleanor and fool semi-good Eleanor into hopping on board the train. What are they going to do to him, send him to the Bad Place?

I can't believe that the lawyer would not have seen that knife in plain view in the storage unit, as shown after the police raided the place. I hope that all hell rains down on Louise and anyone else involved in that episode of LHL that gave away the secret of the girl's porn site, which appears to have led directly to her death.

It looks like the Federal Government could have used Bull's help up in Portland, Oregon.