Downton Abbey Series 4 Part 6 Review

                                         
Robert (Hugh Bonneville) gets a letter form Cora's (Elizabeth McGovern) brother, Harold and we're not made aware of the contents until the end when Robert asks if Cora's read it and she thinks Harold is innocent and it will all blow over, also asking if they know the senator.  Rose (Lily James) reminds Cora about the surprise for Robert's birthday but she doesn't tell her what that is. She asks if Carson (Jim Carter) will be able to help with it and keep the secret but Cora suggests she should try Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) as she's better at secrets, as we know from the Anna (Joanne Froggatt) storyline but she didn't keep that for long.  Which Rose does and Mrs Hughes goes along with keeping the band down below as long as Cora has her permission.  Mary (Michelle Dockery) sees Anna is in better spirits and that she's moved back to the cottage eve if she won't tell her what was wrong.

Anna catches Bates (Brendan Coyle) alone under the stairs (!) having a moment which she thinks is cos of her.  He tells her she married a brooder and that's what he's doing, brooding, she tells him to brood about her.  Thomas (Rob James-Collier) is adamant Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) keep her side of their bargain and tell him everything she hears upstairs which she does but doesn't know what the secret is.  He tries to get it out of Mrs Hughes but she's not obliging either.

Albert (Matt Milne) gets a letter telling him he's been accepted at the Ritz as he was number 5 in line and he tells that to Jimmy (Ed Speleers).  Who responds he didn't say he wasn't next in line.  Albert's nervous about going but Carson tells him it's only cos he's intelligent and only intelligent people get nervous and not the forward thinkers.  Daisy (Sophie McShera) is upset he's leaving cos she thought he'd stick around now even if he was moping around and didn't want to watch her prepare anchovy sauce!

The Dowager (Maggie Smith) finds a Japanese figurine missing and that's the final straw for her as she fires Pegg.  He tells this to Isobel (Penelope Wilton) and she's angry at her hasty response.  Thus she confronts her and they have an argument over the Dowager not doign what is just and how she just wants to accuse Pegg without finding out the real truth.  So when she goes out, Isobel returns in true detective fashion and feigns being dizzy to be able to sit down in her sitting room and nose around.  She finds the letter opener lodged in between the Dowager's chair and gives it to Sprat to return to her.  Oh and the figurine was found in the maid's cleaning bucket so it must have fallen in, but she thinks Pegg could have placed it in there. These two really do make the show more comedic than it is and that's good cos some scenes make you think you've seen it all before.

Albert thanks everyone for being kind and having him here and even thanks Carson for teaching him so much.  But Daisy doesn't say goodbye to him, he does to her though and tells her she couldn't have had him cos he doesn't feel that way about her but she'll make someone really happy so she wishes him luck.  Cue Molesley (Kevin Doyle) as he saw Albert whilst working at the station, he came running to secure his position, which Carson doesn't want to offer him even if he was "willing" to take it on.  Prompting Molesley to go to Mrs Hughes for help.  She comes up with the plan that they'll be busy at the birthday party and so Carson will need someone to serve the servant's tea.  So you see the hierarchy is still going strong, depending on which servant you were, the upstairs servants get served too! Carson gives in and tells him he can have the job and reminds him to wear gloves.

Anna and Bates decide they need to go on a date and should go out for dinner.  She's still sad that a shadow lies over them and he sees her differently.  He tries to reassure her as she says she wants to make good memories and star again.  Jimmy wants to take Ivy (Cara Theobold) to see The Sheikh with Rudolph Valentino.  But when they return and kiss on the bench outside, he gets carried away and Ivy tells him she's not like that.  Was wondering where Jimmy's wandering hand was going to end up seeing as he didn't put it around her!  He goes on about taking her to the cinema and theatre and he never does that for any girl.  Well she's not just any old girl and Ivy tells Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nichol) and Mrs Hughes about what he tried to do.  Daisy has a go at her that she's to blame and she drove Albert away to London which he hates cos she lead him on too after Ivy says Albert wouldn't have tried that on.  Mrs Hughes tells Ivy she had that coming.

Edith (Laura Carmichael) is worried she hasn't heard from Michael and can't get hold of him but his office has sent a detective to Germany.  She gets a letter from the doctor and it seems she is pregnant after all. Robert notices how upset she is, as does Cora since she's her mother but she doesn't tell them anything. Robert referring to her as his darling girl.  That he doesn't play favourites when she tells him she's not his darling daughter.

Isobel, Branson and Mary exchange stories about how they've loved and lost but were still lucky.  Isobel recalling how much she loved Reginald that it made her physically sick, how Branson (Allen Leech) didn't think Sybil felt the same about him and Mary reminds them of how it was snowing and she didn't have her coat but was excited cos she knew he was going to propose.  Matthew has now been relegated to a 'he.'  Isobel was sorry to hear Anthony Gillingham is getting married to Lane Fox and Mary says she's not ready to be happy yet.  Branson is still harping on about not belonging here and if he was to stay here he doubts there'd be another Earl's daughter who would marry him.  Let's hope the writer isn't hinting at Mary!  Of course he says he can't exactly bring an Irish girl into the family even if he does love them all.  He still wants to leave but won't go until at least the pigs have settled in.

Yes pigs, Downton is taking them on now.  Napier (Brendan Patricks) arrives with Charles Blake (Julian Ovenden) and Mary immediately takes a dislike to him, especially when she finds out they're not here to help estates like Downton but to see which ones are able to produce food.  That's all Lloyd George is interested in.  They'll probably get sick of their lack of sense of humour and Napier suggests they throw them out if they're too much of a nuisance.  Of course Mary and Charles don't like one another, it was the same with Mary and Matthew when they first met.  Mary calls him an enemy when Napier refers to him as a traitor.

Anna and Bates dine at a hotel where Cora is having her meeting but the Maitre'D appears to have lost their booking until Cora vouches for them and he finds them a table quick smart.  Cora wishes she could join them.  Bates regrets he wasn't there to protect her and Anna says she's not a victim but he's treating her like one.  Bates thinking she expects him to act like a murderer.  Cora interrupts them and offers them a ride back.  She tells Mary of their conversation about Anna being hurt and Bates not being there to protect her which Baxter listens to and although Cora tells her she doesn't want it leaving the room, she still tells Thomas. She hates doing that but he tells her she must decide where her loyalties lie.  She could always make some things up but doubt she'd get away with doing that.

Jack Ross (Gary Carr) arrives with his band and for a moment everyone is shocked by him.  Carson later asking if he doesn't want to got to Africa.  He's not from there, though his ancestor were and Carson reminds them Britain was first in abolishing slavery.  Mrs Hughes telling Jack he's hit on something which Carson doesn't like which is a first.  But Carson thinks he's okay.  Rose surprises everyone again with the band but Roberta and the others seem to take it in their stride and dance.  That really wasn't expected since no one made such a big deal about it, no fireworks and their reactions turned out to be nothing but a damp squib though the Dowager did have a few things to say as did Edith, oh how very unaccepting of you Edith!

Mary later catches Rose kissing Jack downstairs as she asks him to send the bill to Robert but doesn't say anything to them.  The servants enjoyed the jazz even if many didn't, the Dowager asking that's what it is and each of the band were playing something different, more like off key.  Mrs Patmore sending Carson in a right tizzy by saying she shivers all over at the sight of Rudolph Valentino and that the band was enough to jig to. As was everyone's description of Jack as being "odd."  It was "odd" he was here and Edith asking, "isn't it rather odd?" Think if anyone said anything stronger, they'd never be seen the same way in some viewer's eyes.

So another suitor for Mary, really they must have thought how they could have gone for so long without meeting her! ha.  Though if we're not careful it could turn out to be a bit of Pride and Prejudice, Mary's pride in not liking the lowest commoner of the low and always meeting men who are engaged, and Charles's prejudice in that he's got it in for the upper class toffs! ha.

