Dowel Jones

Who would Dmitri go to work for? Well, he could be a guest lecturer in Henry's ethics classes. One other question occurs to me. What if Buckley did not want to be repatriated? Most American spies have done it for the money, rather than some ideological affinity with the USSR/Russia. Being shoved off your home, prison notwithstanding, to a completely foreign environment, would be devastating. Also, the Russia Buckley spied for in the early 90's is long gone now, replaced by the Putin kleptocracy. Good luck, old man. Maybe you can get a gig with Anna Chapman on the Russian version of Survivor.

One other question. Who in the world uses the sound of a ratchet for their ringtone?

So she did say something in that scene?

The Good Wife - A Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie of the Week..... After Diane specifically denied the use of Kurt's testimony, for Alicia to go behind her and use Lucca to discredit Kurt was pure betrayal on both their parts, even if it was good lawyering. Thus the slapdown, and, off camera, I think Lucca would be getting the pink slip also. Diane better take a week before she considers expanding the firm and hiring new partners. As soon as they referred to the ballistics tech (forgot her name) as "his favorite" last episode, I thought there was something coming down the railroad tracks. Was the 9-1-1 call part of the evidence introduced into the bribery trial? If not, it had no business being played for the jury. They're supposed to consider only the evidence presented to them at trial. It's not their business whether the original defendant was guilty or innocent. But, as in all things TGW, it goes toward the state of Peter's mind. ETA: Just noticed the blurbs at the bottom of the page here. One is "10 TV Shows With the Worst Series Finale."

I uttered a "thank you" when Dmitri spit on Henry, too. I think he recanted after seeing Bess because he realized that the deal was bigger than Henry, and that the US Gov't. made the effort to get him out. Just my thoughts. However, I am puzzled by why Russia would even want Peter Buckley. Yes, he was their asset, but that was 20 years ago, and he is not a Russian national who would be a hero, but an American who turned on his own country (as far as we know). He certainly doesn't have any more intelligence to share. And then the Russians try to throw in a ringer? Really? That's the second time that Bess has ranted a bit without realizing that the other person might just have something to say that would cancel out that rant. Ease up there! I loved how Bess offhandedly threw in the news to Henry that she's a VP candidate. "Big day, huh?"

I didn't mean to imply that it was OK just because the US annexed area in order to project its power or to strengthen its economic base. It's just something powerful nations do. With regard to the SSRs, I was referring to the other republics that were created by Russia in the years after the civil war, besides the original four that created the USSR. I don't know the individual histories of them, so maybe they were already in Russia's orbit, rather than independent nations.

I wonder what the plan was for the containers full of hijacked oil barrels. You don't just drive up to a refinery somewhere in Europe and ask them to start pumping heavy crude oil out of individual barrels without taking some sort of steep discount because of all the work involved. Do they have people who fence the oil to someone else? And the convoy alone would have to be long (noticeably long) in order to transport enough containers to make the entire enterprise worthwhile. If he was dumb enough to sit up in the seat when the gunfight started, he deserved it (within the confines of the show, that is). Besides which, he was never getting out of that meeting anyway. Too much of a loose end.

It could be argued that Russia was essentially protecting itself after its Civil War ended, and it annexed the other SSRs as a buffer against the West, Great Britain more than anyone else. Pretty much all world powers do this (including the US, with Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba for awhile, the Philippines, etc.) after establishing themselves. It should be noted that the US landed ~3000 Marines in Vladivostok during the Russian Civil War, so perhaps they viewed us with some suspicion also.

And most of the customers seem to come from House 51, anyway.

Just as an aside, as I never knew this until it was pointed out to me, DefCon4 is the second lowest of five alert levels. DefCon1 is the worst, although that just doesn't sound as menacing.

To which Keri fumes "I had to lug this kid of mine around for nine months and wear the ugliest clothing all the time, and she gets a pillow under her blouse? WTF?" Could be either, as the Center worked out the details of the flight. If I recall, the plane went only to Key West, and then she was to be transported by boat to Cuba. Therefore, they could use an outside source, paid for with cash. Drug smugglers would be especially amenable to that kind of arrangement. Gabriel also mentioned that they were to maintain the "Breland bug". Is that the mail robot or do they have some other operation that hasn't been mentioned lately?

