The Son Also Rises - Gotham - Season 1, Episode 15

Bruce has a long trek through the woods that appears unconnected to any other plot line, until one compares it to the other father-son stories going on this week.  This week, Jim is the footnote, while Oswald Cobblepot, Jonathan Crane, and Bruce Wayne all work on their own daddy issues.  Literally, Jim's big issue this week is PDA.

Come on, we all know the precinct's real power couple...

Nygma coasts around, helping with the case of the week and having a brief interlude with Oswald.  The show sets up a situation where Nygma tries to befriend his future fellow villain, to get a freezing cold shoulder from Oswald, who's desperately hoping to see his boy crush, Jim.  Jim, of course, spurns Oswald's love and his invitation to his club opening, making the scene like a poignant love triangle.  

Jim and Lee are working on getting laid, now that they've officially passed the three date mark. And Jim really has no right to be weirded out by Lee working as ME at the precinct.  Jim suggested she apply for the job, despite the fact that her medical experience consists of cuts and bruises at Arkham.  In Lee's defense, she's got the autopsy room nicely organized and will settle in nicely.  If she can stop kissing Jim at work.  They compromise on quick pecks at the office, but no word on whether Jim gets to see her bedroom anytime soon.

Interesting note:  Jim is willing to take on the city establishment over his cases, but not kiss his girlfriend in front of his co-workers?  Jim's spent a couple episodes openly challenging the precinct's apathy and corruption, but can't handle a few whistles?  I guess Jim's deepest fear is appearing soft.  Somebody alert Dr. Crane.

Speaking of this week's main villain,  Dr. Crane strikes again, this time recruiting his son, Jonathan, to help him kidnap and kill an elderly man for his adrenal gland.  As we knew, Crane is looking for lots of cortisone, and he's using it to make something that goes in a syringe.

Science!

Crane quickly unloads the contents into his own veins, and steps into a greenish, dim corridor, lit only by windows behind him that line a staircase.  The corridor shakes a bit, as the cortisone messes with his perception, and then Crane hallucinates a fire starting and spreading along the stair, accompanied by a blonde woman slowly engulfed by flames as she scolds Crane into saving her.  

Jim and Bullock find Dr. Crane's old workplace, a fancy prep school where he taught biology and seemed to be a well-respected teacher and colleague.  A widower, Crane's only flaw is that he was overly protective of little Jonathan Crane. His coworker's only concern about Dr. Crane is the creepy academic paper he asked her to review some time ago; it explains that Crane thought he could innoculate himself against fear by using cortisone.  So, now we know what the creepy experiments are. Jim and Bullock find out that, from the paper, that Crane didn't just want to innoculate himself; he had an unnamed second subject all lined up.

Turns out to be teenaged Jonathan Crane.  Jonathan, left without a mother after a fire, and left without a dad because of the man's obsession with fear, looks like a dear in headlights most of the time, wondering what new craziness his dad's cooking up next.  Unwilling to turn him in, probably not knowing if he could run anywhere, Jonathan's been hanging around with Crane in the dimly lit hideout.  Crane quickly starts injecting Jonathan with cortisone shots, despite Jonathan's unwillingness to be experimented on.  As it is, Jonathan seems to be scared of scarecrows.

I'm guessing from watching the Wizard of Oz

Jim and Bullock spend some time flailing around the precinct.  Bullock tries to goad Jim into using Oswald for information, until Jim decides to predict where Crane will be based on what they've been able to find out about him.  By realizing how Crane's wife truly died, they track Crane down and discover his hideout is the house where his wife died in a housefire he was too scared to save her from.  Facing arrest and the failure to "cure" his son, Crane quickly shoos Jonathan, at night, into the hay stack where the dreaded scarecrow looks out over a valley beyond.  Crane desperately wants to finish "treating" Jonathan, and resorts to injecting him with way too much cortisone, completely against Jonathan's will.  While Dr. Crane dies in a shootout with Jim and Bullock, Jonathan writhes in terror among the hay.

Oswald has run back to Falcone, terrified at Maroni's expected retribution.  While Falcone surveys Mooney's old club, shot up when Viktor confronted Mooney and First Mate,   Falcone doesn't seem to think Oswald's fate is all that important, especially if Oswald's babbling keeps him from fixing up the club, re-opening it and making Falcone money.  'Cause Falcone only protects lieutenants who keep him at the top.  The only bright lining is that Falcone is willing to make Oswald his lieutenant officially, and will handle Maroni.  His curt exchange with Oswald leaves the impression that he really has come back from his malaise over the summer.

Falcone demonstrates just how much he's his old self when he hosts Maroni for yet another Oswald summit.  Maroni and Falcone agree that Oswald makes a good lieutenant; he makes money for his bosses, and has a subservient demeanor that makes him appear to not be a threat.  You and I know that his dearest wish is to kill everyone, but he's been able to convince his two bosses that he's a boot-licker, even if he's dishonest from time to time.  After all, snitches are usually people without much power, aren't they?  

Maroni is still insisting that he's going to kill Oswald when Falcone makes him an offer too good to pass up.  Falcone has, somehow, kidnapped the only honest judge in Gotham and has entrapped him in an extravagantly decorated prison, beating him into submission to get compromising photos of the man with a younger man.  In pretty kinky photos.  Falcone offers to share Judge Stanley Turnbull with Maroni, finally being able to evade justice from him.  Maroni happily accepts.

Oswald has successfully gotten the club up and running.  Complete with a new, elegant umbrella in lights and a punk band playing something un-danceable.  Either Gotham is scared to show up in Falcone's place, or the band scared people away; only a few customers grace Oswald's fancy modern punk club.  Maroni is amused at Oswald's less than stellar opening, and assures Oswald that he's not there to kill Oswald, just waste expensive champagne and remind Oswald that he'll only live as long as Falcone does.  How will Oswald cope without being able to play these two off each other?  What happens the first time he disappoints the only mob boss who will keep him around?

Bruce has his own tough luck this week.  He and his father used to have a ritual hike every year, to some hilltop around Wayne Manor, to camp out and watch the next day's sunrise.  It's come up again, and Bruce has decided to make the trek again.  Himself.  Without a grownup, he'll just go to the hill and come back again before dark, and he maturely tells Alfred he'll be fine.  He tromps off through the fall leaves, reaching the hilltop as planned with his ritual stones to place on two cairns.  One's bigger than the other, meaning that one cairn was his father's, larger after more years of trekking up the hill.  It's this cairn that Bruce decides to attack.  Has Bruce finally reached the anger phase of grief?  The stones are quickly kicked or thrown away, useless markers of a ritual Bruce can never enjoy again.

Before Bruce can make his lonely, angry way back, he topples over something, rolling and falling down the long hill into the valley.  He comes to a rest in terrible pain, with an ankle that he's obviously twisted, or worse.  Thinking he's stuck there, he doesn't even try moving until long after dark, when it finally occurs to him to fashion a makeshift splint out of sticks and a shoelace.  It's pretty crappy as first aid goes, and Bruce is reduced to crawling through the dark, cold, windy rain.  Animals are squawking in the distance- bats?  As Bruce makes his way back up the hill, hopefully on the side closer to home, the squawking is replaced by owl hoots.  Which really doesn't help Bruce.

It's not until he reaches the top, belly crawling among the leaves, that Bruce sees the firelight, and Alfred in his Eddie Bauer sweater on the other side.  Alfred's pocket watch sounded the alarm back home, and he decided to almost find Bruce and wait and see if he would get himself out of that valley.  After all, the kid said he'd be all right on his own.  Bruce is astounded at first, but quickly settles in next to the fire and his trusty butler.  Alfred wavers between protectiveness and throwing Bruce in the water to sink or swim.  Bruce wavers between pushing Alfred away or hoping he'll show up to save the day.  The two never really figure this out, if the future is any guide.  But they do enjoy a sunrise in a clear morning sky together.