Next time Gillingham returns as does his valet, Green, which is what everyone was waiting for, let's hope for some fireworks then.  Also the Dowager is taken ill.

Scandal 2.17 "Snake in the Garden" Review

                                                 
Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) follow Osborne (Kurt Fuller) and find they've been made cos he's not heading to his usual drop point but instead heads to Olivia's (Kerry Washington) apartment. They give her the heads up viz text and he tells her he's onto her and wants them to leave him alone.  Jake (Scott Foley) watches and his camera signal fails at a crucial point.  Funny that!  Or not.  Does this mean someone else has her apartment bugged too? Anyway Jake sees Olivia hiding something in one of her vases, silly hiding place, yes it's in plain sight but if anyone breaks in (emphasis being on anyone such as Jake, ha! knew that was coming) he'd or anyone else would easily find it and what about it falling or dropping in an accident, struggle, etc.  SO he's going to find a way to find out what's in there but has to get in anyway to secure his camera feed.

Hollis Doyle (Gregg Henry) arrives with his fourth wife, Deborah (Melinda McGraw) as their daughter, Maybelle (Andrea Bowen) has been kidnapped.  She sent them a video message, at least the kidnapper did and hell yeah like Hollis, I too was cynical and said straightaway that she planned it herself.  They way she kept looking over to the alleged kidnapper but we couldn't hear him.  Of course sitting in front of a window was amateurish since anyone can figure out the location.  She says she got into trouble cos she met this boy Justin and he led her into drugs so they got into stealing etc, but Deborah wants her back.  Did none of Olivia's team think of checking where Justin was right about now even after Harrison (Columbus Short) and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) found his apartment empty.

David (Joshua Malina) finds his apartment has been ransacked and thinks the person is still there as he hears a noise and ducks for cover behind the sofa.  The others find him at the office the next day and he suggests they should contact the FBI who will have a better chance of finding her.  Huck disagrees and tells them if his family was kidnapped he'd want Olivia and her team finding them and on his side.  Quinn thinks Huck should get a new family and that they should look for one for him, she shows him one, they even have a dog, a very small dog which he says isn't a dog.

Hollis won't pay the ransom and takes things in his stride,even eating breakfast until he finds out he has a special delivery, her ear.  Of course it'll be too late for DNA testing cos they have 24 hours in which to pay the ransom of $20 million.  Olivia says they should pay half now and then wait for the call, that's how they deal with kidnappers.  Deborah says they should go ahead and pay it.  Huck makes Quinn analyze the video footage for sounds and tell tale signs showing the location of the building.  They find it's a warehouse and when they turn up, the place is empty but there are signs of blood showing she was there.  Again it's cos she's behind it.

Hollis wants them to pay the entire ransom and the call finally comes.  Olivia asks for proof of life in a meeting place before they send through the remaining ransom.  They meet at a location and see she's alive so the ransom is paid.  Hollis is relieved to have her back and Huck analyzes the ear properly and tells them it was staged by her since the ear is not cut perfectly as it has jagged edges.   Hollis gives Maybelle an ultimatum and tells her she can have the money or family.  She opts for money but not before Olivia gives her the whole speech on having everything and being selfish and spoilt.  Clearly this is close to Olivia, well family is as you can tell she has family issues of her own, otherwise this wouldn't have meant so much to her and she wouldn't have had that outburst.  Though Harrison et al can't decide why they helped, Hollis being the devil. Olivia repaying, "even the devil loves his children" Again a reference to father and children.  Her father?  Oh and Cyrus's (Jeff Perry) funny line about this being karma.

At the Whitehouse Mellie (Bellamy Young) and Cyrus are still having their problems with trying to outdo each other for Fitz's (Tony Goldwyn) grace and favour.  Cyrus telling Mellie he's working on finding out who the uniform man is, as he's given the file to Charlie (George Newbern) to dig the dirt on him.  Fitz has invited their children down for the weekend from boarding school.  They're going to play tennis.  Mellie tells Lauren (Sharmila Devar) to fill Fitz's schedule so he can't fit them in anywhere.

Jake calls Olivia for lunch but she's busy giving him ample opportunity to break in and steal the flashdrive files and fix his camera.  Sly old Jake, knew he was up to something more and here he's playing both sides.  He copies the files and gives them to Fitz telling him that Osborne is the mole.  He can't tell him the source's name but it's the same source who got the hostages freed.  Osborne tells Cyrus his place is being raided but he's not the mole.  He's a patriot and for years he's worked and never saw his family or wife.  He always put work first and you know he sounded sincere enough to be telling the truth.  Cos this is Scandal and is never straightforward.  He couldn't be the mole and that'd be the end of things, no there has to be more twists and more behind this.

Charlie gives Cyrus info on Jake and he confronts Fitz with Operation Remington.  When he was in Iran and he probably had to do things he's not proud of, things that could earn him honours and medals and he can't tell anyone about them.  Well that's what Cyrus compares Ohio to.  But it's not the same thing.  He said he's done things for the good of the Republic and that history will judge them and have the final say on whether they did good or bad, not them.  Cyrus is told about Osborne being the mole as Mellie listens in.

Fitz is angry she cancelled his meeting with the children as he pours himself another scotch.  She tells them they didn't want to come cos he's changed.  He drinks a lot and they don't have fun with him.  He forces their daughter to play tennis and she doesn't like it, then quizzes her on political questions.  Fitz is becoming Jerry, his father.  Which is something that I said some eps ago.  Olivia gets ready for a date with Jake as Cyrus calls her and tells her about some man who's threatening his marriage, not to his husband but his other marriage to Fitz.  Obviously he doesn't mention names and Olivia doesn't mention who she's seeing either, no, that'd be too easy!  But she tells Cyrus to "go for the juggler."  Oh Olivia but it's your beau! Ha.

Jake pays her a visit surprise, surprise and she's wearing her casual clothes saying she can't go out.  He sees her pain and she tells him about the man she was seeing and she was on the phone talking about him not five minutes ago but he's still in her head.  He tells her to close her eyes and kisses her.  Then asks her if he's still in her head and then leaves.  Cos he's got his own date.  This time with a mysterious man in the park who he tells everything's been taken care of concerning the mole.  The man walks off.  Disn't he look like Harrison from behind?  The news reports the suicide of Osborne in his car but again he was killed.

A bit of a spoiler in the next para so if you don't want to find out what that is  DON'T READ!
Since there was a lot of talk of family in this ep, Fitz's family, Hollis's family, finding a new family for Huck, but he finds one for Quinn, one where it's just a and father and daughter like her, since her own father won't talk to her.  Well since there was family talk I guessed the man on the park bench with Jake is Olivia's father. Hand on heart I did not read up on the next series.
END OF SPOILER

Oh Jake, we knew he wasn't that good of a guy in that he was watching Olivia cos Fitz tasked him to do that, but also knew he had an agenda since he wants Olivia for himself and hasn't told anyone about that. Well he wouldn't would he.  Which leads me to ask will he also betray the man in the park?  But this is Scandal as said and everyone uses everyone in it!  That's part of the fun!
Oh and didn't Hollis not recognize Quinn or did he just not care?

SO was the snake in the title of the ep, Jake, Mellie, mysterious man?  I liked that scene with Mellie and Cyrus when he told her everyone must do what she wants and finished off with saying, "as a friend of mine says, it's being handled."  Sure was.  A lot was being handled in this show, but it kind of weighs heavy that Jake took care of Osborne like that.  Then again no one in this show has 'clean' hands.  Everyone has been or is involved in some sort of underhand activity, including killing and getting away with it.

