Dowel Jones

I know I'm wrong to laugh at somebody being killed in such a manner, but that exit just gave me the giggles. Boyd and Wynn looking at each other, "It's not my cell phone." I don't see the efficiency of putting so much work into buying up large parcels of land from unwilling landowners for the potential use as pot cultivation. Surely there are parts of Kentucky where people would be falling over themselves to sell off some land. What makes Harlan County so attractive?

I think that Annalise would be in big trouble with the bar association, if nothing else, for her conduct here. The defendant will likely be granted a PD for the rest of her case, and she will likely blurt out her entire story to the PD, who is then bound to report the misconduct to the bar association. Or at least the PD should be. Regardless of the provability of the accusation, the bar would investigate and it's quite possible that news of that would become public, leaving Annalise with a big huge scarlet letter. Based on her previously evident no holds barred but always within the law courtroom behavior, I wonder if this is meant to show the start of a downhill slide for her, from crackerjack lawyer to "How to Get Away With Murder" suspect as the season goes on.

Why was Olivia smiling on the plane? Because this entire plotline is her idea. Fed up with Daddy and Momma Pope, spineless Fitz, conniving Mellie, David, Cyrus, Andrew, et al, she has cobbled together a plan to get Fitz in a bidding war with Wazzupitstan or some other anti-American spot on the map, when in reality the proceeds will go into her own offshore bank account. The last scene will be her punting the ubiquitous cell phone off the beach and into the warm, blue-green water.

I hope they don't go the route of making the Fulcrum a USB device. Way too early. Let me get this straight, The Evil Cabal arranges with Braxton (how is anyone's guess) that they will break him out of the prison, which obviously requires the mass slaughter of the security personnel, because he has them convinced he knows how to get to the Fulcrum. So he grabs Lizzie and the doctor to force-acquire her memory of the location of the Fulcrum, but Reddington opines that he is merely stumbling around without a plan during all of this. So what was the original plan? Apologies for a short memory, but has anyone actually defined the Fulcrum or what it contains? I got the feeling that Ressler was standing there, thinking "I'm okay too. I made it out, thank you."

.I kind of put Raylan in that group, too. This episode had the second reference to his death. I don't remember the exact wording of the reference last week, but, there in the family cemetery scene this week, his own tombstone is prominently shown with just the birth date. Man, those two morons in the robbery attempt were moronic morons. I was laughing all the way through that. He thought he was going to shoot his way out of it.Kid, do you not know anything at all about Raylan Givens and his predilection for shooting first, fast, and accurate? Ava might just be better off back in prison. ETA: Absolutely loved Markham saying to Boyd: "You want pizza? Order in. I'll have it here in 30 minutes or it's free."

I liked Philip's offhand comment in the bar: "We should do this more often". Very telling (also) about his personal realignment. And thanks for the mention of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (from my old hometown of Chico), but I'm not sure it would have been marketed on the East Coast in 1982. That was some kinda beer list, and they end up with Miller Lite. Tastes Great! (Philip). Less Filling! (Elizabeth).

What I have always loved about this show (among other things) is the tendency for the characters to give a side-eye to the camera at inopportune moments. It would probably be meaningless without the occasional monologue, but their expressions during those glances are priceless.

Looks like we have a new Scooby gang, what with Severide, Dawson, and Brett forming their own investigation team. Even with the little drabble from Dawson at the ceremony, they made up for it with the bell ringing. The 3x3 strikes on the bell is a throwback to the old days of firefighting when the bell was struck alarms, return of company, and such (hence the term 'strike an alarm...'). 9 strikes on the bell is reserved for memorializing the death of a firefighter and it is the most somber part of the ceremony. I liked the scene in the truck on the way back from the fire, when Casey looks around and sees Dawson laughing with the guys. "Hey, wait a minute. she's becoming a firefighter. Without my help. But, but.." Speaking of that fire, wouldn't it have made sense to put a hose through the window while Casey was effecting his rescue? Or at least go to the door first and open it to allow more people in.

Maybe the continuity director? I was really hopeful that, after Kenneth's long buildup of the Sheikh Hakam legend, that Kevin Spacey would materialize out of the mist on that boat. Oh well. The three hour lunch without a receipt. How was it that Amati knew the team was there in time for him to have a handgun ready? Students, enter at your peril! Oh, and, continuity person, since you ate it in the bus crash, I will handwave the fact that if blood appears on the window behind the skull, that indicates an exit wound. Which implies a bullet going through said window after exiting said skull.

I personally am not impressed. I hope something happens real soon to pique my interest. With all the negative press about police these days, a series with an anti-hero who is both unkempt, antisocial, and who carries a strong disregard for the rule of law just doesn't impress me anymore, such that I don't really care that he's a great detective.

Someone needs to speak to the dealership moles about hiding a tracking device. Sheesh. During the discussion between POTUS (it's late and I want one) and First Hubbie, he challenged her with "Are we keeping score now?". Does that mean she has some baggage, or that he has been taking notes from the Fitzgerald Grant playbook?

Some answers to the questions: Password - 12345. It's always, always 12345. Safe House location - While she was on his phone, she checked Google Earth and one of his subfolders was labeled "DC Safe Houses".

