Dowel Jones

I had to look into the newsmax article just to refresh my memory of that episode. That's how little of a lasting impression this show makes on me now. At least Heaven's Fall was interesting at times. Did they get someone to dub Jocelyn's pre-bombing lines, so that her speech would not be evident to Dante? And, in keeping with Quantico's shopworn tactic of killing off one of the crew, it's "Bye, Felicia Celine" We hardly knew ya.

I would love to see the faces of everyone in the interrogation room when Paige blurts out something like "Yes, I lied when I told Stan that I had a stomachache and was going home with my parents." To which Aderholt replies "Wait, what? You told Stan this, when?" "In the garage, when he confronted us." "Stan confronted you in the garage?" Awkward silence, followed by sound of anvils hitting the floor...

You have to remember, Angels is the Only Surgical Hospital In Town.

I think there's a possibility that the program is developing its own sort of AI, and beginning to run rogue with the clients. That might be the upcoming story arc. I also think this week's client's wife has a case anyway. There's no way a company of this sort would allow its clients to take home a ReverieTablet and enter/exit at their leisure. The liabilities are endless.

So many questions. Did everyone just drink the koolaid and become nice little drones so they can live in Seattle, complete with helpful "block captains"? Katie's comment that "it's safe here" is the most naive thing I think of heard yet. At least she got her awakening. I wonder if all the redhats and occupation authorities in LA got renditioned also, or if they moved on. And what happened to the resistance, anyway? Seattle needs a Snyder to shake things up. Someone must be doing a lot of work off camera. Food is still being grown, gasoline manufactured, liquor is being distilled somewhere (and teenagers are still stealing it for their parties), auto parts are being manufactured, etc. It would be interesting to me to see a big picture of how the world is operating. What is the runaway husband going to do with that Corvette? He can't really drive it anywhere. It's going to stick out like a sore thumb and his ex might eventually see it. I went back and checked the DVR to see if there was an extra episode that I should have watched first. I got burned on The Crossing because I wasn't paying attention and watched the finale before the penultimate episode.

So, for the obligatory Father's Day episode, we have the following: The Unfortunate Mrs. gets burned up in the LA Harbor, but the Dad and son end up bonding with each other; Dr. Campbell jumps all over Dr. Rorish for not reporting Bad Mom; Bad Mom is chastised by staff when she does show up; Dr. Rorish is chastised by CancerBoy's Dad for letting her daughter kiss him; CancerBoy recovers from his episode and bonds with Dad; Dr. Keen is reduced from Dr. to nurse, and called Red; and, finally, old player infects (at least) two women with an STD, and they laugh it off as fun and games. Is there a pattern here? At least Willis got his alpha dog on and stepped on Silvetti. It's impressive that Angels Hospital is located close enough to both the LA Harbor and the fire prone foothills so that all ambulances go there. Was the boom that was trapping dad on the boat from the other boat? If it was on dad's boat, then lowering the boat would be ineffective, because the boom would lower (sorry) at the same time. I'm evil, but I still had to laugh when the boat's fuel, having somehow leaked in a direct path to the Mrs., ignites and a line of fire goes right to her. Hey, Dr. Angus, I would think, even with my lack of medical knowledge, that a multitude of sharp objects in the stomach would be prone to puncturing something and not just pass through the entire bowel and out. But no; let's just wait and see if she suffers some internal trauma. That was just stupid. After weeks of Dr. Kodachrome making an ass of himself with the camera, we finally get a Maury Povich-worthy situation, and he's not recording it. Come on, people! Fire Station 3: Rox, report. Where are you? Rox: I'm getting my hair done so that it falls just right across my shoulders and Dr. Willis will notice me, because appearance is so much more important than patient care. Station: No problem, nothing much going on in the greater Los Angeles area with its population of 10,000,000 people. Call us back when you're ready.

My guess is that after they got royally burned on the J/teacher fiasco, they were told by higher ups that "unless you catch one of these guys coming out of a bank holding the money in his hand, you will not do anything that may possible negatively affect the PD in any way." The PD is probably hoping nature will take its course and the whole family will be wiped out by other bad guys.

Not to mention the fact that Philip and Elizabeth don't know that Stan is confronting them alone. They would at least think that there is a boatload of backup on the way, and "let's not waste time here, we gotta boogie." That scene, with others following it such as the meeting with Henry and the noncommittal hug from Renee, I think, were all meant to show Stan first crashing an burning, realizing his whole life is a failure, and now he's circling the toilet and trying to attain closure before he eats a bullet.

On the bright side, we don't have to watch any more promos for Steve Harvey and the Kardashians.

I thought that it was some simple device to electromagnetically destroy the records of the Crossovers, so that they would effectively "disappear" as Diane mentioned in the conversation.

I would think that, given the computer power they obviously have in this building, that clients would be required to undergo a complete physical/neuro exam on site before signing the contract, rather than relying on the client's word and an outside MD's exam as to their overall health. Both episodes now have dealt more with the implied liability issues of the client going rogue in the program, rather than a more straightforward, "He/she is in trouble, let's pull them out." Personally, if I'm in the reverie, I want the risk involved with climbing Mt. Everest, rather than paying $10k for a ride on a rope tow.

I have to give some props to CancerKid for the best (unintentional) line of the night: "I don't have to go to dances to laugh at people. I can do that right here." It occurs to me that the show would have done better had it been placed in daytime soap opera territory, where it actually belongs. Then they wouldn't have to obsess about insertions of a little reality to give it some gravitas. The head-shaking situations they come up with each week defy explanation, whereas on daytime tv they wouldn't have to. I wonder if Willis's dad will rethink his decision to visit an ER for a blood draw (instead of an urgent care clinic) when he gets the bill for services. The only reason I can think of that someone hasn't put out Dr. Kodachrome's light, figuratively and literally, is that they're all doctors and can't afford to injure their hands.

