shura

I don't know. I like Dre and the kids. I don't enjoy seeing people I like bullied or having things done to them that they don't like. Especially when I'm expected, this being a sitcom, to find it funny. To me, it's not. I did like the idea of Samoan officer Tuiasosopo. I couldn't decide (not that I tried hard) if that was somehow racist, on the part of Janine or the show, or if they implied they hired the actual former football player.

One of his dates was totally going to result in sex had she not said no. If that's not a little optimism, I don't know what is.

Oh, no argument there. Simply stupidly honoring the letter of a promise, not to any usable effect other than their idea of clear consciousness, I guess.

They did it to honor the promise they made to someone (Texas?) that they's U-turn the Green team. They weren't really hoping to slow them down. Nah, it's not that bad. I'm married to one of those people, not as bad as Chris though, thankfully. We manage. It's not even the sum itself that killed me. It was his proclaiming that they were making a BIG donation. Twenty freaking dollars.

I'm curious. Suppose the court-mandated therapy was not just a joke. What would Diane have been in court for? Or would it be her parents who were in trial or whatever it is? How would that work? For the record, I don't think Diane is crazy, I think she's got critical thinking, which is a good thing in my book. Her motivations might be suspect, but her reasoning is legit. "We'll see you at school, I guess?" - "In just a few hours!"

Exactly. It doesn't start with giving the actors new contracts and then going "Okay, we better cram another commercial in there to find the money." The actors are only paid their high salaries because the advertisers are knocking on the door already. And that happens, of course, because we all are watching the show. So, paradoxically, the 17-min episodes are kinda our fault.

I was looking at their helmets and thinking "Yeah, it's totally going to save you if you fall off of that flying thingie into the Falls." So, what's better - to use the Express Pass Texas'style or not to use it a-la what's-his-name that made Phil go "oy vey"? At least these two doofuses didn't get eliminated.

Could have been worse. At least he didn't pick a Helen Mirren movie. I did! Or at least started to fastforward, but then realized it was part of the episode. Well done, it really was a good commercial that looked like a commercial. It cracked me up how the suits at Dre's presentation explained their walking out when he started saying cringey things about Zoe's friend. They didn't exactly object to what it sounded like, they just coudln't "be associated with that." Charlie: "I'm gonna go get focused."

Eh, it's Charlie. He doesn't really connect things. Going to a dinner party? No reason not to stop for a burger. Carry a gun to work? Got to tell the boss that it's horrible, horrible idea.

I can totally picture Pope Francis giving out TAR clues, formal dress and all. I just don't think he would have a problem with it. I got the impression that those people collecting the cardboard were city employees, or perhaps employees of a private contractor. They looked like there were wearing some kind of uniform. It's possible they are paid based on how much cardboard they haul in, of course, but if they are city employees, wouldn't they be salaried regardless? If the city is clean after they are done, it shouldn't matter how much or how little they had to do to clean it.

I thought they sounded convinced that the driver was refusing to take them where they needed to go. Didn't they ask him for the specific place at Copacabana? I figured the driver was annoyed with them for some reason. He was pixelated, too, so it seems he may not have been too happy with the cameras or something, and didn't give the show permission to use his image. Huh, maybe the guy has something to hide...

He could have done the same thing in a fraction of the time using the telephone, Internet and Skype. I do love me some investigative reporters, however. Not only could he have sent them everything by email, the whole way those journalists were abducted made no sense. I was sure I was watching Red go after his Barzinis and Tattaglias, what with the "Michael Corleone says hello" approach. If he wanted to meet them all face to face, I'm sure they would have jumped at the chance had he just called them. If they really are good investigative journalists, that is. Okay, it wasn't just me then. I kept thinking "why on earth are they framing this scene like this? Is this supposed to be super artistic somehow?" Hey, you never know. I hear her family is rich.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing. Things happen in the world, wars start and end, money is moved and such. People sort of have an explanation why all this happens. Now, all of a sudden, it turns out the real reason is different from what people thought. Is this really such a huge scandal? Does anybody expect that things will be better if the Cabal doesn't run the world anymore? Why? The same shit will keep happening, only for a different reason, just like it had been happening long before this stupid Cabal came into existence. I did get a laugh out of the headline about senators demanding an investigation into the news that a shadow world government really runs everything. "The principal dictates what happens in the classrooms! Kindergartners call for an investigation." For some reason I thought one had to be an Israeli citizen to work for Mossad? Cool idea to extradite Samar to Iran then, just on the wishes of the Attorney General.