Obviously, that didn't happen, but it was a Beechcraft Bonanza, made famous by Buddy Holly et. al. on February 3, 1959. I'm sorry, but every time Philip, and now Elizabeth, show up in an EST seminar, all I can think of is John Denver in the back of the auditorium, starry-eyed and mumbling "Far out." I think there's a sharp divide between Elizabeth disciplining Paige for normal teenage transgressions and not wanting to spy on Pastor Tim. It's not staying out after curfew, or seeing the wrong guy (hello, Madame Secretary). It's spying. It's anathema to everything Paige knows about her world. Elizabeth should understand that, and, at the least, reinforce the concept with Paige that she will likely be killed if she keeps screwing up. It's not really about obeying Mom and Dad in the normal sense. ETA: If Elizabeth has indeed been injured in a fight, a cover story will need to be established. A ripped earring will leave more than a mark. I am assuming that the cleanup crew will be thorough enough to find and remove that evidence.

That may be an option, but many FDs provide everyone with their personal mask, which goes with them regardless of assignment. A much better solution would be to invest in portable thermal cameras, which could be used by anyone.

My first reaction to the trial was, That was it? That's all the witnesses and evidence either side produced? Seemed rather inconsequential given all the grand jury time that was shown on previous episodes.

This show is really slipping. It took 58 minutes for Severide to get laid this time. I did like his comment to Stella about her "workers" being on a "smoke break." Would anyone here pay more money to have a giant ice cube in their drink? I drink beer so I'm out of the mix. As soon as they showed the foster mom to be an addict, and then Dawson sees the kid, I knew what was coming. A couple of points. She works a 24 hour shift. What is her plan for parenting? A slam dunk on Casey, forcing him to be Mr. Mom? Add to that he works the same shift as her, so that won't really work. And then, a child of a drug addict, fostered by another drug addict, is going to be a very difficult child. There are actual physiological problems, as well as emotional problems, that will take its toil on the parents. Not all kids will be this way, but I know from what I speak, having gone through that. It's all a moot point anyway, but if the writers actually carry the story for at least a few episodes, it will resurrect. On the bright side, Otis can be a full time bartender at Molly's. Some day, anyway. I preferred a poster's idea from two epis ago who suggested it was just chafing from the Russian woman.

As I remember, Peter said that he checked the bullets out of the crime lab for analysis by Kurt. Yet nothing at Peter's trial mentioned what happened to the bullets, which went missing and caused the original mistrial. I would think this would be a major red flag, pointing at both Peter and Kurt, but, unless I missed something, it was completely glossed over.

Was it Home Alone week at the writers camp? Two shows with the same predictable results. Did it occur to anyone on the FBI staff that a young girl just in from Syria might not speak or understand much English? They should have gone for the translator as soon as they identified her. She does have some illustration skills, though. So much for the honey trap. Again with the suicidal mercenaries. When will they ever learn, or at least demand payment up front?

I am not a building engineer, but, aside from plot requirements, wouldn't a load-bearing wall on the 28th floor holding up the 29th floor need to be resting on another load-bearing wall on the 27th floor? Because if it isn't, then both floors would logically come crashing down onto the 27th, and possibly lower floors. Maybe that's how the writers are looking at ending the show. And I find it hard to believe that the workers would just waltz right by the receptionist and start crashing and banging. Nobody checked with anybody? But I did like the scene of the Lockhart, Florrick, & Lee sign come crashing down. Again, I'm not the expert, but wouldn't the police detectives be doing all the initial questioning and Mirandizing? I ask this because if you have several different investigations going on simultaneously, things will slip through the cracks. Regardless of Peter's stated reasoning of keeping close tabs on the investigation, this would not be the way to do it. Hence, I think he had ulterior motives. The prosecutor blundered by allowing Peter to go on and on (NEVER ask why!) in answering his question, which allowed Peter to put a good front on to the jurors. All those affidavits that said Peter was sleeping with Geneva? If they aren't true, are not the employees putting their careers at risk by saying so? Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Governor.