Maybelle was played by Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives) so knew she'd be up to no good, ha. I just wanted to say, "maybe it's Maybelene" throughout and now I have! Ha.  She did used to play her mother a lot in that show.  Not surprised she took the money and not family having Hollis as her father. Doesn't exactly spell role model or devoted father.  The opposite to Fitz, I don't believe he's a bad father and yes he is drinking but the way he spends time with Ted and is completely devoted to him, does not make him a bad father.  Conversely Mellie is the bad parent and Fitz was right about that but she turned it round on him and made him out the bad guy just cos he's been drinking a lot of late.  Hated that scene, but liked how Fitz left his glass on his desk and didn't pick it up after she left.

Huck found Maybelle pretty quickly, should have handed her into the police and have done with it.  Cos she was a spoiled little rich kid, having a father like him did not give her an excuse to behave in that way.  Olivia telling Cyrus she smells something fishy about Jake so she's going for it, she's "jumping."  Shouldn't that be a warning sign to her to keep away.  Then again as we know she doesn't like easy or comfortable, as Edison said, "love shouldn't be painful."  Yet here with Jake she's going to put herself through the wringer all over again.

Also Olivia didn't realize how Jake said she thinks of wine as another foodgroup cos he only took her out once, she couldn't really have drunk the entire place down since they ended up at the Jefferson Memorial, not so much wine on tap there!  Olivia dropping her guard again.

Some choice quotes this ep too.
Olivia: "Poor little rich girl. What was it? He worked late, she missed your dance recitals, they threw you in reform school, rehab, they tried to buy your love instead of earning it? Whatever they told you in therapy, whatever sad cliché you’re still holding on to after all these years, it doesn’t matter. No one feels sorry for you, not anymore."

Also Jake to Olivia: "You don’t know me. I might be the worst guy in the world. Or I might be the best. Whoever I am, I like you. I like you a lot. I like how you say ‘What?’ when you answer the phone, how you always seem to be wearing white, how wine seems to be a food group for you. I like that you know who you are and that you fix everyone around you, but you seem...sad to me, Olivia. I like you, but you seem sad."  SO he could be right about himself in the first line, he looks to be both bad and good guy, but which way will his loyalties turn or lie in the end?  Yes Jakey will keep us guessing!

CSI:NY 9.17 "Today is Life" Review

                                              
So here it is then the final ever episode of our well loved show, seems hard to believe but CSI:NY is no more!  The scene opens with two police officers in pursuit of two robbers who have just held up a jewellery store.  The chase is continued on foot and ends up with the officers separating to pursue the suspects.  One of the robbers escapes by placing his jacket over the barbed wire fence and the second one is shot by the officer.  When the second officer arrives at the scene he hears a gunshot and the alleged robber is shot.  The officer believes he had a gun as he put his hand inside his jacket, he was going to reach for a gun.

Officer Kevin Hopkins (Patrick Mulvey) retells his story to Mac (Gary Sinise) and Flack (Eddie Cahill).  A crowd has gathered outside the twelfth precinct as has news crews.  The Vic was Timothy Brown (Koby Kumi-Diaka).  Kevin is surprised his story is being rejected and knows he doesn't have to talk with them and has 24 hours before having to report to IA.  (Which we all know from Danny's officer shooting ep in season 1 On the Job.)  He trusts Mac and respects him but thinks the radios didn't work as he did call in the shooting.  No gun was found.  His partner, Trey (Paul James) got separated in the alley and Timothy fired at him.  The mob become restless and violent and a brick is lobbed through the window which misses Flack.

Soon the mob overrun the precinct and Mac and Flack help out the officers, Flack is even pushed to the ground and almost knocked out as Mac comes to his rescue!  Ahh poor Flack!  Trey also tells them that they were separated and he followed the suspect who fled over the fence.  He got to the alley and heard a shot but didn't see any gun, but he believes Kevin.  Flack doesn't know if Trey is lying since he could have saved Kevin by telling them he heard two gunshots.  But he wouldn't cos they're not dirty cops but were only doing their jobs.  Timothy's girlfriend, Tori (Hope Olaide Wilson) tells them he wasn't violent and would never rob a jewellry store.

The others gather evidence and jewellery from the CS but Jo (Sela Ward) doesn't find a gun, not in any dumpsters, or the alley which she tells Mac.  Sid (Robert Joy) calls Mac to inform him Timothy didn't have any GSR on his hands so he didn't fire any gun.  Mac wants Kevin to tell him the truth and he gets defensive and angry cos he is telling the truth.  He can walk them through the scene and what happened but that's dangerous since there's no way out.  So erm, what about getting a helicopter onto the roof, surely they have somewhere to land one.

Mac suggests they bring the scene to them and has Adam (AJ Buckley) and Hawkes (Hill Harper) walk the alley, Adam with a camera strapped to him, looking like something out of Ghosbusters, or should that be Ghostfacers from Supernatural, ha.  Adam says he wouldn't go into that alley.  Kevin directs them to the correct place and Hawkes finds a mark where the bullet hit a post.  Mac tells him to find a casing and he does so, which should confirm Kevin's version of events.

Mac is called by the Chief who wants Kevin brought before a Grand Jury but Mac protests and isn't ready to do that.  They need evidence and he says this to Flack.  Mac thinks it's not safe keeping the officers here as they could be overrun any minute even with reinforcements and they take Trey and Kevin out in the ambulances at the back.  Why not put them both into one ambulance as Trey makes it out, but the one with Kevin is attacked by the mob, of course it has to be his.  Kevin is dragged out and beaten up with Flack and Mac coming to rescue him.  Again they got a helicopter into the air but they couldn't land it on the roof to evacuate them!  Flack and Mac coming out without wearing helmets.  Wouldn't Kevin have sustained more injuries than he did.

Hawkes finds the casing was from shootings which took place in the same alley but they don't know who the suspect was or what he looked like.  Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) found a piece of paper in the suspect's jacket which was a summons for drinking in a receptacle in a public place.  This has the address of the neighbourhood which is close to the alley.  Mac calls to say Trey got away and he got a look at the suspect with the jacket, so they take him round in the car to search for the suspect.  Trey sees him in the crowd still wearing that same grey hoodie and he makes a run for it.  Leading them to a mailbox which he tries to open. He puts his hand in and Jo shoots him, just as Kevin shot Timothy.  Lindsay finds a gun inside.  Did the suspect really think he could shoot his way out of there?

Adam arrives and parked a few blocks away and the he threw around a few garbage cans and walked in. He ran tests on the jewellery and found the ones stolen from the store were marked 14ct gold but were fake. Timothy had used his own jewellery to buy an engagement ring.  Timothy was at the store when the robbery took place but he wasn't involved.  Danny also arrests Griffin (Robert Ri'chard) the man who was the other accomplice.  He says they shot his homie and is upset, the gun was for use by everyone.  They robbed the store and ran into the alley he fired at Kevin but wasn't going to kill him.  He disappeared into a doorway as Timothy was walking in the alley.  He turned around and saw Kevin there and took his hand out of his jacket.  Kevin shot him and there was no gun.

Mac tells Tori this and makes her listen to Kevin talking.  He would give anything to get between Timothy and the bullet and calls himself a coward.  Flack replies he's not a coward cos he faced up to what he's done and did what he was trained to do.  If he was a coward he would have run and things would have been very different, it could have been him in that alley if he had hesitated.  Mac gives Tori the ring but she doesn't want it.  She doesn't need a reminder of what could have been but tells Mac how Timothy used to sign his letters, "today is life.  The only life you're sure of.  Make the most of today."  Prompting Mac to make a life changing decision.

As she leaves she talks to the reporter and tells her that Timothy died cos two men woke up and decided they wanted to rob a store.  She will forgive Kevin eventually since he was doing his job protecting them, but will never forgive them for what they did.  The crowd disappears.  Mac talks about his work and being an officer and waits for Christine (Megan Dodds) .  The others all share beers on the rooftop and Flack kisses Lovato (Natalie Martinez)(yuk).  Jo fixes Sid's plaster where he's had the chemo needle inserted and holds his hand.  Seems Hawkes and Adam have each other for company, ha.