Fish Mooney is definitely captured by pirates.  But, you can't keep a good woman down.  Still in her eighties jumpsuit, she's thrown into a dungeon with assorted people also captured by pirates, for reasons unknown.  Her most recent buddy is a yuppy named Kelly, who quickly befriends her and gives her little tips on how their captivity works.  It's Kelly who tells her their captors' double team strategy, and Kelly who teaches her who gets first dibs on the food.  When Fish approaches the prisoner who's at the top of this very unfortunate food chain, she offers him her "services" in exchange for protection.  They make googly eyes at each other off and on while Mace shows her the knife that gives him what little power he has in the dungeon.

When Mace wants some of Mooney's "services", she seems willing to provide.  Until she suddenly stabs Mace in the neck with his own knife.  Holding it out so all can see, she declares herself the new Dungeon Queen, and says she's here to bring a little order.  Kelly is all to happy to offer his allegiance, and the others don't care as long as they don't get killed.  But it's a prisoner being returned to the dungeon that changes the game for everyone.  She has bloody, gaping holes where he eyes were.  She's crying, but she's also pissed.  And, so is Mooney. Can she turn this anger into a full-fledged rebellion against their captors?

Before seeing the circus with Lee, Jim wants to visit Jonathan Crane, who's had a real bad day as Dr. Crane's last victim.  He's in the hospital, and he's physically stable.  But his nervous system isn't.  The doctor pessimistically informs Jim that even though the cortisone injected into Jonathan has dissipated in his system, it's effects on the nervous system are still going extremely strong.  Basically, Jonathan Crane is going to be terrified indefinitely.  As Jim watches in sadness, Jonathan struggles with his horror of being attacked in his bed by a scarecrow.  With a flaming head.  

Jonathan Crane has the distinction of being the only Gotham future-villain who would have been happy to have a normal life.  Oswald is already planning killing the mob for his own dominion over the city.  Selina Kyle can't wait to become Catwoman.  Ivy runs away from her foster home to develop her own demons.  Nygma pursues his love of the gruesome and riddles.  He's on the cops' side, for now- but will Kris Kringle eventually spurning him persuade him to pursue crime?  Only Jonathan just wanted to be left alone to be a normal kid.  And while other future villains develop and embrace what makes them different, Jonathan may spend his life paralyzed with fear.  Will it really be entertaining to watch Jonathan turn to crime to deal with demons that were foisted on him?

How It Had To Go Down - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 9

The Book of Job is rumored to be the oldest book of the Bible.  It was certainly written long before the idea that Yahweh is merciful and benevolent.  The Walking Dead assumes that Yahweh either doesn't exist, or is the same callous deity Job worshipped.  Father Gabriel's prayer, both at the beginning and at the end, is just window-dressing for a deity who has let the humans of the world die slowly in blood and pain.  In a world run by a cruel god, what can anyone hope for?

Like Season 4's "The Grove", the episode starts with a montage that will happen during the course of the episode.  The images, of grave digging, of faces of the dead, of burial, of blood on a picture, remind one of a "Previously, on the Walking Dead" bit plus Beth's funeral.  And, despite showing Maggie having a breakdown to finish the last episode last December, this episode is completely without her.  Glenn is her stand-in, somehow not spending a road trip with his grieving wife.

Ah, a road trip.  The message of this show is that no trip is easy, every trip has repeated stops and deaths and problems.  But Carol, via walkie-talkie to Rick, confirms that Team Carol has, indeed, traveled 500 miles without problems, via at least two cars.  Rick, Tyrese, Michonne, Noah, and Glenn are today's scout team, approaching a gated community outside Richmond, Virginia.  Noah was last there months ago.  It was his home, and he claims the place has walls and is secure and might be a good place for Carol's group to immigrate to.  Noah is still reeling from Beth's senseless death in Atlanta, repeating that she meant to come with him, get him home.  No one has much comfort for him.  After all, he's about to arrive home and see his family.

Before we can see the scout team actually scout, we have to listen to Tyrese unload some of his childhood memories on Noah.  Which, really, should have been the tip off that he is Job.  Especially after the nugget of memory he shares:  his father expected him to listen to news broadcasts of the world's ugliness.  All the way through.  The goal was that Tyrese would be able to handle the evil of the world without losing his own soul.   Like Job had to endure Satan destroying his family, his ranch, and his health.  And, like Job, Tyrese will soon collapse in his own pile of ashes to be counseled.

We follow the scout team in minute detail for their trip from a concealed clearing in the woods to Shirewilt, which is a mixing up of the name of place in the graphic novel.  It's obviously a stand-in for Wiltshire, right down to the abandoned homes with lots of supplies.  And surprise zombies.  Wiltshire was where Team Rick originally went after abandoning the quarry at the very beginning.  There is no trip to the CDC in the graphic novel, only a temporary stay at Wiltshire that ends with a quick retreat.  But, thinking about the arc of the first season and the show, the CDC is a good add and early substitute for Wiltshire.  Team Rick needed to learn that the Zombiepocalypse was permanent.  The government had no cure, could no longer work on a cure and wasn't even functioning enough to kill zombies anymore.  At the CDC, Team Rick learned they were on their own.  Permanently.  In a world of the dead.

 The present's scout team treks through woods, and sharp wire barriers, meant to tie up zombies long enough for humans to get through to safety.  They arrive at Shirewilt's gate, and Glenn's peek over gets only a dejected look back at the team.  Noah immediately races over the wall to see for himself, leading the others to do the same.  It's an open air graveyard.  Homes are burned out.  Bodies lie in the street, in decay after being eaten.   A few zombie stragglers wander around.  The team quickly agrees to down the zombies, gather supplies, and get back on the road.  Tyrese is responsible for making sure Noah doesn't get himself killed today.

Rick and Glenn will go back and forth comparing their grief.  Glenn is still grieving Maggie's sister.  He thought his life and family were coming back together, only to see them torn apart again.  He's never been this apathetic.  He's legitimately wondering what the point of survival is at this point.  Rick is beating himself up for shooting Dawn, who shot Beth after Beth's really pitiful attempt to kill Dawn.  Rick admits that Dawn looked like she immediately regretted shooting Beth, that he knew Beth's death was really more of a split-second defense gone horribly wrong.  But he just can't get over the feeling that Dawn deserved to die.  He felt it then, and he still feels it.  Michonne wants them to get to work already.

Noah quickly realizes that he's been in limping distance from his own house the whole time, and leaps up to stumble into something stupid.  Tyrese tries to remind Noah the first rule of surviving horror shows:  don't go where you know there are zombies.  But Noah doesn't stop until he's at his own front door.  So, Tyrese accompanies him inside, where Noah covers the body of what was probably his mother,   Tyrese takes it upon himself to walk right past the door with the active zombie so he can stare in wonder at a body that is no threat.  This enables him to get lost in the pictures in the room, until said zombie manages to emerge and surprise Tyrese, chomping on his forearm before Tyrese can hammer it.  It's a kid.  Tyrese, despite his strength and endurance and amazing hammer, is killed by a kid zombie.  Noah manages to quickly kill the kid with a model airplane, spending no time grieving at having to kill what was probably his own brother.  Once Sasha's over her own grief, she's going to be so embarrassed.

Maybe it's embarrassment that sends Tyrese under the little kiddie desk for the rest of their stay in Shirewilt while Noah leaves to get cornered by zombies himself on the porch.  And Noah picks the worst possible moment to need a rescue, just as Michonne is trying to pitch fixing the breach in the wall, cleaning the place up, and re-establishing a refuge for themselves.  Glenn doesn't seem to care either way; Rick nixes it, correctly noting that the forest gives cover for anything that would want to attack them.  And they, while surveying the damaged fencing, get an inkling of what did in Shirewilt.  Someone managed to cut a lot of bodies in half, leaving lower bodies and severed arms.  There are no torsos, and no heads.  And they are scattered outside the fence.  As if something was waiting for the few who managed to escape Shirewilt alive.

Their horror at wondering what, exactly, happened to Shirewilt, is interrupted by Noah screaming for help, cornered by zombies on his own front porch.  Michonne actually has a weak moment, almost losing to a zombie before Glenn can assist, as Noah leads them inside to where Tyrese has been left to his own devices.

