Dowel Jones

"Hey everybody! Free drinks over at Central Park all night long!"

Yet he had money, or the promise, to pay for Jimmy's surgery and hip replacement. That's not cheap. Which is interesting in its own right. S&M (heh) doesn't have a never-ending supply of cash to keep buying properties and selling off Roarke's fund at a discount. Sooner or later they have to turn a profit, or their own investors will start moving to other funds with a better return. Does Bob have a plan that he's not telling Beth? But he's the Livestock Commissioner for the entire state, now. He can't be seen with the common folk anymore. 😉

At first I thought it was just a plot device, and that wouldn't happen in real life. However, a quick search brought up this story from a Minneapolis paper: The U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) later applied forced sterilization to American Indian women in the 1960s and 1970s, (bolding mine, to illustrate that it wasn't ancient history) sterilizing 3,406 Native American women between 1973 and 1976. In 1976, the U.S. General Accounting Office admitted that this took place in at least four of the 12 Indian Health Service regions. The numbers include women in Minnesota as well as 36 women under age 21, despite a court-ordered moratorium on sterilizations of women younger than 21. Their study, however, was very limited and the actual numbers are likely considerably higher. The article goes on to say that doctors thought they were doing a service to the tribes by limiting births in low income families. Frightening. "I thought that too!! Why not just pay for the funeral anyway?? $16 G is nothing to them!" (Sorry couldn't quote it) I got the feeling that John didn't really think too highly of the other rancher, but was willing to let Kayce break the law in order to help him out. I think his objective was to stick it to the bank.

The bank's loan against the horse breeder's property would almost certainly include the horses as collateral. When they foreclose, won't they wonder what happened to the horses? A few questions around town, (and, yes, Billings is 100+ miles away from Bozeman) and something might just turn up. That's theft, pure and simple, and Kayce (for that matter, the entire Yellowstone staff) might be in a serious jam. I did get a laugh out of the widow's response to Kayce's sympathy. Not what you were expecting, eh, Kayce? I wonder what's up with the buffalo herders. That seemed like an unnecessarily harsh confrontation unless it was meant to telegraph some future problems. Apparently not everyone in the valley is under the Dutton thumb. On another note, today, 7/20, is Josh Holloway's birthday.

A fellow once told me that 'living in harmony with nature is the same as living at the mercy of nature'. Rainwater wants to return to a hunter gatherer society, and chastises the attorney for living in a concrete environment, yet, all the while keeping his office in a huge building. Will he dump the casino if he gets his wish? I think not. Those were the lamest bikers on television. None of that would have happened with the Mayans. Just think, if John had let the wolf find and kill the elk calf, maybe its appetite would have been sated and it would not hang around the cow camp. Do people get out of bed a day or two after a spinal fracture and hip replacement to walk around? Wouldn't have Beth told him by now?

What a gripping finale. Not. I did get a laugh out of a) the freeze frame on the monitor of Renee bent over Ray while his boss is reading him the riot act, and, b) Ray reduced to being a bouncer at the local club. He should put in a call to Chicago PD. I'm sure Voigt would hire him. I wonder how the feds will look upon the Workers Comp issue of Jackie getting shot in an unauthorized LE operation. They can't cover that up.

Now I'm really confused, after watching Snake Pit.

No to any of it. I have had my fill of mindless yapping.

From what I read of the decision, it came about because Congress never actually enacted a law that reduced the size of the Creek Reservation in Oklahoma. That might not be the case in other reservations. That being said, the writers can pony up any excuse they want.

Which puzzles me as to the selection process. If Wilford was serious about preserving humankind, would the ability to pay enormous sums of money be the best parameter to allow people on the train? A simple interview by a qualified psychologist, maybe, would have eliminated the Folgers right off the bat, and who knows how many others from all the classes. And then you have to account for aging out and dying over the span of decades, hoping that the world will eventually reinvent itself.

That was one of the most painful hours I have ever watched. I hate, HATE snappy dialogue in crisis situations. Act like adults, people. She'll escape by crawling into a handy, nearby duffel bag. The all went in to the warehouse armed. What was Weller's point in trying to kung fu those two guys into submission? Just shoot them. You did anyway in the end.

I found it amusing that the two cheerful hug and kiss reunions got away, but when Rich busts Weller out, they both say 'Let's go', and they immediately get caught before the air duct. Patterson: "We have all these files on Madeline and her evil plans. How do we get them to the public?" Zapata: "I have a source" Calls a newspaper reporter. Me: Hahahahahahaha. Put it up on youtube, you idiots.