It's always a good idea to train your students in close quarters combat without any protective gear, so that a broken rib, or perhaps a cerebral bleed from a head injury, will result in the loss of thousands of dollars spent training those agents. Plus the hospital costs. I had to laugh when Nimah got that text, juuuust a second too late. Why is Canada the preferred destination? Assumed names could get them into the US also, if that is the reason. I'm absolutely sure that Canada cooperates with the US on no-fly lists, etc., so it's not like they're immune up there. I was almost certain that the fight scene in Ryan's office was going to result in the obligatory office desk sex, but that would have attracted to much attention, unlike the crashing of various collisions with chairs and glass walls and such.

Acme nuclear weapons? The terrorist plan was probably to put them on a giant springboard, push a rock off the cliff, and then launch them toward the US. Hee! The dean should have retorted "As have I". I was hoping the shop owner, after taking a drink from Henry, would say "That will be two dollars, please!" Speaking of the truck, (maybe I missed it), were they absolutely sure that was the target vehicle through some tracking system. What if it was some locals trying to get a group of schoolchildren out of harm's way? Henry making the second phone call while driving through the rioting streets was completely unnecessary and gratuitous. There's your answer. Rather then spending time to send the shop owner to find a doctor, would not it have been a faster solution to have him drive them under cover of night to the exfil site? ETA: When Blake is first mentioning the "settled issue" statement to Elizabeth, the change in camera angle is accomplished by a black panel moving across the screen. Did anyone else catch this? I haven't seen it before and kind of wondered why the production team did it this way.

It was weighted down with all the anvils they've been dropping the past two episodes. As head of that particular branch, wouldn't Cooper have been the one to order the cleanup of Liz's office? He acted sort of surprised that they were there. And for Ressler to call them vultures was completely out of line.

William Kunstler was still active at that time. He might have done it just for altruistic and/or pr reasons. ETA: Interesting that, just after Gaad orders up a sketch of Clark, there appears an ad for Microsoft featuring a real life sketch artist. Looks like a cool program, though.

Someone should tell the energy exec that the "top security firms" with whom he contracts have two dead employees in the elevator. He might want to re-evaluate their effectiveness. Let me guess. The FBI covered all the bases on their approach to Operator 46 except the freight elevator, or the stairs, or the roof, or the fire escape... My first thought after watching Tom diaper the baby was an old baseball story. I don't remember the names of the two major leaguers, but one was lamenting about the difficulties in diapering the baby (in the days of cloth). The other, more experienced, told him, "Just lay out the diaper as a ball diamond. Fold 2nd base over to home base. Put the baby on the pitcher's mound, and fold 1st and 3rd base over his front, and then connect home and second to 1st and 3rd with a safety pin." My favorite was Tom telling the doctor, in response to the question of parentage, "I think that's why Liz and I worked so well". Uhhh, what? Reset?

Given the oft-pejorative nature of the term Murphy, why would Dalton, or whomever did, name the group Murphy Station? It's almost akin to dooming it to failure. Wait, don't answer that.

From the practical viewpoint, I would have thought that Susan's camp would have been glad for someone else to get the Florida governor's endorsement, under investigation as she was. Her vote would have been a boat anchor to anyone as soon as charges were made public. Besides, some general phone polling would have revealed the Hollis Roberts was pulling in the rubes anyway so all their machinations were going to be for naught anyway. Nice dig at Bill Clinton's haircut fiasco there. By the way show, there is a 747 mockup of AF1 available for film use. It used to be out in a hangar in Mojave airport, and it gave the Secret Service a group heart attack when some pranksters graffitti-ed the side of it and put the video on youtube. What was the point of the prismatic camera work in Olivia's office? Just artsy stuff to distract us from the absurdity?