Oh, Tyrese.  Was it easier to listen to radio broadcast after broadcast of the world's atrocities because they weren't happening in your life?  Because, you somehow fulfilled your dad's dream of a son who could look into the abyss without blinking.  How is it to try to face evil with compassion in a world where you are surrounded either by evil or uncaring danger?  Baseball Cap Guy, with Sasha's gaping wound in his neck, appears first.  Like one of Job's companions, he tries to convince Tyrese that his own compassion got him bit today.  That, somewhere in the long chain of events, his not killing Baseball Cap Guy led to today's fun.  We quickly hear that this is bulllshiiiitt, as we pan to Bob, good ol' Bob, sitting on the bed, with the window light framing him as a vision.  Bob reminds Tyrese, and us, that he was bitten hours before Gareth kidnapped him for eating.  The Hunters were going to chase them even if Tyrese had killed Baseball Cap Guy himself in that shack.

Baseball Cap Guy spends his time bleeding out onto the wall behind him, while Bob reassures Tyrese that Que Sera, Sera.  But Tyrese isn't done re-visiting the evil in his own life; The Governor makes what will hopefully be his last appearance in the show, to remind Tyrese that he failed Phil.  He promised Phil that he'd do whatever it took to stay in Woodbury.  And Tyrese turns around and surrenders the town and evacuates the inhabitants to become Rick, Carol, and Hershel's newest members.  He didn't pay the bill, and we start to hear zombie slurping sounds as Phil reaches for Tyrese, ostensibly to get his money.  Instead, the Governor instantly becomes a blood-soaked zombie, with loudly snapping teeth, which Tyrese barely manages to down.  The zombie collapses, dead over a chair, while Tyrese retreats back under the desk, blood spreading all over the carpet now.  He's lost enough blood to hallucinate, which means he's been bitten long enough that the infection is already spreading within him.  All while a radio in the room broadcasts tale after tale, via a polished British accent, of horrible war crimes and genocide.

His next visions are of Beth, stitches and all, who now has a guitar and is gently singing to him about letting go.  About how his struggles are done.  Beth is backed up by Lizzy and Mika, smiling together while telling Tyrese that things are better on the other side, and we realize, that the montage at the show's beginning is for Tyrese's end, not Beth's.  We see the black blood on the house painting.  Phil tries to make another appearance, and he almost succeeds in making Tyrese admit that he's not fit for this world, that because he spends his days finding compassion for everyone, he's weak and now he's paying for his weakness.  Baseball Cap Guy backs Phil up, telling Tyrese that he should have killed the guy who was going to kill a baby.  Bob repeats that everything happened as it should have.  Beth, Lizzy and Mika just want Tyrese to know he's going to be okay, even dead.

It's vision-Beth who manages to hold on to Tyrese, comforting him and his bloody arm as we instantly cut to Rick and Glenn holding Tyrese's arm out, calling for Michonne to amputate, and the awful slicing through that leaves Tyrese in even more pain and blood loss.  They barely have time to wrap the stump, while Rick supports Tyrese as they stumble along, just as the opening montage showed, through Shirewilt.  Past old cars, to the front gate, where about ten zombies wait for them.  Noah is now left to tend to Tyrese while Rick, Glenn and Michonne bring the obstacles to freedom down.  One manages to sneak up on Noah, in slow motion while Noah is busy looking at Tyrese for no good reason except that maybe a zombie will sneak up on him now.  Rick manages to shoot it's head out before it can attack, but leaving Shirewilt isn't the end.  The team still must muddle back through the wire barrier in the woods, now with a 200 lb injured man.  Rick and Glenn can barely move him, and his foot trapped in wire almost gets Glenn in trouble, but they do arrive back at the truck, with Rick calling Carol for assistance, like a paramedic calling ahead to the ER.

Before they can leave, they've got to get their van unstuck, which happens only so they can crash into the truck ahead of them, part of a long-abandoned accident.  What should come pouring out, but those missing torsos and heads?  Left unanswered, perhaps for the best, is how this happened, how the owner of that truck and body parts didn't make off with his booty, and why this was something somebody wanted to do anyway.  Tyrese doesn't need answers anymore.  His faith in compassion was answered by his friends coming back to save him at all costs, despite the dangers and despite the horrible odds of him surviving more than a few minutes.  He's not the only person who can look into the abyss without falling in.  And maybe that's what comforts him as he leans against the window in the van, seeing Bob in shot gun, Lizzy and Mika next to him in the back, and Beth driving.  Perhaps Beth can drive without looking at the road once because she's a ghost.  It doesn't matter.  They're all so happy Tyrese is with them.  Tyrese, maybe feeling that his battles are done, asks for someone, finally, to turn that radio off.  He fades out in all the silence.

For a second, at Tyrese's funeral, we think we're going to see Bob again.  But it's only his jacket, and we remember he gave it to Sasha.  She holds it together, as Father Gabriel reads out that what we can see is only temporary.  That permanence is reserved for what we cannot see.  It certainly seems that life has nothing permanent now.  As Michonne pointed out, they go from one horrific fight to another.  They need something permanent, something to reward them at the end of the day.  Something to build, instead of the constant traveling.  For now, all anyone can hope for in this world is to die on his or her own terms.  At least Tyrese got to.

Job, in the Bible, got all his shit back and a new family after enduring Yahweh's wager (literally) with Satan over Job's faithfulfulness.  At the end of the book, Yahweh appears to tell Job and his friends, that Yahweh will do whatever he fucking wants because it's his universe and humanity is his bitch.  There's no such grand plan in The Walking Dead.  The zombies rule this world despite their complete apathy to anything they can't eat.  Or maybe, because of it.  Unlike Job, the Walking Dead's characters can't wait for Yahweh to scold them and then make things back to normal.  They're stuck enduring.

A viewer, on the Talking Dead show, asked showrunner Greg Nicotero: with Tyrese dead, who will be the group's moral compass? Chris Hardwick stated that considering the fate of past moral compasses: Dale, Bob, Lori (such as she was), and Hershel, that no one should ever want that role.  It was Chad Coleman, the actor playing Tyrese for two seasons, who decided that the group's moral center will now have to be the responsibility of them all.  It's a nice sentiment, what Tyrese would have wanted, but it's bullshit.  My money's on Michonne.  After all, Rick's already decided that getting to Washington D.C., might give them the best chance of finding a true safe haven.

Where's My Orange Creamsicle? - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 11

I'll give this show credit for something: almost every episode, including the last two, has managed to shoehorn Tom the Traitor in somehow.  Last week, he was part of Olivia's fantasy montage.  This week, he gets a brief meeting with Fitz himself for information Fitz already knew anyway.  Someone in ABC's executive offices really loves this guy.  Or can't cancel his contract.  Just sayin'.

We spend the episode going back and forth between D.C. and what will turn out to be a warehouse in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area.  West Angola, which is so important Olivia had to be kidnapped over it, is barely shown and then only through a helmet-mounted camera so Fitz can stare in horror at what he's done.

Before I rag on Fitz for caving, I should point out that he did resist getting a ton of people killed to save his girlfriend.  He was prepared to let her die.  He was resigned to losing her.  Three things convinced Fitz that VP Andrew was serious, and Olivia would really die if he doesn't invade West Angola.

The first is the fact that Andrew has prepared for this, and has boxed Fitz in, using the White House security system, bought and paid for White House Staff, and Secret Service Agent Fielding.  Fielding's an awesome bad guy, simply waltzing right into the Oval Office and giving Fitz a beautiful, supportive speech full of veiled threats.  Fitz goes through denial straight to anger at how VP Andrew has betrayed him and how Agent Field will make him miserable.

The second is that VP Andrew and Agent Fielding meet Fitz's demand for proof of life by making a very special movie starring Olivia Pope.  She is a wreck inside and out as she's surrounded by Ian, still dressed really well for a kidnapper, and his video crew.  They bicker about cue cards, but Olivia loses.  All she does get is a glass of water, which she lovingly tips to drink from, almost playing with the glass as if it's the one nice thing she's seen for days.

This newspaper is forever ruined for Olivia...