Mac proposes to Christine eventually getting the words out.  He doesn't have a ring but gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him cos he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.  SO ends the show!  Oh woe is me!  Looks like the writers could have ended the show better maybe everyone was still holding out hope that they could have a last minuet reprieve or something.  But no luck.  CBS cancelled one of my fave CSI shows! Seems like this officer involved shooting has been done many times in the past, as mentioned with Danny in season 1 and he also claimed he saw a gun but no gun was found.  It's a plotline oft used as said already.

Oh boy don't know what to write here, we started the series 9 years ago and had some great eps and some not so good ones, especially towards the end.  Mac started out lamenting his wife Claire and still wearing his wedding ring and ended up meeting Christine again and proposing t her, so he'll get that ring back on his finger.  Although many fans wanted him to get together with Jo and not Christine.  Another blond, like Claire. Who knows maybe if there had been another series then he and Jo would have made a go of it.  But I'll miss my Flack, Danny and Adam and Hawkes moments and scenes.  Hey we didn't even get any chase scenes between Danny and Flack anymore!  Also I liked the addition of Sela to the show she was great and made her character very believable and enjoyable!

It's farewell then to CSI:NY how we'll miss ya!!  At least I will.

Mac: "Sometimes the good comes when we most need it and least expect it.  If we are lucky enough to notice it, set our eyes upon it and appreciate it, it can almost make us forget all of the bad. Today is life, the only life you're sure of.  Make the most of today.  Words of wisdom, a slice of goodness passed on by an innocent soul whose life was cut short by an errant bullet.  These are words that will always stay with me, words that are about to change the course my life forever."

Yeah and ours too, ha.  Today was CSI:NY, the only show we wanted another season of, but we made the most of 9 years!

CSI:NY 9.16 "Blood Actually" Review

CSI:NY gives us a Valentine's Day ep as its penultimate ep, trying to soften us for the finale!  But it didn't work! The CSIs have to solve three murders which all take place on this day and Mac (Gary Sinise) and Christine (Megan Dodds) have a date with destiny (well in the next ep at least.)  Mac looks for Valentine's cards and finds one which is blank inside so he can write his own message in there, whilst three people are getting killed.  Funny how they were all male! ha.

The first story: Love for Sale concerns the death of a man who attacked another man in a hotel room.  Jo (Sela Ward) processes the scene and collects some evidence such as a champagne bottle.  Lovato (Natalie Martinez) tells her the Vic's name was Theodore Hart (Trenton Rostedt).  Jo finds the room was registered to a Wayne Brown (Wayne Bastrup) and he lives nearby, so why the expensive hotel room?  Wayne is found and tells them he met a woman at a bar named Laura and they were having drinks.  They went back to the hotel room and then a man came in.  They fought and he tried to kill him so he says he got hold of the corkscrew and stabbed him with it.  He didn't mean to leave but didn't know the man was dead until she told him now.  He doesn't know Laura's last name.

Sid's (Robert Joy) autopsy finds there was a puncture wound on Hart's neck but it didn't kill him.  He has blunt force trauma to the back of his head which makes Lindsay )Anna Belknap) wonder how he could have got that if Wayne claims he was under him.  Sid also found green flecks in his wound.  So either Wayne lied or he was there with someone.  Lovato finds Hart was a pimp and Laura (Georgie Flores) worked for him. Laura Palmer (what this isn't Twin Peaks! Ha)  Lindsay tells Jo that Wayne was not in his room alone since there was a partial print on the bottle and also on a chocolate wrapper.  These merged into one print and belonged to Laura who has been arrested for solicitation.  The print on the bottle was reversed so she was holding the bottle from the neck and thus hit Hart on the head with it.

Laura says Hart was her pimp and he would check up on her but he forgot the time since she and Wayne talked.  He asked her everything about her life and seemed genuinely interested but she doesn't believe that true love exists.  Jo tells her differently since Wayne confessed to killing Hart for her.  Jo wonders where you'd look for a good man and Lindsay tells her good men are out there if you know where to look, which don't mean work!

Flack (Eddie Cahill) makes a date with Lovato (ugh) and suggests a slice, beer and a game.  She's happy with that cos she doesn't want all this sentimentality like other women.  Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) also making a reference to having to fork out for expensive dinners on this day just cos other people do it. Lindsay promises him something else after work.  (Groan!)  Jo tells Ellie (Sydney Park) to go straight home after her date with her boyfriend and make her curfew, giving her an extra 15 minutes after midnight.

Story 2 Love is Blind finds Danny questioning the widow of Bernard Chandler (Clint Culp) Sarah (Amy Gumenick) and finds them to be a mismatched couple.  She is younger and he is more portly and older.  He had a penchant for chocolate but was on a diet.  Sarah also tells them he was diabetic so wouldn't eat chocolate.  They were meant to go away on their dream vacation and it was their fifth anniversary.  Hawkes (Hill Harper) finds a box of chocolates, empty and sweet wrappers and his phone when he tried to dial for help.  Danny prejudging thinks Bernard is rich and that's why Sarah married him cos they don't go together. Hawkes thinks he's prejudging and is about to tell him something but stops.

Sid takes his pills and Danny arrives at autopsy.  It's been a long time since he's been there and this is what Sid also tells him.  Suppose they had to get Danny down there one last time before the show was over!  Sid tells him COD was a sugar overdose.  Also it appears Bernard did try to inject himself with insulin.  Hawkes analyzes Bernard's stomach contents and finds the presence of sucrose as he tells Adam (AJ Buckley).  Yet the box of chocolates were labelled as being sugar free.  Part of the label had been ripped off and obviously the only one who knew Bernard was diabetic was Sarah.  The spouse being the prime suspect as always.

Adam went through his phone and thinks Bernard was having an affair with a woman named Evelyn as there were several messages to her.  Of course Adam is also prejudging as did Danny.  Sarah is brought in and Danny tells her she ripped off the label from the box and added sugar water to his insulin.  He ate the chocolates since she gave them to him otherwise he wouldn't have.  He tried to inject himself but he didn't have insulin in the hypodermic.  Sarah tells him other women were envious of her when they saw him with her.  Also that she found out he was going to take another woman on their dream vacation but Danny tells her Evelyn was his travel agent and he had booked tickets for Europe.  She killed him for nothing cos she couldn't see past her jealously, which isn't really love.

Hawkes shows Danny a pic of himself when he was younger showing he was overweight.  He liked a girl but no one could see past his weight and he had to do something about it.  Danny wants to keep the photo but Hawkes doesn't want him telling anyone about it.  Though don't know why he's ashamed, he overcame his obesity which is a good thing.  Funny he carries that photo around with him though.  Thought he was going to take out the photo of a woman or something so we know what's he's been up to in his personal life.

The third story: In the Name of Love sees Mac and Flack investigate the shooting of a man in the back in the street.  His wife was also there but fled the scene.  The Vic was Jeremy Howser (Mark Hengst) the CEO of a company and the name sounds familiar to Mac.  He was in the middle of a divorce with his wife, Wendy (Shanna Collins).  The gun was found underneath him.  Jeremy was being investigated cos he had swindled some of his clients.  Sid finds the bullets hit him in the back and the fragmented bones hit his heart.  Mac calls it an execution.  He also notices some ink on his wrist which Sid missed but Mac tells him he's allowed one mistake after 8 years of exemplary work.  Sid also found defensive wounds on his knuckles which were there a few ours before.