I have to wonder about this peculiar area of Montana where the governor sits down with her erstwhile boyfriend in the middle of the rodeo and no one takes any notice. Not even a photographer. I realize the airport/eminent domain controversy is a necessary plot point, but I would like to point out that Bozeman/Yellowstone International Airport, right up the road from the ranch, is the busiest airport in Montana, surpassing Missoula and Billings. Wouldn't there be a lot of opposition from those three cities, as traffic diverted to the new airport/development would negatively impact their own businesses. Of course, without this new crisis, Josh Holloway wouldn't get to fish all day and irritate Beth. Speaking of which, I'm glad he called her on her 'I'm just Daddy's girl, trying to keep the ranch in business' bullshit. She's no different than him. If it was a skull fracture, he can keep on working at the Yellowstone. Kid is dumb as a box of rocks, anyway. Jaime is in waaay over his head. He owes the DA, the corrupt cops, and Agent Henson now, and he's supposed to be the top cop in the state, enforcing actual laws instead of vendettas. If any one of them cracks under some other situation and rolls over on the rest, the repercussions will be severe. At least, in the real world they would be. Here, Dutton would just wave his hat, the governor will fall in line, and business will be as usual. One other small point: Brucellosis is a disease infecting cattle and other livestock. Two of the main vectors are wild bison and elk in the Montana/Idaho/Wyoming area. It's very difficult to control, but the Wyoming Dept. of Fish & Game, at least, is working on protecting the predators, i.e., coyotes and wolves, so that they will biologically control the populations of elk and bison. Unless a rancher decides to show his son how to save an elk, of course.

No body, no death. TV rule. If he is indeed still around, I nominate Michael Emerson for the role. He will put Ruth and LJ in their places. So the Tailies went full on Braveheart on the Jackboots. How many of those guys were there? That was a righteous bloodbath. And I'm surprised that Till has more combat skills than any of them. Layton needs a shower now. LJ is a moron, sitting there thinking that everything is cool because she's the center of attention. She has no clue that she is in a fight for her life. They just glossed over a point about the train when the kid was up in the engine, listening to the other engineers. Why is the train slowing down revolution after revolution? This does not bode well for the passengers. Till has got some 'splainin' to do to her girlfriend. That might not end well for one of them. Why was Melanie's cabin unlocked?

An excellent way to end the show. Of course, Ressler will try and set up a perimeter and everyone will escape, so there's that to consider.

In an automobile accident on his brand new parkway.

Personally I can't feel too sorry for people who got killed because they wasted too much time on yapping clever dialog between themselves instead of exiting the building.

Personally, I have very little respect for Mr. Wilford if this confederation of dunces is what he hoped to repopulate the world with if the freeze lifts. After years, perhaps decades when (if) it actually ends, did he really think that this group, whose main talents seem to be debauchery and Lord of The Flies level treachery, will be able to create anything but a communal burial mound?

Which raises a question about the origin of the train. How did they build this gynormous route over the entire world? It travels all through the US, down through Central America and circumnavigates South America, returns to Alaska, crosses into Siberia and on to Southeast Asia, where it crosses over to Australia and New Zealand, etc., etc,. All the handwavium in the world isn't going to build bridges to cross those oceans. Wilford Industries couldn't have sold the excursion as the luxury cruise of a lifetime without a route already in place. Yet, the first episode gave the impression that the Tailies were storming the train at the last possible moment. The megafreeze couldn't have happened that fast, because they couldn't build those bridges on the resulting ice in time. And that's not even considering the effect on the rest of the world's population. Always put your money on the bartender. I think that Melanie and her jackboots have buffaloed 3d class into submission so that they're afraid to touch anyone from First. Certainly there's some rogues back there, but, as we gathered from the dialog, 3d is too afraid of losing what they have to join up with the Tailies. Anytime you have an autocracy, you need an 'Other' to maintain your hold over the population. Except that, in the real world, at least the free world, getting fired for speaking out is a relatively minor consequence. On the train, if you object to your treatment, you get brutalized or killed. As William Munny (Eastwood) rather memorably said in Unforgiven,"Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." The lower classes are to the point of saying 'You have it, we want it'. Whatever else they say is just a justification for that premise. They did mention a siding in the last episode. She did say that she inherited the train, so that was a telling statement. Something else about the societal structure on the train puzzles me. Wilford obviously built in the amputation locks and the portable freeze gun while the train was being built. What kind of person thinks of this? It's been said that he foresaw the freeze coming, but someone on the design committee felt that the train was going to be divided into distinct classes, and that first class would be lords above all (except the engineers). Interesting. The other thing is that all the jackboots seem to be rather young. Were they recruited from paramilitaries? However, they, along with the other passengers, have aged 7 years since the takeoff. What happens as they age out of their profession? You have to teach some of those young children, starting at an early age, that the lower classes are The Other, and not worth your sympathy. You have to train them constantly to protect their own in First Class, and follow orders no matter how brutal. Scary. Very Orwellian.