The third is that VP Andrew can literally threaten Fitz in open meetings, with only the two of them knowing what's going on.  Between Agent Fielding, the White House staff and security, Fitz can't even tell Cy what's going on, and Cy spends the episode becoming more and more frustrated at Fitz's un-understandable choices, until Fitz figures out that he can still write notes embedded in PR reports. Cy also returns to his normal practice of taking frustrations at his job out on Abby, who spends the episode desperately hoping Fitz's war doesn't turn into another Vietnam.  Even by the end of the episode, Abby is the only character who still doesn't know that Olivia has been kidnapped.  And then found.  Sort of.

Did we just start the stupidest war ever?

Guess so

Fitz decides to finally pay attention to his administration when Rosen mentions that Tom the Murderous Betraying Secret Service Agent is asking for a pardon.  Rosen easily dismisses even the idea that Fitz could do it, so Fitz shocks him by demanding to speak to Tom, who's managed to make an appearance despite being stuck in jail.  Fitz immediately bursts his bubble, stating that he's only there for Tom's knowledge of the White House.  Is there anyone Fitz can trust?  Tom is sure there isn't.  And Tom quickly puts together the reason for Fitz's visit.  He repeats his comparison of Olivia to Helen of Troy, asking Fitz if he's really going to launch a thousand ships for his lover.  When Fitz just wants to know if there's any safe place to have a truly private conversation, Tom declares that Fitz already knows the only place he can speak unheard.

Fitz ends up at Olivia's, where he hands over Agent Fielding's proof of life flash drive to Jake.  Fielding, no doubt, thought that seeing Olivia scared over and over would help the war effort.  Instead, Jake, Huck, and Quinn pore over every frame, every move, every light particle, hoping for clues.  They come up empty until they realize why Olivia wanted a glass of water.  Besides the water, she needed the glass.  Her long sips aren't for strength, but for reflections.  Olivia reflects a hazy image of her captor back at the camera.  The Gladiators are on the trail.

I can't find her if she's not buying wine!

Jake, Huck and Quinn have been living in Gladiator HQ, trying everything they can think satellites can do to find Olivia, and tracking the man in the water glass.  Their next break is one elderly black lady, who appears first with a cryptic request for Olivia's time.  The Gladiators send her away, not willing to take on any new clients until Olivia is safe and sound and clean again.  She makes an appearance, and Quinn tries, with the patience of a middle manager left to manage things for an absent boss, to find out what this lady wants.  In the end, Rose doesn't want Olivia as a client; she wants Olivia's spare key to her neighbor's apartment, because Rose hasn't heard from Ms. Elderly Dead Lady in a while.

The Gladiators leap on this, immediately scouring the apartment.  They find no dead lady, theorizing that her body must have been disposed of, but do find a wifi router, still blinking away.  If the kidnappers were using the Internet connection for their surveillance, Huck should be able to find a signal whenever they communicated out.  Rose the Visitor is quickly forgotten, and who knows what they tell her about her good friend, who is still going to be officially missing.  Huck's attempt to track the wifi signal simply leads to a game of wandering pings, which quickly takes his cursor around the world.  No dice through the router.

Whichever black lady you're talking about, we don't know where she is

VP Andrew's only weakness is women.  Specifically, the two women he's fucking.  Lizzy Bear didn't even know Olivia was kidnapped until Huck invades her home to threaten her and her adorable daughter.  Lizzy realizes what we already know: Olivia has some messed up, but frighteningly effective people devoted to her.  She tries storming VP Andrew, wondering how he could have carried out such a horrible plan.  VP Andrew sends her away after guaranteeing that his actions will save their Party.

Mellie turns out to be far more dangerous to VP Andrew.  From time to time, despite Mellie's deep hatred of her job, she turns out to be perfect for it.  She starts the episode shamefully confessing to Fitz that she slept with Andrew recently again.  It's a full, and heartfelt apology and as Fitz helps her zip and clasp, she reminds him that even if they're not in love, they still need to be partners.  Fitz, who's already found out that every electronic and human ear and eye will root out every move and thought he makes, really super needs Mellie to stop, as he backs away from her with a horrified look.

Mellie's hurt at yet another rejection by someone she thought she could help, but Fitz makes it up to her later that evening on the Fried Chicken Balcony.  Which, apparently, has no microphones.  While pretending to be having some close intimate time with Mellie, he confesses to her that he's about to get Olivia killed.  Because the thought of invading, and wasting the lives of American soldiers, is more than Fitz can do for anyone.  It's Mellie who reminds Fitz that love means you bomb a small African country as ransom.  Why she tells him this terrible advice is unknown;  she hates Olivia, she hates Fitz for loving Olivia, and Olivia is about to die so that two countries don't have to go to war.  Instead, she talks her husband into giving into VP Andrew.

Why not just let him run B-613 while we're at it?

Fitz declares war, and orders American military in West Angola; Cy fumes at Fitz's refusal to listen to Cy, and ruminates darkly on VP Andrew's new and total influence.  Abby's not seeing the big picture, and Cy proves that her brief threesome with Fitz and Cy was probably just a one-night stand.  Cy only loves Fitz.  When he's not throwing mugs at the wall, he's growling at Abby to get out of his office as he admits to her that there's no coalition of allies for the United States in this war.  Abby realizes that Fitz really did just invade on the fly, and scurries away before Cy can be pissed at her for Fitz's incomprehensible choices.

Olivia, despite being threatened with rape in the bathroom, has decided that she's fucking Olivia Pope and they will start feeding her accordingly.  She demands beef stew and and an orange creamsicle.  I'm not sure they're a good combination, but they'll do for Olivia to show Ian that she's not a helpless damsel.  They'll help to gauge what kind of captor Ian is.  He doesn't hurt her, only taunts her by blaming her for her own poor fare; Tyler, who she shot in the head, was the cook.  She killed her own chances of getting anything good.  Ian gives her a chuckle.  He's not an emotional man.  Violence is only a means to an end.  Olivia's submission is just so Ian can collect a big ol' check.  Money is his weakness.

When Huck makes good on some of his threats to Lizzy Bear, it's Mellie who takes pity on her and plays VP Andrew's scared lover.  Andrew totally buys the act, reassuring Mellie that Lizzy Bear doesn't matter to him nearly as much as becoming the President after Fitz and ruling America with Mellie by his side.  It results in some nice love-making, and Mellie wonderously gets left alone with VP Andrew's cell phones long enough to steal them and hand them over to Lizzy Bear.  Who takes them straight to Gladiator HQ.

Problem-solving Mellie-style

Cy finally tries to have it out with Fitz in the Oval.  Over a PR report on the invasion of West Angola that Cy refuses to read, declaring the war a lost cause and PR disaster no matter what the White House does.  Fitz pulls rank, scaring Cy into reading the report anyway, so that Cy can eventually read Fitz's handwritten note buried in the report.  Does he look flabbergasted because he remembers that Olivia is his friend?

When Fitz demands Olivia's return, VP Andrew disillusions Fitz.  With Olivia already earning her keep, which isn't a lot anyway, there's no way he's releasing her.  Olivia is going to guarantee whatever red meat VP Andrew wants to toss to the Party faithful, so he will be able to step right into Fitz's shoes in four years.  While Fitz is confronted with American military deaths on helmet cams, Andrew explains that he's going to get everything he wants through making Olivia, Fitz's lover, suffer.  Is Andrew mad that Fitz won't let Andrew sleep with Mellie?  Or is Andrew just driven by naked ambition?  He seemed happy enough in California, happy to help Fitz, until Fitz found out about his affair with Mellie.

Olivia's got her own plan.  Tired of crappy rice, tired of her dirty bathroom, tired of her cell, and really needing a shower, she takes over Ian.  She's been slowly piecing together Ian's part in her kidnapping, realizing that he answers to someone else, realizing that this is a long, three-year operation that will definitely end in her death no matter what Fitz does.  Not waiting for her Gladiators, she decides to make Ian a deal that will give him more than what he's already bargained for.  She offers to let him sell her captivity to anyone else who has a wishlist for the President of the United Status.  Anyone.  Ian gets even more money than VP Andrew has already paid him, and Olivia gets to hope that her next jailer will set her free.  And a shower.  And, maybe, a flat iron.