Maybe it's because Gabby's next dream is to be police detective. Skip the beat cop part, get right to it. I finally watched the rest of the show, and a few tidbits: Generally, courts have held that once a fire department has finished initial investigation of a fire scene, they need a warrant to re-enter the scene. Which makes any evidence gathered by our intrepid duo pretty much worthless. Add to that neither of them can likely demonstrate any proficiency in arson investigation when (not if) they are called as witnessess. Of course, tv is written so that the audience gets to see a terminally "bad" guy vs. what's right and just, procedure be damned. PeterMills' talent for self destruction is truly amazing. Not only did he just make CFD liable for major litigation, he's up for a felony battery charge. And he has put his partner on the spot when she is questioned about what happened that day. What was that in Backdraft about a Career Dissipation Light? Since most states require that emergency personnel report to the police any suspicion of domestic abuse, among other things, why didn't he do that right away? I mean, beyond the plot point, anyway.

Is there a President in these United States of which we keep hearing about? Because it seems to me that the Boss would want to know right away of any diplomatic dustup with a foreign country. Instead, the SoS appears to be running point all on her own and they wait until the DoD officer meets with SoS to mention that "I'll have to tell the President about this". And Tom Skerritt will always be Norman McLean's dad to me. And maybe the guy that died as soon as he got on the screen in Brothers and Sisters.

I will give Maureen props for her post-briefing line: "I just wanted to get the band back together." The band...The Band.....THE BAAAAND" (Maureen starts running in place, then does cartwheels the CIA office, followed by hot James Brown soundtrack).

Now that they have found some clues (and way to muck up a crime scene, boys!), we can get on to the real question of the season: Who killed Shay R?

Well, I have a question. What kind of bad guy blurts into a cell phone "We already had the drugs and were getting ready to send them to Toronto?" Another question. What would Bishop be thinking at that moment when Kalinda is on his phone and rambling away, off track, with one of his partners? And ditto to the posts that said the defense team was essentially 0 for 3 on Cary's case, until the end there. Lesson learned, I hope? If she actually gets away with it, Kalinda has a big sword over her head. If Hacker guy were ever to get swept up by some government agency, he can play the "I have some information that might interest you" card. Bad news for her.

My jaw just dropped when her staff effectively said "The White House won't take a stand. We need to call the Secretary of State!" Who do they think she gets her marching orders from (absent the Chief of Staff, of course)? And where was the master plotter, anyway? As has been shown recently, the TNG has no effective power in the area of immigration. They can't detain, they can't arrest, they better not shoot. I think Madam SOS could have led off with another ploy, maybe telling the Governor that, as of 5pm this day, all Border Patrol agents in Texas will be reassigned elsewhere, and good luck with the aforementioned National Guard. The whole thing could have been avoided if the deputies had gone about the bust in a proper manner, instead of Chuck Norris style. I'm puzzled how the druggies missed the red lights in the dark. As for the Mexican Ambassador, early on she should have said "Okay, no extradition? You got him, then. If he comes across the border again, we will hold Mexico responsible and there will be economic consequences.. Bye." As for the domestic scene, I ht the FF button so often I lost count. Okay, she's a helicopter mom, we get it. Is he available for special assignment still. 'Cause, like, my boys at Cal football could really, really, use it.

I was beginning to think that it was Star Trek syndrome. As in, send everyone. Did I mention that I'm CIA? In a Middle East country embroiled in a spying scandal? I guess the embassy janitor was on his days off so they couldn't dispose of the shred bags like they do in DC. I will give the Chew credit for a bona fide quick draw, though. Why they are so worried about it I don't know. No one knows that she was down there so there isn't any reason to suspect a CIA agent of killing that guy. Random event, so sorry. So, if GateCrasher isn't CIA, and he's not part of the plot to discredit the CIA, why wouldn't he want to talk to the Qataris about how he came across the data? I missed something. Gee, maybe if I worked for a major government intel agency, and maybe if I received some huge amount of WikiData from some hacker, maybe I should set some kind of tail on her to find out her connections. Maybe tap her phone and internet, that sort of thing. Just so I wouldn't get accosted in a parking lot one night. All the way back in Ep. 2, I said to myself, someone behind her is shooting that gun. Now Fatah is revealed, but was Aaron a mole, instead? Or just a convenient way to establish Fatah's loyalty to the cause?

What I'm thinking of is that Samaritan will shortly decide that Greer is a threat to society as Samiritan sees it, and needs to be eliminated. Right now I get the feeling that he thinks he will be on top of the world, kingmaker behind the curtain, so to speak. Good luck with that.

The upcoming conversations between the two of them should be verrrrry interesting.

Tickets! Tickets here! Get them while you can!

I loved the scene in the antechanber when Finch goes Get Smart on us to get into the subway station. I wonder what candy you would really get by entering those numbers? I vote for Gummy Bears. Perhaps, if TPTB are looking for a way out of the series, their end game is to bring about this titanic battle between the machines, and the winner is the end of the show. Greer thinks he is in control of Samaritan. Fat chance. Once it develops a few iterations down the road, he's just as vulnerable as anyone else. Stop smirking, fool. Comments have been made about Martine being an semi-cyborg. Although she seemed sort of independent this episode, I wonder if she is actually controlled by Samaritan. Just a thought.

While realizing this is based off a comic book, I am hoping that the dialogue/writing rises above the current level. I'm not sure what their target audience is, but after three hours of Scooby Gang plotlines, I'm about ready to toss the towel.

They could have shown the kid playing Grand Theft Auto, at least. Has Beth's backstory run its course now? Because that was all that was holding the show together, the rest being so formulaic and all.