Adam finds the bullets from Jeremy didn't match the gun found under him as he was able to piece the fragments together.  He's loaded the info into the computer to search it and Mac will be notified when there's a result.  He removes his lab coat since he's got a date with Michelle and they're going ice skating.  Mac lets him know he can go, but first he has to decipher the ink stamp.  That's easy and says it's from a nightclub where they stamp your wrist if you want to leave and then come back.  Mac lets Adam go and he hugs him, yeah first and last time! Ha.  The computer finds a match to an officer Thomas Reynolds (Omar J Dorsey). He was recently cleared of an unjustified shooting case as Flack finds out and retired.

Reynolds now runs a security firm and has worked for Jeremy.  Reynolds was fired and he left with a black eye.   They go to Reynold's apartment and find some pics.  He was surveilling Wendy and so Mac thinks she was the intended target.  Also she said she fled the CS cos she was afraid for her own life.  So did Wayne in the first story.  As Mac drives back to the precinct, Flack notices a grey sedan and tells Mac.  Reynolds turns himself in.  He tells them how when he followed Wendy for dirt on her he couldn't find any.  She was good and helped people out using her money on them.  Then realized Jeremy was going to murder her.  He had the gun in the street and Reynolds shot him to stop him from killing her.  He wanted to be good like her but thinks it's too late now.  Mac tells him he did good by saving her life.  Jeremy got a stamp from a nightclub so he could return and establish his alibi there. Flack also tells him about the one way ticket Jeremy brought for himself to Geneva and the gun found under his body.

Mac meets Christine at the new bar and listen to Josh Groban singing.  As he gives her the card.  Danny and Lindsay spend time together and she bemoans them not doing much of that and just as they are about to get close, Lucy calls them telling them there's a vampire in her room.  Ellie meets Jo and tells them they'll have ice cream and watch movies together and it's not cos she feels sorry for Jo being alone.  She ditched her date for her mother.  Flack has a surprise candlelit dinner for Lovato who wanted all that sentimentality anyway. She tells him he'll have to meet her brothers now and he wants her to bring it on, he's not worried.

We don't get to see how Hawkes sent the night or Adam ice skating either.  CSI:NY getting all mushy on us and breaking the eps down into three stories.  Though they haven't covered much cases like this before which involved more than two cases in one ep, it kind of felt rushed and too easily concluded since their suspects were right there for them and were connected to the Vics.  Being Valentine's Day they had to bring chocolate into the stories, especially the second one and again it was the man who had the sweet tooth again alluding to season 1.17 The Fall choc ep where the obese man was meant to give up on choc and hid it outside and then fell from the balcony whilst getting it.

Lovato denying she's into the whole romance thing was silly, didn't she think Flack could read her as was her remark asking why the bottle is a giveaway as to what happened.  Of course if the bottle is held from the neck upside down it means it was used as a weapon!  Duh, how long she been on the force?  Danny telling Mac Christine is a fighter and he should hang onto her.  After Christine has a flashback to the previous ep when she was kidnapped.  Seth an Apep.

Seems each of the stories had a relevant title, the first one being love comes as a price and can only be brought but Wayne proved Laura wrong.  Who is probably going to get off with self defence.  The second one where Sarah didn't care about the appearance of her husband but she did care he was cheating on her and couldn't see him with anyone else, but she could kill him instead.  How twisted was that love of hers. The third story where it seems Jeremy did only marry Wendy in name only, quite ironically he didn't love her anymore at least and wanted her to suffer - in the name of love.  Of course we know that the overall title of the ep is a play on the movie Love Actually.  Each couple supposedly in love was out for blood!

Hawkes: "love has the power to overcome almost everything  but only if we all can get past our own prejudice and let it."

The Paradise Series 2 Episode 1

                                             
Series 2 returns of this drama ahead of Mr Selfridge, its 'rival' as we know from last year and will take a little getting used to before I get back into it, at least for a short time anyway.  This time round Moray (Emun Elliott) is in Paris and writes to Denise (Joanna Vanderham) confirming his love for her, as he's picking up tips in France.  We find The Paradise is in trouble and when wasn't it in trouble, ha, as Dudley (Matthew McNulty) brings in 200 fur capes as worn by Princess Alexandra.  However there's a traitor in their midst who has been sent there by Fenton to ensure he can get a cheap price for the store when its sold.  The pipe leaks in the storeroom and the capes are damaged.  Sam (Stephen Wight) and  Nathaniel (Kevin Guthrie) notice the pipe was cut so this was deliberate sabotage.  It's also obvious who the culprit is since he's a newcomer.  It wouldn't be one of the regulars.

Also added to the cast is Susy (Katie Moore) who replaces Pauline, not that any of her friends and colleagues noticed cos she wasn't mentioned at all, not even by Sam or Denise.  Maybe she got a facelift and came back as Susy who is sweet on Nathaniel too.  Also we get the cook, Myrtle (Lisa Millet) who is boisterous and loud and isn't liked at all by Miss Audrey (Sarah Lancashire) especially when she remarks how she wouldn't break if she was touched by a man.  Miss Audrey again stressing how she had to work or marry and had a hard choice to make. Later she asks Edmund (Peter Wight) to marry her.  Myrtle has notions of becoming a shopgirl herself one day!  Needs a lot of work doing there then, ha, not only in terms of her mannerisms but appearance.  She'd have the customers running a mile!

Katherine Glendenning (Elaine Cassidy) has now become Mrs Tom Weston (Ben Daniels) as she is married and has a step daughter, Flora (Edie whitehead) whom she shows off at the store, along with her husband who takes a shining to Clara (Sonya Cassidy) cos he has a wandering eye, of course.  He also notices how Denise is afraid of Katherine as she asks for her to show Flora around the store. Weston gets the lowdown from Clara who tells him everything.

Weston is determined to sell but Katherine doesn't want to and sends for Moray who is pleased to return not only cos he can see Denise again but also cos he sees this as an opportunity to get the store back.  Lord Glendenning is now passed and Katherine has inherited his fortune so it was surprising she married beneath her and married a soldier as is repeated several times by Weston himself.  We also get to see him distant from Katherine when she's amorous towards him but later needs her when we're shown the scars on his back which cause him great pain, which appears only Katherine can comfort him from.

Moray is determined to make the store a success and asks Denise to marry him, to which she doesn't reply yet.  He wants the Paradise closed for a day so he can display his "exotica" which Weston doesn't approve of.  Denise sees Nathaniel with Fenton (Adrian Scarborough) in the night as he pays him off but Susy doesn't know anything about it.  Next day there's panic as Susy screams claiming she saw a scorpion in one of the crates.  Of course Denise has to get to the bottom of this since she was nosing around and makes Nathaniel confess he put the thought into her head.  Weston was on the verge of selling but now tells Fenton to leave his store or he'll remove since he was trying to play him to get a cheap price.

Katherine tells Moray she wouldn't have let Weston sell and Denise tells Moray they can't rush into marriage cos Katherine isn't really over him and will do anything to mess up their lives.  They need to get the store back first and marriage must wait.  Katherine denies her feelings for Moray even now saying "it was ridiculous I could marry a storekeeper and be at war with a shopgirl."  Who's she fooling it was Moray who jilted her at the alter and she would have married him in a heartbeat.

Looks like there's plenty of intrigue to come yet with Weston and his past and how Katherine really fits into his life.  He looks menacing enough to make mischief and keep viewers entertained and will Clara make a move on him and vice versa as she tells Moray how she's still looking out for him even though he doesn't want her to.  It has been a year so we wonder how Moray fared without Denise and from next ep trailer, looks like he found his moments of amusement without Denise around, but how will she react when she finds out?

Lots of moustaches in the picture as Moray gets a new hairdo and looks like Weston will be twirling his moustache in evil manner!  Denise also gets some new outfits, where'd she get the money for those then?