With Mellie coming through for the Gladiators, they quickly track Ian through his phone's area code to a warehouse in the Harrisburg area.  As Mellie is joining Cy and Fitz on the balcony to tell them that VP Andrew is now the one in deep shit, Jake goes to Rosen to get the DEA as backup on their storming of the castle.  Rosen can't believe, that once again, he's the one Olivia needs.  He repeats it to himself as much as to Jake, with Jake wanting a little more hustle out of him.  Rosen is happy to help, and Jake, Huck, and Quinn get a bunch of guys in DEA jackets breaking into what we can clearly see are those Red Doors, and that long hallway, and that grubby cell.  Which are empty.

We find out why:  Ian took Olivia up on her offer.  He's arranged for Olivia to be cleaned and pressed and back in Head Gladiator Mode.  She's certainly more sure of herself as she calls Fitz, briefly says hi, and passes the phone right over to Ian, who announces that while VP Andrew isn't going to be a problem anymore, every other enemy of the Fitz's will be.  It's devastating news.  Huck goes from hearing nothing about Olivia anywhere to hearing all about her, from everywhere.  He's been around the block enough to realize that's bad news.

Private plan versus warehouse basement?

At no time, during this whole show, are any West Angolan casualties fretted over.  Literally more time is spent with Olivia complaining about hygiene facilities in her prison, than on the civilians who die because of Fitz's choices.  Only the lives of American military are cared for in the White House.   Which is depressing, but sadly true to reality.

Does Fitz realize how weak he truly is?  If Fitz resigns, VP Andrew will be President.  So, that's not even an honorable option.  Olivia doesn't want to die.  We can tell.  She wants to live, but she's negotiated away Fitz's duties to the rest of us to do so.  Is she slowly becoming as awful as Fitz?   As awful as Rowan?  They're only hope, and ours, is if Olivia is really a chip off her Dad's block.

Miss Union Jack - Agent Carter - Season 1, Episode 5

The women make some bold moves that pay off.  We see some old movie heroes that could have used their own spinoff years ago.  The guys start to realize Carter knows more than they do and more than she's let on.  Dottie finally shows us what we all suspected since the second epsiode: she's there for Carter, and she's trouble.  And Sousa finally makes the leap we've been waiting four episodes for him to make.  All in all, a solid episode that shows the series actually wants to get interesting and move beyond cliches.

Also, it's pretty clear Leviathan knows the SSR has the magic typewriter.  Between Dottie's spying on Carter for somebody and the trap set by the magic typewriter that just happens to whisk her away so Dottie can rummage through her room, Carter is obviously on their snoop-and-kill list.  Dottie is going to be a great character, even if she's working for evil people.  She was raised in a boarding school where the students are cuffed into bed at night, learn English from watching movies, and fight each other to the death while a nightmarish gym teacher looks on with perfectly crimped hair.  The kid playing little Dottie has to make a few more appearances.

Breakfast in bed

Chief Dooley has an interesting 24 hours.  His job seems to boil down to resolving squabbles, and going looking for people to tell him interesting stories.  And he's still on the case of a "battle" at a Russian town called Finnow, where his reporter friend confirms that 247 Russian soldiers died and no nation was willing to take any credit for it.  No one knows how they died, although Dooley finds out that Stark's later presence there was legit:  he was part of the "clean up" crew that likely had to figure out what happened.  Instead, a fistfight erupted between Stark and a general named McGinnis.  After which, Stark stalked off from helping the US Army and eventually found himself in their sights as a possible traitor. Dooley insists that they have good evidence- but we know it's circumstantial.  Dooley just knows that Stark manages to be at interesting places and invent dangerous stuff that goes missing; he doesn't know Stark has actually done anything illegal himself.  And, even he comes to admit that to himself.  He and Jarvis have a heart to heart later, at which Dooley tells Jarvis that he's willing to listen if Stark is willing to talk.  Don't worry, Chief.  Stark is always willing to talk.

Thompson and Carter spend the episode bonding, while Agents Ramirez and Li fill out the SSR team.  When the magic typewriter surprises Dooley by typing, he brings in a code breaker from Washington to decode it; but the guy can't, while Carter non-chalantly starts translating it from her knowledge of Bletchley Circle's work.  (If you don't know what Bletchley Circle is, go watch the PBS Miniseries.  Seriously, go watch it.)  In a minute, they've got coordinates, a time, and a lure.  In two days, Leviathan will be paying Stark a boatload of moolah for one of his inventions.  In Belarus.

Carter insists on going with Thompson, Ramirez, and Li.  Thompson says he can't be responsible for a girl; Dooley worries that if the mission goes wrong, everyone will blame him for letting her go.  To be fair to Dooley, he's right to be cautious.  Carter "screwed up" Jarvis' interrogation, and Dooley would look terrible for letting her go if something horrible happened.  But Carter has something neither Thompson or Dooley have: access to a support team that can get them in and out.  It takes her a whopping minute to line up the 107th Howling Commandos, Captain America's old team, to meet them in Poland.  It takes her even less time to pack.

Dressing for combat is tougher, as the women's room is downstairs and public.  So, Carter does what she has to do and surprises Ramirez and Lee in their tighty-whities to change in the Men's Locker Room.  It's smelly, but she does get her own alcove.  Until Sousa arrives with background info they'll need, and Thompson decides it would be totally funny to engineer a middle-school-type prank.  Before Sousa can cover his virgin eyes, he's seen Carter in her black slip.  He's more embarrassed than she is, but it's a scar on the back of his shoulder that he ends up fixating on.

Thompson spends most of the mission trying to be in charge and failing to Carter every time.  First, he's never parachuted for real.  Then, he doesn't know the 107th's password.  Then, his war story, though impressive, is given only under duress.  It's obvious, as he tells it by the firelight, that he hates the story.  Which is weird, because he got a prestigious medal for it.  When they reach the coordinates Leviathan's magic typewriter gave them, Carter decides how they'll approach.  Throughout the mission, the Howling Commandos are thrilled to see their old war buddy Carter.  Dum-Dum Doogan's bowler hat is thrilled to see her.  Thompson's the odd guy out from the beginning.

Hey, let's make the sexist pig uncomfortable!

The coordinates turn out to be some boarding school, in fact the one Dottie loved so much.  The cuffs on the beds are still there, as are the goofy movies, only Carter figures out they're filled with subliminal messages.  And the place even still has students.  Or, at least, one student, a sad little crying girl who completely ropes Doogan in so she can stab him and shoot a Howling Commando, who dies along with Li in the dormitory.  The mission gone to hell, Carter and the 107th decide to find what's so valuable here and get out.

It turns out to be a trap, yet something valuable was here anyway.  One Nikolai and Dr. Ivchenko.  One's a brilliant engineer who can see science.  One's a shrink brought in to help the guy with his obvious mental issues as Nikolai builds a light bender for Leviathan.  Nikolai explains the thing as somehow using the particles in light.  What it achieves isn't described; but Nikolai is impressed, even if he hates being there.  He shows them the blueprint he's building from, with the Stark logo all over it.  Thompson is sure this proves Stark is working with Leviathan; but both Nikolai and Ivchenko pan the idea.  They've never seen Stark there, and they'd be unnecessary if he was.  They free the prisoners, but Nikolai makes the mistake of turning on his rescuers to save his own sorry ass, which prompts Carter to shoot him and arrange their escape.  Carter could have been a nanny; she threatens their escape artist she's about to be very cross before their escape hole is formed, and she scolds Doogan into letting her get out last.  It's Thompson who ends up being a burden; he freezes up and Carter has to bark at him to get him moving.

The 107th, the SSR, and the prisoners all lose one guy.  Otherwise, they all get away to fight another day.  Except Ivchenko, who agrees to go back to New York City with the SSR and provide information on Leviathan.  All it takes is a bottle of bourbon.  Doogan isn't so happy at seeing Carter go, and his new nickname for her doesn't help his case for keeping her in Europe.  But, Carter's got an office to run.