And that is why I don't stop for hitchhikers. Is there going to be some connection between Weasel vs. Weasel at the IGA center and the Bowmans? I fail to see how the show is going to sustain interest in what they do at the upper layers of IGA, unless it's relevant. Other than watching the fun of Snyder playing Survivor, who cares about that pack of traitors? I have also been thinking about the worthiness of hiking from LA to Seattle, just to stay in another colony and be under the thumb again. Why not try to live as hunter-gatherers? I just don't think they have any advantage in colony life. Not to mention that "Dalton" has already been identified as Bowman.

So you made it all the way through the training, then?

It's an interesting 9-1-1 system that transfers an aircraft emergency to a hospital. I guess none of their operators have any ERD training. And Dr. Willis is on the only-est ambulance in the city, of course, because they can't dispatch another one. I did like that trick they pulled on Druggy McDrugster, draining his blood out. "You must think I'm stupid." "I was counting on it."

Well, since they have only one surgeon in the entire hospital (along with a dufus trainee), I can see that. Eh, Willis. Notice the LAFD shirt that you are wearing? It means that, while you're in the fire department, you really do work for that guy on a wildland fire. That's the way fire departments are structured. And you would be required to wear all the safety gear that everyone else does, too. I found it humorous that while they were standing around the helicopter in full wind up blade rotation, nobody's hair was moving, no dust swirling...Must have been one of those stealth helicopters. By the way, by policy, all burn injuries on fires go directly to Sherman Oaks burn center, not the uber-busy ER somewhere in central LA. If I lived down there, I would get a medic alert bracelet that says "I will sue any ambulance company that takes me to Angels Hospital."

I wonder if the harshness of the architectural reviews of the Villa had their roots in a general dislike and scorn for Getty from the 'lesser mortals' that inhabit the world. Sometimes you can be just too separated and tone deaf from the world around you. I've never been inside on a tour, but from the photos it looks quite grand and gorgeous. However, the same could be said about Hearst Castle, spawned by a similar personality. It looks quite grand from the highway and the visitor center, but, speaking from the experience of several tours of the place, when you get up close it gets quite gauche. Class can bring you money, but money doesn't always bring class.

Wow. If there ever was an example of 'truth is stranger than fiction', this is it. I found myself actually feeling just a twinge of sorrow for the old man when his dream villa was being ridiculed, but it passed rapidly on recollection of the past nine episodes. It all went downhill for him. Even Belinda scorned him, and he thought he was the one who got the better deal. I loved Bullimore's scheme with the dogs, thanks in no small part to the gardener. And his 'resignation' was especially piquant. Sorry, ladies. Chace breaking the fourth wall was especially well done this time. He really sounded like his heart was breaking when young Getty's OD was being shown. I hope he regained a relationship with his son. I would have laughed at Primo's use of the Getty ransom to build that port as sort of a Robin Hood effect, but that little shit murdered people right and left to get to where he was, and apparently got away with it. And the port really is kind of the equivalent of the New York airport in Goodfellas. It provides a good living to the Italian mafia. At least Gail got a grandson.

All I got, except for the exchange between Villanelle and Irina, was that this seemed like an hour of Quentin Tarantino trying to do a Swedish art film.

I wasn't poking fun at you, by the way. For explanation, a no-hitter is extremely difficult to pitch at the professional level. It's an unwritten rule in baseball that you don't mention it to the pitcher in the late stages of the game, because he will then blow it. It was also a reference to Philip and Elizabeth's career, in that they've made it this far, almost to the end, and now they (or some of their team) have blown it. Just having fun with the discussion.

This is EXACTLY what a spy would say... But only if the opposing pitcher has a no-hitter going in the 8th inning...

Recalling Paige's curiosity about spies using sex some episodes back, I wouldn't be surprised if her anger was due not only to the fact that Elizabeth misled her, but that she had bedded a young man the same age as Paige. That alone might have grossed her out to the point that she had no respect for Mom anymore. Poor Stan will find the tape after it's all over, and go into Blockbuster to get more evidence, and the clerk will run it through, but says, "Before I can see who rented it, that will be $25 in late fees."

For some reason, this reminded me of a tee shirt I saw the other day. It featured two of the Star Wars stormtroopers, with the caption being, "Look busy. Vader's coming."

Left unexplained was Broussard's question about how the bad guys caught up with them so fast at the auto junkyard.

All I can say is that I wish I could manhandle my dryer the way Elizabeth did with hers. I guess when your adrenaline is up... I wonder if the scene in Russia when Elizabeth is being schooled about how she should have helped her comrade on the streets of Moscow will come back to haunt her if she is lying on the sidewalk, injured or dying, and Philip walks away from her. I did have to laugh when Philip urged the Russian priest to buy a plane ticket "today" if he could. I half expected the priest to say, "Do you know of a good travel agency?" That, and Philip's too strenuous plea to Stan about getting an FBI contract. I'm actually surprised they didn't try that in past seasons. Federal contracts are highly sought after, and it wouldn't be at all suspicious for the travel agency to try to get in on it. Note to Stan: I don't know the capabilities of that database, but the fact that "Jennings, Philip" comes up as 6'2" black man is not automatically an indictment. There might be one or two people by that name in the US. Of course, this is way before Google and everyone looking up their own name. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have some namesakes.