Downton Abbey Series 4 Part 5 Review

                                     
Cora's (Elizabeth McGovern) new maid Baxter (Raquel Cassidy) makes an impression on everyone as she worms her way into everyone's good graces both upstairs and below.  Impressing Cora with a glass of orange juice for breakfast as that's what Americans like, so she's taken with her.  Thomas (Rob James-Collier) is pleased as we find the real reason for him bringing her here is to spy and then report back to him, seeing as there's big changes afoot at Downton he wants to be in on them.  Telling her he and O'Brien were pally until they had a falling out.  Baxter asks if Anna (Joanne Froggatt) can't help him as she seems to be quiet.  But he describes her as "incorruptible" which is what makes them so different.

Baxter needs to use her sewing machine which she places in the servant's dining hall since the socket's too far in the laundry.  Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nichol) is once again loathed to accept new inventions and doesn't like the machine, though it impresses Daisy (Sophie McShera) who later has a go on it.  Mrs Patmore even going so far as trying to talk Cora out of getting a refrigerator for the kitchen.  Alfred (Matt Milne) gets a letter from the Ritz inviting him for a test which is in two days, apparently the letter was lost.  Daisy helps him prepare the savouries which are served to the upstairs who are impressed by his fete accomplie.  Oh okay I went all french for cooking! ha.  However they don't realize he will need more than just cooking skills, that should read culinary to impress them.  So his big day arrives and the sous chef asks questions which Alfred isn't about to answer, like the name of potato and leek soup being vichyssoise. He's clearly out of his depth.

Anna is still avoiding Bates (Brendan Coyle) for fear of his losing his head and getting Green back and he's fed up of it.  He overhears Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) talking to Anna about how she should tell him but she still refuses.  Thus when she's off in Rippon on an errand he persuades Mrs Hughes to tell him what really happened or he'll walk out and hand in his resignation.  She stops him cos he's left her with no choice cos it'll kill Anna to find him gone.  But when he knows it's Green who was the assailant she lies and tells him it was an intruder who was waiting downstairs.  Which sounds pretty far fetched, like he knew Anna would come down there and be waiting for her.  When Anna returns Bates tells her Mrs Hughes told him everything and at least we didn't get one of those scenes where Anna blabs about it being Green, which was kind of expected.  Instead she asks him what she said and he mentions the outsider.

Later Mrs Hughes tells Anna how he forced her to tell and made her swear on her mother's grave for which she believes she's going to burn.  Anna's moving back to the cottage and Mrs Hughes is glad that it's all over but Bates tells her it's far from over.  "Nothing's over," he just didn't want Anna to be concerned even more and be in distress that's why he wanted to make her think it's over.  As we know, Bates will pursue this matter relentlessly since it's in his nature.  I wasn't really convinced that he's convinced it wasn't Green. Being Downton expect him to get to the bottom of it though.

The doctor (David Robb) wants Isobel (Penelope Wilton) to find a job for Pegg who is a reliable young boy and is good at gardening.  She convinces the Dowager (Maggie Smith) yes I still call her that! to take him on and they have a conversation about Isobel always wanting to do the right thing helping everyone.  Isobel also has a moment with the doctor when she tells him she's not part of the family even if the village sees her as such, as do Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and Cora, but she's not a part of it.  Appears she's having a crisis of identity and belonging too just like Branson (Allen Leech) since the first ep of this series 4.  As he tells the others since the houseparty he feels like he doesn't belong here.  He thinks he should take Sibby to America and make a fresh start for them all, which Mary (Michelle Dockery) doesn't want.

Robert attend Drew's father's funeral and he wants the debt to be repaid and wants a chance to do this.  He'll have to discuss it with Mary and Branson but he feels he should carry on farming the land as his ancestors have done in partnership with Downton for centuries.  Robert wants him to do the same and offers to pay his debt, the last £50.  Drew tells Mary about this cos he thought she knew and she pretends she does.  This shows her father in a new light and she's glad he did that cos it shows he cares.  Robert later coming up with the line, about 'the past being an investment in their future'.  Which I paraphrased.  The Dowager hopes there isn't going to be a poet int he family cos the only Lord who was a poet was Byron "and we all know what happened to him."  Branson still thinks of himself as a socialist as far as the farmers are concerned but he's been changed too much by the family to go back to Ireland.  We actually get to see Mary with baby George this week.

Carson (Jim Carter) thinks they can solve two problems in one go by helping out Molesley (Kevin Doyle) with getting a job and fill the position vacated by Alfred, everyone jumping the gun there.  Molesley has to think about it since it's beneath him and Alfred gets news of being rejected but he was amongst the top four.  Not surprised with that sous chef he seemed quite snobbish!  Especially when he asks why he's not happy working for the Granthams.   Jimmy (Ed Speleers) can't see what the big fuss is about but Ivy (Cora Theobold) admires his ambition.  Carson encourages Alfred not to give up cos he's a hardworker and he'll do better next time, but he's despondent.  Daisy's happy though cos he won't be leaving.  Molesley accepts the position after "mature deliberation" as he tells Carson who asks him what position since Alfred won't be leaving.

The Dowager has her expensive letter opener stolen or rather she's misplaced it, it seems and thinks Pegg has stolen it.  It was special she explains to Isobel since her late husband was given it by the King of Sweden.  Which Isobel adds is why it's important.  Isobel and the Dowager could get a comedy double act going here!  As she asks Isobel if she ever doubts anyone and she didn't mean if she doubts Pegg's innocence either.

Napier (Brendan Patricks) pays them a visit and Mary is happy to see him, he's here assessing troubled farms and estates but reassures them Downton is fine.  Mary asks him to stay with them and he tells him he couldn't since his boss, Charles Blake will be accompanying him too.  Someone who will also vie for Mary's affections.  Seems like everyone's after her now Matthew is gone and hey no one mentioned his name today! Napier just describes it as a "ghastly business," charming!

Edith (Laura Carmichael) pays a visit to the doctor cos she thinks she's pregnant now that Anna is out of the woods as far as that's concerned for her.  Mary still being horrible to Edith, calling her a stick now.  Robert shows Mary the news of Anthony's engagement to the Lane Fox woman which brings Mary to tears.  Cora plans a party for Robert but doesn't know what to do with Mary suggesting they should throw a party to cheer themselves up.  What say you Rose (Lily James) will invite the singer, Jack Ross and get into strife.

Evelyn Napier was first seen in series 1 and he was engaged to someone else but ended this engagement, seems like everyone is engaged until they meet Mary.  Napier was the one who warned her about the rumours of her and Pamuk in London and felt responsible since he had brought him to their home.  In series 2 he was injured during WWI and Mary insisted he be brought to Downton to recover.  Think Charles had better watch out seeing as Napier brought Pamuk there and look how he ended up! Ha.

Scandal 2.16 "Top of the Hour" Review

                                                
Olivia (Kerry Washington) hands over the docs recovered from Wendy's flashdrive to Jake (Scott Foley) who needs to know where they came from before he can give them to Fitz (Tony Goldwyn).  Olivia can't do that but they will help him out.  Elsewhere Mellie (Bellamy Young) wants to get back into Fitz's good books and the Oval office using their son to do so since Fitz feeds him, but he doesn't let her in.  Cyrus (Jeff Perry) also wants to see him and Fitz asks to see him causing Cyrus to believe he's definitely back into his good graces.  It would never be that easy.

Olivia has a case this time, the woman is Sarah (Lisa Edelstein) she had an affair with the candidate of the Supreme Court Randall (Tim Halligan) nominated by Fitz but she tells Cyrus that Randall isn't her client, Sarah is.  Sarah's affair was when she was in law school and Olivia thinks she should come clean to the press.  With her husband, Phil (Jay Karnes) standing by her.  That is of course until he learns the true extent of her betrayal.  Another case which is close to Olivia's heart or rather her personal life.  That is when she has a moment to herself cos Cyrus intends to fight her on this every step of the way and to use every dirty trick and tactic in the book, or out of the book to destroy Sarah's reputation.  To the point where now she's CEO of a corporation, they fire her cos she violated her morals clause and this is a breach of contract.