On the plane ride back, Thompson is self-hating.  Carter tries reassuring him, but he ends up disturbing her even more by confessing that he's not much of a warrior after all.  Those Japanese soldiers he killed single-handedly?  He killed them by mistake as they were trying to surrender.  He had no idea what the white flag they were flying meant, and killed them before anyone could stop him.  After realizing he'd just committed a war crime, he quick buried their white flag and told everyone a horribly untrue story.  It's a horrifying confession; Carter seems unfazed, though.  She seems more glad that Thompson's been able to be honest about it for the first time.  The guy probably hasn't told his own wife.

Dottie and Sousa have secrets of their own.  Sousa is shocked by Carter's shoulder scar because he's seen it before.  He re-checks the pictures from the first episode of their mystery woman; the scar is a match for Carter's.  When Carter and Thompson return to the office as heroes and drinking buddies, it's Sousa who's pushing her away now.  Does Sousa leap to the conclusion that she's a traitor, or is he willing to hear her out first?

Dottie's secret is that she really, really, knows what's she's doing.  And what she's doing seems to be finding out all she can about Carter so she can impersonate her.  After conning Carter out of her studio apartment key, Dottie enjoys Carter's trip in Carter's apartment, carefully taking it apart.  Carter's good; she keeps a few photos in a secret drawer compartment, and her knock-out lipstick hides in plain sight.  Dottie is briefly interested in Captain America's photo- it's taken before he because a muscly hero, showing that Carter cared for him, not his persona.  But it's a secret photo of a box with the Stark logo that interests her most.  Dottie returns Carter's secret stashes to their locations.  She returns the thread Carter used to detect intruders to its original spot.  And somehow, no doubt, she'll figure out how to return Carter's room key without detection either.

Dottie ends her big day by repeating a girlhood ritual; she still handcuffs herself to her bed.  Maybe it's reassuring.  Maybe her boss requires it, and will know if she hasn't.  Or maybe, she just can't let go of habit.  It's a small price to pay for being a badass.

Can I kill her?  Pretty please?

A Guy With A Thing - Gotham - Season 1, Episode 14

What happened!?  We went from Gotham's most solid episode two episodes ago, back to the show's original format of the cast dancing around each other without much happening.  Essen is still warning Jim to be careful, and starting to worry that Bullock has been infected with Jim's love of Truth.  Bruce is back to brooding, darkly, over his solitary mission.  Selina Kyle is still pestering Jim and then fleeing him.  Nygma is still awkwardly wooing Kris Kringle.  Penguin still has to keep himself from getting killed from a Gotham mob boss.  Everyone's still plotting their next move.  Time to move, people!  I mean, really, Fish gets attacked by pirates?!!??

There's only so much I want to talk about this episode.  But, I'll get the kids' stuff done first.  Jim decides to visit Barbara's old apartment, while Selina is still house-sitting there.  At first, they play cat and mouse, but Jim gets tired of the game and surprises her for a change.  He's still thinking of stashing her someplace safe.  So, Selina snorts at the idea that Jim has anywhere safe for her to go, and breaks the bad news to him.  She wasn't really a witness.  Oh, and she's going to leap over the balcony before Jim can stop her.  But she does affect the plot slightly by telling Jim that Bruce is back in town before leaping.

I don't know where your cufflinks are, I swear

Jim goes right to see Bruce, thinking they can commiserate over the lost witness; Bruce treats Jim like a frenemy.  Bruce is definitely in grown-up mode.  He reluctantly shakes Jim's hand and fires him from his job of finding the Waynes' killers.  Remember that mystery?  There was a time when the show seemed interested in secret goings on at Wayne Enterprises and Arkham.  And trying to link those secrets to the Wayne Murders.  But that was half a season ago.  Now, there's no witnesses, and Wayne Enterprises hasn't done anything interesting in a while. Bruce frames it as "releasing" Jim from a promise the guy can't keep, but his disappointment and disillusionment is clear.  Jim has let Bruce down.  And Bruce is cutting him off.  Alfred insists he'll protect Bruce for future investigative work.  We are supposed to believe this scene is pivotal for setting up Bruce's lifelong dedication for working with only Alfred's backup.  But, the show's writers will figure a way to draw it out forever.

Jim decides it's time to go to his real job, where Bullock has already gotten a new homicide for him.  The night before, some office drone type was hung from a rooftop water tower, suspended over the side of the building for the maid to not notice (something good was playing on her headphones), and then re-raised back to the roof to be found the next day by a smoker.  Nygma finds a small incision and super wants to investigate; Essen tells him that his attempts to perform autopsies are about to get him in trouble.  Essen also decides to mother hen Bullock a little, warning him to stay away from roof ledges; Flass' buddies are still angry, and will be happy to take the anger out on him.  Bullock waits for her to leave before wandering back to the ledge for a peek over.

What they don't know, and we do, is that Office Drone was suspended in a chair facing down before being hung.  His killer, a dapper man in a hat and glasses, made sure the height and angle had really gotten the old heart rate going before killing him.  And, we know from Nygma that he then made some sort of hole in Office Drone after killing him.  For what?

Bullock is not much interested, as there's a pretty woman in the precinct.  To see him for a change.  With Mooney gone, Bullock seems a little restive and ready to connect with someone else.  That someone else is Miss, yes Miss Scottie Mullen,  Bullock is intrigued with her red hair and possible Irish ancestry from the start.  She's actually there because she knew Office Drone from a support group.  For people with phobias.  And guess what Office Drone's was?  Yep, heights.  Bullock is immediately on to the clue; Office Drone was killed in such a way that would definitely have triggered his phobia.  Mullen has no other names, as the group members are anonymous, so Bullock offers to attend her phobia group and take her Irish beauty out to dinner.  She reluctantly agrees and is leaving as Jim appears at work.

Jim, though late, has already been doing some digging and manages to score some info on the chair found on the roof.  Which is good, because the Fear Killer is striking again, this time with a pig against an old man.  Using a henchman and a van, the pig-scared guy is quickly kidnapped.  Bullock and Jim find him quickly enough, while checking out the lead on the chair.  Henchman is dressed as a pig, carrying a knife, and surrounded by real pigs while the victim is tied to a chair and surrounded by what, apparently, is his worst fear.  Jim and Bullock quickly shoot the knife-wielder and save the day.  Once again, the mystery seems to be solved pretty fast.

Essen spends most of the episode trying to manage her precinct.  This includes suspending Nygma when he directly disobeys her and autopsies Office Drone anyway, and trying to convince Jim that they have, in fact, caught the killer. It doesn't work.

Oh, you really meant "No more autopsies?"

Jim convinces his new doctor friend, Dr. Lee Thompson, to put on a nice dress and lipstick so he can show her the case file over dinner.  Dr. Lee, to say the least, is a little confused over whether Jim actually wants to have dinner with her, so Jim has to stumble his way through smoothing it over so Lee will open the case file and become interested.  The current ME is the same guy who ruled a witness' death stab in the back a suicide, so Jim has no faith in him and plenty in Lee, who wants to hold on to the file when Jim suddenly gets called away.

Bullock is on his own date.  Now with a second victim terrorized by his phobia, Bullock knows the Phobia Support Group is the best lead, and Scottie Mullen brings him to their meeting, where Bullock is shamed by Mullen's calling out his bullshit into confessing that he, actually, spends most of his time afraid of his job killing him.  It's not really a phobia, but the group is impressed and supportive anyway.  And now, it's time for another member to speak.  Like Bullock, he's talking for the first time.  And he's desperately afraid of failure.  Dr. Gerald Crane goes on for a while about how much he strives to avoid failing, and how disappointed he is that his son seems to have inherited his same fear.  He gets emotional and storms out, with Scottie Mullen following.  It doesn't take Bullock long to realize Dr. Crane is the killer and just got himself his third victim.  Bullock also races out of the meeting, then dashes over to the precinct to figure out where Crane could have taken her.

Bullock needs only one phone call to know where they've gone; a local public pool where Scottie almost drowned as a kid;  Bullock is sure this is it, and Jim is willing to go along.  Essen would love to mother hen them for a while, but one of her officers brings her a new problem. A body part.  Found in the ME's locker.  Along with a lot of other stray body parts.  Essen has no idea how they got into his locker, though it looks awful for him.  She has little choice but to get rid of him and reinstate Nygma, who engineered the whole thing.