My favorite part was Dre's conversaion with his coworkers. Dre's boss was fantastic with his "I think it's great that Junior is joining us. He is just the kind of man the party needs. You're sure he is not gay though, right?" So many things said without being spelled out.

Right, and what we've seen from Megan Boone so far was really a masterful performance by an Emmy-worthy actress.

Plan B: Connolly is to walk into Cooper's taskforce HQ and go "Okay, dumbasses, do I have to do everything around here? The target is Senator Hawkins. Go!" It does make a lot of sense. If the Cabal simply wants to get rid of Lizzie or even Red, they can have them blown up or shot by a sniper. They almost got Red like that already. But the mother is a different matter, the Cabal doesn't even know where she is. I think you are right, they must be trying to lure her out of the shadows.

I think the idea was to assassinate someone who was either prominently pro-Russian or anti-Russian (I think they said which, but I can't remember), and I guess the Senator was it. The Russians and the Americans would then get pissed at each other for some reason, and boom, Cold War. Easy-peasy. Works for Lizzie. I'm still marveling at the intricate plan the Cabal had for setting up Lizzie. So okay, the senator's mistress was a plant, but the FBI still had to find her. How did they do it? Red told them! He had to practically browbeat the reluctant Aram to google whether someone had died recently from the virus. Were Red's actions part of the plan? Is he also tired of Lizzie?

You forgot Blair's librarian joke in the cab - I loved it! I've actually come to kinda like Haley too. I don't think she is a spoiled narcissist, or that she is being mean or entitled when she goes on her "you have to listen to me" rants. I think that's just her honest way of trying to solve the problem at hand. She sees (or thinks she sees) that the current approach is not working, so she tries to take matters into her own hands. Not that her way is good, being mostly just yelling, but she doesn't do it for self-aggrandizement or to put down Blair just for the sake of it. Besides, it's hilarious, especially since Blair found the right way to react to it. Blair and Haley for the win!

I thought the money was not so much for the son as for keeping quiet about her affair with the Senator? In which case it was stupid of that woman to volunteer all that information to Samar, because that pretty much guaranteed that the money would stop. Come to think of it, was that woman a plant, a part of the whole "let's frame Lizzie" scheme? She is the only reason Lizzie learned about the Senator in the first place, so she had to tell Samar to keep this plan on track. And she really didn't look all that grief-stricken for someone who'd just lost her son. Hmm...

I think he mentioned he was born in Miami or something when they were drinking "tequila" with Luke.

Of course it's not possible. The whole idea of a person-specific virus like that is bullshit. The differences in DNA among people are not large enough for a virus to kill one person and do absolutely nothing to all the rest. I'm pretty sure though that the writers have no idea of what a virus is or how any of this works. They actually had someone say "formula for the virus"! That's like saying "I've got a formula for a cat".

Au contraire! What could be more important than dispensing with Lizzie? She drags the whole show down. Even the characters on her own show see that. "World War III or Lizzie? It's unanimous - let's get rid of her."

Huh, that actually makes sense. I was wondering how they got the virus into Lizzie. That's not bad, really, setting her up like that. My guess is, Karakurt went to the funeral and tried to shake hands to make it all more convincing for Lizzie? Oh, and her going and opening car doors reminded me of the scene I experience every morning when I drop off my son at school. They have the same setup - we drive up, someone comes up and opens the door.

Did she treat Sharon better than Bow? I thought Ruby never said a word to Sharon, just referred to her dismissively in the third person (and in her presence) as "Rhonda's mechanic." I'm not sure it's all that much better than actually talking to a person, even if only to put them down. It was kinda nasty, unintentionally, for Bow to basically tell Jack "all this stuff your sister just gave me is just crap, your hug is much better." I laughed at that, and Diane deserved it, but come on, Bow, what kind of parenting is that?

She really should have shot him even - especially - when she realized she'd been played. And seriously, how could that docket number have been anything but a red herring? What terrorist would write it down as part of their notes, how is the number relevant to what the terrorist is planning to do? If you are planning a strike on the Supreme Court, it doesn't matter a bit what case they are hearing. For some reason I am not feeling this show they way I used to. It's still good, but it doesn't wow me anymore that often. The Iris plot doesn't help either. "John, am I going to lose you?" Hell, I've never seen or felt that you ever had him, they keep telling me that there is something special there but I don't see it. I hope Reese has to go into deep hiding next season and never sees Iris again.