A bit of racial prejudice on Sarah's part as Sarah assumes Abby (Darby Stanchfield) is Olivia, why cos a black woman can't be a fixer and good at her job! As dirt is dug Fitz wants Cyrus to spin the story so Randall appears to be innocent of all sexual advances and that the affair was one-sided.  That she pursued him, which is apparent when there are no e-mails found from him, but only from her.  Until Abby finds a tape of their weekends in Mexico which Cyrus also has and makes it public.  Abby tells Olivia the date stamp doesn't match, thus Sarah lied and continued her after for longer.  Even when their daughter, Annie (Mandalynn Carlson) was born.  Phil thinking she may not be his demands a paternity test.

Jake comes to see Olivia at the house which was not only incredibly stupid of him and risky.  Look the guy works in military intelligence, why would he do that with press around?  SO Olivia tells him the Intel she gave him is legit though she can't revel her source.  Olivia is snapped by a paparazzi and Jake turns his head round and gets snapped too.  Again stupid, why would he turn his head around to get in the frame.  Olivia tells him to let it go but why would he, especially when he doesn't want Fitz to know what he's up to.  Speaking of -Mellie makes it her mission to find out who Fitz is having late night rendezvous with, asking Lauren (Sharmila Devar) to show Fitz's schedule.   Lauren telling her she doesn't know who he meets and that it's probably a phonecall meeting.  Which was adding fuel to the fire and sending Mellie the bloodhound on a chase.  Mellie automatically assumes it's Olivia and thinks he's seeing her again, which could lead to divorce.  Confronting Cyrus with it who has his own problems as he tells her there's a mission going on right now to rescue the hostages in Kashfar.

Thus they're both out in the cold again.  Jake you see provided Fitz with Olivia's Intel and he ordered the rescue to take place.  Though he didn't take it to the CIA as Olivia told him not to, which was wise.  Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and Quinn (Katie Lowes) follow Osbourne (Kurt Fuller) to find out where he's making the drops which lead them to a laundry.  Quinn walks in without any clothes to launder and so has to give them the shirt off her back.  Huck telling her that's what happens when you go in without a cover story and props. As what happens is she gets made, something he didn't warn her about as the second time round she picks up his clothes and finds a wad of money.  Money from Kash(!)far.  So Osborne gets her pic from the laundry man and will now be on her trail.  Something Quinn could have done without considering she's not really Quinn.

Fitz calls Olivia and asks her why she did this.  He doesn't mean the vote rigging (not that again) but why she didn't have any faith in him, in becoming president.  She has another moment of crisis as he still holds all the shots as far as she's concerned and tells him she made a mistake.  At the same time Sarah and Phil argue which is just a reflection of her own life and betrayal as far as Fitz is concerned.  Sarah asks her for a drink, an expensive bottle of wine and yes Olivia probably did down the entire bottle.  She tells her she has to learn to live with it and forgive herself.  It'll be hard but she has to do it.  Again another reflection of Olivia's own life.

Meanwhile Jake breaks into the paparazzi's place to retrieve his photo as we see the lengths he will go to and as he's beating up on him, Fitz and his advisers are watching footage of the hostages being rescued as Osborne looks mighty disappointed, okay right royally pissed!

Abby and Harrison (Columbus Short) talk of Harrison's betrayal of her when he put the spanner in the works as far as she and David were concerned and he says he's sorry and will be sorry everyday.  She forgives him cos she realizes as a gladiator he was putting work first and being human second, which she will also do now.  Giving her a brainwave to ensure Sarah keeps her job.  They bring an empty box to the meeting and call their bluff by telling the board members they have dirt on them.  Finally giving in when Abby's about to open the empty box.  A bit like watching Deal or no Deal! Ha.  Well they dealt!

Olivia gives him the paternity test results and tells him that after 13 years he will always be her father.  So he tears up the envelope, giving their family a new lease of life, eventually.  Never do understand these affairs of law students etc with 'older' men, I mean what's the big attraction anyway.  Not like most of them want to further their careers or anything.

Jake turns up at Olivia's telling her he was mugged.  Again how he could get so easily mugged is beyond me. So she fetches him ice and he sits in front of his own camera and has that sly grin!  Well it was sly as he's recording every bit of it.  Glad Scott Foley came aboard actually cos he really is adding another dimension to the show.  Fitz/Olivia was getting tiresome, especially since he'd always get his own way and Olivia would come running no matter what and drop her pants!  Or rather have them pulled off at every second.  Mind you he don't look so bad in a uniform either!  Hey he could have had a great part in JAG, once upon a time!!
                                                 
Fitz is still inebriating himself and wallowing in self pity but really when he will wake up and see that he would not have been President right now without their 'cheating' tactics and be relishing in the news of getting the hostages back and thus adding more weight to his Presidency.  They made him and whilst it's not right and underhand and all the rest of it, he should just get on and deal with it.  Move on it's been a year, oh, that's not really in his nature to do that.

Oh and Mellie happens to be there when Jake leaves Fitz and shows Cyrus his photo (ooh in his dress whites!!) Erm, er, lost my chain of thought there! She tells him Fitz is replacing him too.  SO what's Cyrus going to do now.  Sarah's boss, Samantha (Saidah Arrika Ekulona) tells Harrison: "You're pretty and you talk fast" is exactly what I thought when Olivia, Harrison and Abby were in the car waiting to make a dash for it as soon as the reporters when on air, aside from the pretty part.  I did think that's what they do and you wouldn't have a conversation firing quickfire words at each other in real life!

But somehow we know Olivia and Fitz will get past this and also he will find out about Jake and his 'betrayal' towards him which I must admit is what I'm waiting for and I don't think I've written this much about a Scandal ep before! Olivia: "you messed up and there was a price.  Betrayal always has a price," as we'll see later!  Oh and come on how did some of you not realize that was Jake in the hoodie/ski mask!!!!  Wouldn't be anyone else.

Some choice quotes this week, though let's face it Cyrus was even more annoying this ep and talk about sexist too.  It's okay when men cheat but when women do it, they're whores, stalkers and all the rest of it. Cyrus: "classic sexual harassment, or does it only matter when it's boy on girl?"
Same with Fitz: "I trusted you, you were all I had.  You ruined me. I'm ruined."
Olivia: "I'm ruined."  Somehow he doesn't seem to care what she's going through.   Oh Fitz!!

Lisa Edelstein was in an ep of Without A Trace and of course House, just reminded me of Tony Goldwyn guesting in Without A Trace too where he played murdering twins, well one was a killer and the other one used him!  Good eps to watch.

Truth and Consequences: An X-Files/Tour of Duty Piece

                                                       
Actually penning an article about the season 4 cliffhanger, Gethsemane, many moons ago of the X-Files and Mulder's (David Duchovny) demise  I noticed some similarities between Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder's 'relationship' and her actions towards Mulder and some of the issues raised in Tour of Duty (TOD).  Sure many of you will recall this series about the Vietnam War.  Situations which are not only common in war, but during everyday life.  (A most suitable digression as it enables me to ramble on about 'spooky' goings-on - a very favourite topic of mine.)

Firstly there are relationships between ordinary friends; then there are those between colleagues and people thrown together cos of situations and circumstances beyond their control.  Scully's relationship with Mulder focused on ultimate betrayal.  Human beings are frail - life even frailer - yet we do not understand one another as well as we may perceive to; or should.  Scully's ultimate betrayal came with her expressing Mulder's frailty and naivete, as well as his vulnerability.