We get some stalling moves from Dr. Crane, who's made sure Scottie is securely bound, gagged, and can see she's about to go into the pool, trying to gauge just how fearful she is.  The next stalling is from a teenager, who hesitantly comes in, gets reassured by Dr. Crane, and then wanders out.  It's Dr. Crane's son Jonathan, and we immediately realize who is going to become the Scarecrow.

Remember. this needs to scar me so I'm a criminal for life

Jim and Bullock manage to show up as Scottie is done thrashing around in the pool, to save Mullen.  Bullock has an emotional moment, holding her once she's breathing again.  Jim, however, fails to capture Dr. Crane.

Back at the precinct, Nygma triumphantly announces his return to Kris Kringle, who wants the pencil Nygma ruined replaced.  I think he respects her love for her pencil.

Also back at the precinct, Dr. Lee reappears with the case file.  With the killer still at large, Jim is happy for her news that the adrenal gland was removed.  It's the gland that produces cortisone, and hormone produced by fear.  Which explains the phobic victims.  That's a lot of cortisone Dr. Crane is stockpiling.  Dr. Lee has gone from clinic doctor at an insane asylum to unofficial ME.  So, Jim offers to make it official, pointing out that there's an opening.  Dr. Lee, who probably hasn't conducted an autopsy since medical school, considers Jim's offer of a new job and a proper dinner date.  But only if he'll kiss her in front of the whole precinct, which he happily does.  It's a long, gross kiss that makes it clear They Are Now A Thing.  Which means Barbara will be back in the next episode.

Penguin, once again, has to barely survive being killed by a mob boss.  This time, Maroni.  Mooney, about to leave Gotham, decides to snitch on Penguin by phone while the two are sitting in Maroni's restaurant.  Maroni, at first, doesn't trust Mooney's info over the phone;  but as Mooney describes Penguin's secretive nature and attitude perfectly to Maroni, he realizes it's worth checking out, and enlists Penguin for a trip out of town.  To see A Guy.  About A Thing.  Penguin agrees, but it's obvious he hates the idea of going anywhere, especially not without telling anyone.

And when they arrive at a small cabin in the woods, Penguin clearly has nothing but disgust for nature.  The trees don't care how important he thinks he is, so he has nothing but disdain for them.  Maroni, though, loves the country, claiming that the fresh air helps him reflect, connect, and think.  Oh, and the fresh air encourages honesty.

Have you figured out yet I want to kill you?

On that note, he leaves Penguin alone long enough for Penguin to find a gun and stow it in his jacket.  It's a little big to be concealed, but that's okay.  Maroni meant for him to find it.  When Maroni tries to play Truth or Dare, it quickly turns into Just Dare, with Penguin trying to shoot Maroni and realizing Maroni's played him all day.  Maroni is quick for a big guy, quickly launching himself onto Penguin.

Their next stop is Duffy's car dump, where Mr. Duffy crushes cars for Maroni. Penguin tries to bargain, then beg for his life.  Maroni is amused at first, but quickly loses interest and doesn't even pity Penguin.  Maroni's pissed after realizing that Penguin killed Frankie, his lieutenant, and wants to know what Falcone wants with Indian Hill, which Penguin got Maroni to offer him.  So, there's no mercy for Penguin.  At least, not from Maroni.  But, Duffy's another matter.  Using a cell phone dropped in the car, Penguin manages to convince Duffy that Falcone's on his way and not happy with Duffy, saving Penguin from being crushed with the car.  Maroni is pissed, at first trying to chase Duffy down, then realizing that Penguin took the chance to escape.

Yeah, you're pissed- but you have yet to get anyone killed

Penguin doesn't return to Gotham.  At least, not right away.  He's clever enough to sleep under leaves, in the woods outside town.  And, he's found the next morning by a couple of church ladies, thankful to God for finding him alive.  Which, we all know, they shouldn't be.  Penguin is happy to appear jovial and use some Bible characters to compare himself to, earning him a free ride back to town.  Which he uses to scowl at the window, mad at the world again.

He's no doubt wishing revenge on Mooney, who's about to have her own problems.  Fleeing Gotham in a freighter that looks a little old-fashioned, she's being spoiled by the captain when she hears gun shots and shouting.  Always ready for a fight, she's not scared at all when one of the attackers appears in her room.  They're running towards each other, and a fight about who knows what, when we leave them.

Dressed for a fight in the 1980s

Take Me To Your Leader - Scandal - Season 4, Episode 10

Scandal usually revolves around the tangled webs approximately ten people can build around themselves in Washington D.C.  So, we've been given a chance to get out of the Beltway, and watch an episode centered around one woman's struggle to escape her kidnappers.  And, even with such a simple, straightforward plot, we still get a disturbing twist that sucker punches even Olivia Pope.

A Red Door looms large at the end of a blurry hallway, and Olivia, in a messy state, bumrushes the door.  We cut away before we can see if she makes it.  So, this episode will be all about how, even powerless, Olivia still has some fight in her.

The one consistent theme of Scandal is that happiness is short-lived, or postponed to an unknowable future at best.  Consequently, we spend a few seconds rehashing Olivia's Me Party from the end of the last episode, with Olivia lavishly describing the wine she won't drink, the Dolly Madison Pizza and Gettysburgers she won't eat, and the piano sex she won't have.  Her actual kidnapping is quick, and Olivia's loud Stevie Wonder music keeps her deaf to her kidnapper until he's literally on top of her.  They struggle as Olivia claws at her door frame.  Despite Jake's assumption, they don't take her out of the building; only to the apartment across the hall.

Wait, this isn't a party anymore!

Jake desperately runs away, shirtless, down to the street, where he hears a car start up and sees headlights pull away just in time.  His running after the car is useless except to get a license plate number, and his next step is to go back to Olivia's apartment, desperately looking for any surveillance devices that could lead to Olivia's kidnappers.  He's on the phone with Huck the second he's back in Olivia's apartment, reporting on exactly what happened, and the car.  We last see him, now dressed, leaving.  Presumably for wherever Huck is going to work his magic and try to track Olivia.

Olivia, meanwhile, is across the hall, gagged with duct tape.  Just like her neighbor, Ms. Nice Elderly Lady, who isn't freaking out as much as she should be.  Unlike Olivia, she doesn't know how evil evil people are.  Her kidnappers happily manipulate Jake into thinking Olivia's been driven away, laughing at his futile effort to chase their decoy car.  While Jake chases the car, two goons sneak into Olivia's apartment and remove all their surveillance devices, so when Jake whisks back into Olivia's apartment, there's nothing for him to find.  Olivia watches in horror and resistance.  Her only success is to work a ring off her finger, and leave it to be found later.  Like a solid gold breadcrumb.

Ms. Nice Elderly Lady is shot in the chest, which everyone but she herself saw coming.  Olivia's kidnappers, about four goons in black, remove their disguises, and reveal new ones:  paramedics removing a recently deceased person from the building.  Olivia is smuggled out in a body bag, literally right under Jake's fuming nose.  Is Olivia wondering how to tease him about this later?

In the ambulance, we get the first characterization of Olivia's main tormentor this episode:  a guy I'll call Tyler, because I hate that name and I hate this guy.  He's smarmy as he unzips Olivia from a body bag, and muses on what her begging for her life will be like.  Olivia's not dealing with this guy, mostly because, despite her fear back in Ms. Dead Neighbor's apartment, she could at least puzzle out that the guy in charge isn't in the ambulance.  She may be kidnapped and surrounded by awful people; but she's still Olivia Pope.  And Olivia Pope only talks to The Guy In Charge.  So give her an injection to put her out and let her know when that guy shows up.

I don't think anyone expected Olivia to wake up in a Ritz-Carlton, but her new home is even bleaker than imagined.  It's one room.  The floor is bare concrete.  There's sunlight through grilled openings that show nothing but a kaleidoscope of foreign slum architecture beyond.  There's someone calling through the grille, but it's not for Olivia; it's an Islamic call to prayer.  And, Olivia's unexpected cellmate is grateful she heard it, too.  Because being kidnapped in a foreign country is bad enough without hearing things that aren't there.