Maybe the Native American actors looked at her character and said "Nope, not playing that one. That's insulting." Loved Dutton moving the camp just far enough to get out of cell range. The wolf was looking at Kayce and Monica thinking "Humans are so gross. Get up and do it right." That idiot deputy is just about as culpable as Livestock Agent Henson, telling him not once, but twice, to make an example out of the two accused thieves. Nothing like vigilantism to shine a light on your department. Not to mention that the Livestock Commission is probably going to have to buy that trailer, because it's pretty much useless to the two women now. If Teeter doesn't work out at the ranch, maybe Jaime can hire her to replace Henson. So the Cross Creek Ranch doesn't even have a gate? Beth just rolls in like it's her own driveway. I don't quite see Holloway as any more of a villain than Beth is. Both of them are trying to corner the market on the valley for their own reasons. His plan of putting a metro airport in there is a bit farfetched, though. I think you have to get permission from the FAA to build a commercial airport of that size, as it impacts flight routes all over. Maybe he's playing a long game with her. And he was wrong about Big Sky Resort failing, too. It's still going strong, so somebody's driving to it. Reading up on the resort, they bought out two other neighboring resorts to become the largest ski resort in the country. That might even be the mountain in the background of some of the exterior shots. Note to Beth, wearing one of her nice dresses: You do know what horses do while they're in corrals, right?

I don't really get the head and hands bit. They said that Kizzle had just got out of prison. At least here in California, inmates are required to submit a DNA sample to the statewide database. Any body found out in the woods without obvious ID would get a DNA test, and it would match Kizzle's. That's if Massachusetts does the same thing.

Jackie isn't one for brains, just audacity. Ray, your next expense account better be for a course in police work. You done screwed yourself. It's too bad the show spent so much time early on making every single one of the characters so unlikeable that I don't care too much who wins in this cat and mouse game. The overall plot is actually quite good, but they're running out of places to go with it. So, did Junior off himself out of shame, or did Osito track him to the restroom and do him in as ordered? Jackie actually went to work! Even if it was part of the plot. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see someone die as Kizzle. The actor went over the top to bring out the despicable.

The term gerrymander came into use around 1812, according to Wikipedia. Given Townsend's outsize ego, he probably did give himself credit for the idea.

I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm almost on Team Jewish Mobster (sorry, forgot his name). That guy seemed like the most level headed one of all the people in the mix. I know that gangsters are all too often presented as semi-honorable, occasionally glamorous people while glossing over the methods they used to gain their position, but he did seem unflappable. Side note to Peter - If your kid's head wound is still bleeding through layers of bandage, you better do more than give him a hug. I agree the episode ended a bit too heavy-handed. While it is true that freeways have essentially split poorer communities, I think it's due much more to economics than racism. It's easier to condemn property by eminent domain when the property isn't worth as much. I had to laugh when Townsend made his 'fat' comment. You do know what happened to Huey Long, right? And look into your crystal ball to see Mussolini's fate, too. But when he dissed Hitler, his secretary gave him a withering "You ain't all that, kid" look. And he isn't. Unfortunately, he's likely to see the writing on the wall when the US goes to war, and, like the cockroach he is, will declare his allegiance to mother and apple pie, and try to get in on defense work scams. And speaking of the approaching war, the German-American Bund won't be long for society, either. Those guys will get rounded up in a hurry. Except for Elsa, of course. To be honest, I had forgotten all about the Hazlett murders. Not because Diego had falsely confessed to them, but because the plotline had been dropped since the confession. Adelaide's revelation was well done, too. No soundtrack, just a rant. I wonder if she got the Nazis to kill them. It would explain how she's tied in with them, and, hopefully, her eventual fate. Perhaps not coincidentally, the real life Aimee Semple MacPherson's Angelus Temple is located in Echo Park, Los Angeles, just a stone's throw from the Arroyo Seco freeway.

It's sort of like the old action/horror movie trope. If people behaved in a logical manner at the beginning of the movie, it would last about seven minutes. Thus, if Weller and Jane killed Ivy & Co., the show would end too soon. Rich would be out of a job and Patterson would go back to designing sudoku puzzles.