Is Mulder dead?  (Of course we know/knew better.)  Are we gullible enough to believe that Mulder was so weak that he finally gave up and lost his fight - in the end at his own hands.  Did he "Believe the lies".  After being through so much - experiencing the unexplainable, such as the disappearance of his sister, Samantha; the murder of his father...we are to believe this was all an elaborate hoax by the Government - but why?  (What about the expense involved - the tax payers millions - they obviously have no regard for human life.)

They were carrying out experiments on their own kind - on the population of the world.  A cover up/conspiracy exists to hide the fact that aliens exist or don't exist?  What are we to believe anymore?

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, "the cruelest lies are often told in silence."  The very crux of human nature is the ability to lie and to deceive.  To say one thing and mean another, or a to say nothing at all when they should speak out against injustices.  Perhaps his quote can be applied to Governments (bureaucrats) to military personnel.

Lies and cover-ups (conspiracies) have become an all too common factor in our existence.  They may be more pronounced in the 1960's but are still common even today.  Episode 42 of TOD A Bodyguard of Lies showed human nature at its most cruelest and warfare at its most deadliest and dangerous.  The abhorrent massacre of innocent civilians by a 'platoon' out of control.  Miscreants who had to be brought to justice at all costs.  'Costs' being the operative word, as the military transferred the men involved to other units: to hide the truth - as if that tiny population of a small village was negligible; it did not matter!  "People are strategic."  (Episode 3 Dislocations.)

The episode title in episode 42 was attributed to Winston Churchill's quote, "in war the truth is so valuable it must be protected by a bodyguard of lies..."  But whose version of the truth?  And whose lies?  Irony perhaps?  As surely they did not believe that such matters had to be concealed, but for whose benefit? What purpose would a cover-up achieve?

If there were no court martials brought - there would be no justice, truth would be the victim.  This would leave open an invitation for such actions (massacres) to become commonplace.  Justice involves retribution; but for these victims it was too little, too late.  They strived to show man's inhumanity against man.  Truth becomes manipulated - even more doubly in wartime.
Hence the parallels, although applied to aliens, governments etc in The X-Files - there was really a subliminal message that the truth can be easily twisted and used.

The question I want to know is why?  Why Mulder?  Why out of all the people in the entire universe who believe in UFOs and EBEs, did the government choose to dupe Mulder?  (Okay apart from the fact it adds material for more episodes).  Cos he wasn't the only one who who wanted  to "believe" or "believed."  We had numerous flashbacks to his childhood - his sister's abduction; father's murder; mother's affair - was Mulder chosen cos of what his father knew about the 'project.'?

Scully's scientific opinion, "over the course of three years he became a victim - a victim of his own false hope and of his belief in the biggest of lies," is of no use!  But fear not - for Mulder returns to get to the bottom of things (thank goodness).  After all the "Truth is [still] out there" but whose version or creation?

From this stems the question - if he was fooled into this false sense of 'aliens' by the government - why did Scully - if she was such a rational, methodical scientist - go along with him on every case, encounter (she needed the money? -ha)  she put forward her own explanations and her own 'sceptic' views - yet she could have walked out on Mulder and left it all behind her - then she wouldn't be a victim of the government now either; cos that's exactly what she is now too - a victim!

Why was there such a need for a massive blanket over the amount of information given to the men themselves.  Obviously there was the secrecy aspect: that the other side should not find out anything strategic.  Support was dwindling but a cover-up was maintained as a denial to protect those that took part in such activities - as those in command would be held accountable or personally responsible.  But even after the war secrecy existed surrounding the facts on certain actions by 'rogue' troops, eg the treatment of POWs, civilians...

Scully blames Mulder for her disease, the truth (if there is any) is that she contributed to her condition as well.  (Self apportioned liability is the legal term).  From season 1 episode 1 (Pilot) she was sent to 'spy'  on Mulder, to report (to the men in dark suits) on his feelings and his "incredible manipulations." She 'walked into with her eyes open!  Now Mulder is searching for a cure for her - is this cos he feels guilt or is it genuine concern for someone who finally showed little regard for him - evidenced by her actions.

Certain areas in TOD weren't really explored as fully as they could have been.  One is the rather 'grey' issue of faith and war.  A hazy issue cos so many people can be offended.  Hence the non-association.  Episode 42 A Necessary End where McKay (Dan Gauthier) finds ('religion') faith - well not so much a 'religion' but a nun (who he subsequently asks out to dinner - ugh).  Well, actually he was in search of peace and meaning to their purpose for being 'over here.'  To find out the answer's to life's mysteries (something we'd all like to know) like why he's doing what he's doing what he does best (in flying) - a waste of time; life?  But WB Yeats: An Irish Airman Foresees His Death summed up his sentiments beautifully.  Well the four lines that were used.
"I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind,
In balance with this life, this death."

                                                         

Yet the remainder of the poem holds a certain sense of truth and poignancy to it as well.  Like McKay's character, Yeats' pilot in the poem only went  into battle cos of his love of flying and nothing else.  Not for God, countrymen, country, justice or freedom.  (In fact this poem was one of the first I read at school all those years ago - I knew there was a point to reading it.)  But there are times of trouble and life when poetry does sum up a whole sepia of emotions which sometimes otherwise would be heard to express.

What of Scully - she was kidnapped and infected by the very people she works for.  Now she's dying. What of her scepticism now?  Who or what does she believe was the cause of her disease?  She wants (and always needed) proof - hard facts to substantiate Mulder's claims.  She questioned his every move and belief cos, "every answer lies in science".   Now that very science she holds so dear to her - her own belief in fact cannot help her overcome her fears and fight her disease.  Her cure does not lie in science but with the Government itself.  What about her faith in God?  In the unseen.  She has lost that too by betraying Mulder (she blames him for her cancer) - "they infected me to make you believe."

Then there was Doc in TOD being ostracised when he refused to shoot an escaping prisoner in Episode 55 War Is A Contact Sport.  This is heralded as the "ultimate betrayal" in the eyes of a soldier.  (The rules in the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners spring to mind here.)  But in war, how meticulously are such rules adhered to and who monitors these?  (Other than JAG - but that's usually only when a legal grievance is aired or when a certain situation merits investigation.  Not every country has one of these)

Doc's actions were seen as irrational and cowardly - but did those that signed up as Medics have to fight? They didn't have to fight, which is why many 'Conscientious objectors' who did not want to fight but still wanted to contribute to keeping their fellow countrymen alive were assigned to positions of medics.  If they wanted to fight then they could do so.  It was their personal choice.   They did not take the Hippocratic oath (hypocritic?) as doctors do - but they were also responsible for human lives and shouldn't have had to take them.  Re Army Chaplains who weren't expected to carry a gun or fight.  His actions (lack of) were seen as selfish.  'Mulder's fight' and 'Doc's fight' was a kind of self-serving sacrifice, to be singled out and be betrayed cos of their beliefs.  Their faith was what they retained  - that helped them to overcome and to come to terms with what they had to do; to endure and the atrocities they witnessed.
It seemed that time and again, it was Ruiz who constantly referred to his faith. The death of the chaplain left him (shell) shocked and 'jinxed.'  He refused to enter the cemetery out of respect for the dead.  (Episode 40 The Ties That Bind).  Perhaps faith can overcome irrationality.

Scully's own 'irrationality' will be demonstrated in the episode, Emily where she attempts to adopt a little girl cos she reminds her of her dead sister.  The Government had one purpose and one purpose only - to make everyone so incredulous about anything that was ever found on the subject of EBEs and UFOs, that in the end we believe nothing at all, not even the truth!

A sort of irony in itself - in the end can we say that what Mulder experienced was so unbelievable that finally in the end - perhaps there was some truth in the lies.

Hope you enjoy this and well, if not, then maybe you can debate it and come up with some of your own answers.  It was a while since this was written!