Hey roomie

Ian is a wreck of a man; he spends his time in the cell lounging on his cot, or slumped in a corner, or hunched over a rice bowl.  His life is in limbo while he awaits the resolution of his kidnapper's ransom demands. And he doesn't seem so certain his ransom will ever be paid.  Ian talks as someone who was kidnapped in an Islamic country, so Olivia immediately begins processing why she could have been taken prisoner in the States, but brought to the other side of the globe, when she could have just been held in a basement somewhere.  She puts it together that she's in the this country for something that she's expected to be involved with in her surroundings.  Something involving her is being set up.  But in the meantime, she's got to pee.

Her screams for potty time are answered by Tyler.  And another guy we'll call Blake.  Because I hate that name too.  And Blake is a less smart version of Tyler.  Blake cuffs her up and the two men lead her to the unisex restroom, which is a filthy sink and a filthier toilet.  Olivia spends precious toilet paper protecting her heiny.  There's no shower in this room.  Make of that what you will.  While in the hallway, Olivia tries to get a handle on her surroundings, and we see the Red Door.  It's padlocked and chained.

Olivia and her Hall Monitors

Ian tries to help Olivia adjust to prison life;  he runs her through the routine, which involves one bowl of rice a day, as long as their captors aren't busy.  But Ian can't help Olivia gauge the passage of time; he doesn't even remember how long he's been there.  So, when Olivia brings up escape, Ian is dead set against it.  He's stayed alive by focusing on his bowl of rice every day.  Olivia's talk of getting out just frightens him.  He tells Olivia the story of Bradley,  the real story.  Bradley was his cellmate before, and his ransom wasn't paid after all.  So their captors dragged him away, did terrible things to him, and then a gunshot ended his screams.

Ian collapses in Olivia's arms, and we see her tear up a bit at Ian's story and his obviously deteriorated mental condition.  But we also see that Olivia is determined to get herself out, because she knows better than to depend on Tyler and Blake actually ever letting her go, no matter what ransom is paid.  So she gets Ian to confess that he has a daughter named Kiera, and she dangles Kiera in front of Ian like meat in front of a dog.  Olivia goes for the head cradle, reassuring Ian that she's Olivia Pope and it's handled.  And she cements the deal by handing Ian his rice bowl and taking hers as well in solidarity.  Eat up, her eyes tell him.  We need our strength.  They bond over the rice's mediocrity.

While Olivia slowly starts the transformation into the battered and unkempt woman she was in the show's opening scene, Ian and Olivia further bond as Ian tells her more of his backstory.  His wife, a journalist, died in an Aghgani car bomb.  Ian has continued his journalism career without her, but really wants to write a book that will provide some security so he can take care of little Kiera.  Has Olivia's determination given him hope?  Olivia decides that it's time to hope Daddy Pope had her unknowingly tagged with a tracking device, and has Ian check, but it turns up nothing.  So Olivia keeps Ian's spirits up by telling him that she's best buds with the President of the United States, and he will get her back. Any way he can.  She's quite sure, and Ian looks like he actually half-believes it.

Olivia will help, though, by trying to memorize everything.  The hall.  The routine.  The keys.  The cuffs.  The bathroom.  The Red Door to Freedom.  She slowly becomes messier and messier.  Her latest attempt to pee becomes the realization that the bathroom window has a crack that lets in the breeze, which Olivia investigates by standing on the ridiculously fragile-looking sink.  It's locked from outside, but Olivia still has her bra, and she manages to fish the underwire support out of it.

The only good underwire has every done anyone, ever

She makes a small curve at the end of the wire that she will send through the window frame crack, and fiddle with.  Her five minutes get eaten up while she's trying to find the lock with the wire, but she does manage to get the wire inside the latch, and lift the latch.  The window opens just as Blake bolts into the room.

Olivia has the height advantage, and she manages to get Blake on the ground, but Tyler's right there as back up, and she's back in her cell, where a terrified Ian has no idea what's happening.  Blake wants to shoot Olivia right there in retaliation for making him look like weak, but Tyler talks him down, reminding him that they need her alive.  But, Tyler's a fair man and Olivia needs some punishment.  For a brief moment,there's the threat that the punishment is going to be a brutal rape, but it's Ian who ends up paying.  Since his ransom hasn't come through anyway, why not drag him away, so Olivia can hear him begging for his life and the gunshot that ends Ian's voice.   Olivia can only listen, gripping the bars of her cell door's window, and imagine his end.  It's made even more gruesome when Tyler returns, with a bloody face and tough talk for Olivia.

For the next day or so, Olivia is pretty low.  She spends her time just laying on the floor, sleeping, staring into the distance, and generally not giving a shit.  Only the sound of a helicopter can rouse her.  It's followed by shouting, gunfire, and flashes of gunpowder.  Which can only mean one thing:  Jake is here!  Triumphant music plays while Olivia cowers in her cell, waiting for Jake to appear and tell her she's okay.

And, he's apparently rescued her so she can wake up in a luxurious bed, sunlight bathing her until she's in a hot shower and calling for whoever she loves this week.  Which turns out to be Fitz. Because, now, suddenly, she's in Vermont.  With Fitz.  Who, after shower sex, will go about his day as mayor of their Vermont town.  She will get on with her boysenberry preserves.  They rejoice about how awesome and ordinary their life is, before Olivia's subconscious can ruin things by showing good old Traitor Tom, the B-613 agent who reminds Olivia that she personally wanted him monitoring Fitz after his terms in office.  Tom follows after Fitz, ever the dedicated Secret Service Agent.  Olivia, instead, takes a dog that has magically appeared for a walk among the horses.  Presumably, this has something to do with Olivia's boysenberries.

Olivia's subconscious strikes again, this time in the form of Abby, who's spent half a season being Olivia's problem.  She's back to further find fault with Olivia; does she really believe Fitz resigned, for her?  Where did the dog come from, and is it a substitute for her faithful gladiators?  Abby tries to get through to Olivia, who is still trying to remain blissful and maybe looking for a boysenberry.  Olivia doesn't want to hear that her lovers aren't going to rescue her.  That she will have to rescue herself.  Abby disappears, but not before pointing to a bit of rusty debris on the ground.  Tom appears, backing Abby up, before Olivia finally wakes herself up and out of her fantasy.

Someone has delivered another bowl of rice.  Which Olivia pounces on.  After, Olivia attacks her bra again, getting the second and final underwire out.  This time, she's going to use every second of her five minutes in the bathroom to get out. Blake escorts her alone this time.  Olivia isn't paying attention to this, though, too intent on the window she will open in seconds this time.  So it takes her and us a moment to register that while she slept, her captors bricked up the window.  The new bricks and mortar just sit there, high up in the wall, representing Olivia's pain and sorrow and fear and anger.  She can't take this blow, and collapses on the floor to cry in painful sobs.

While on her knees on the bathroom floor, Olivia suddenly realizes what Abby was pointing out to her.  The same rusty piece of debris, a tie with some doodad attached, is somehow fastened to the underside of the sink.  Olivia, luckily, has her underwire handy and manages to get it in her hand just as Blake decides she's been alone enough.  The debris looks small and harmless enough, but it must pack a punch because Olivia knocks Blake out with it.  She takes his gun and keys, and we see, again, her mad dash to The Red Door to Freedom.  She's armed, she's got keys, and she looks unstoppable.

See Liv run!  Run, Liv, run!

But Tyler, emerging from a corridor between her and the exit, surprises her so much she loses balance and falls on her ass in front of him.  She's right back up with the gun pointed at him, but he's surprisingly calm.  He's pretty confident she won't shoot him, literally thinking that a girl would never do that.  Olivia Pope knows just what to do with pigs, though, and the guy has a bullet in his head and is sprawled out on the ground while Olivia finishes her dash to the door.  She's only got so long before Blake wakes up.  And she's got not one, but three locks to match with the billion or so keys on her key ring.  She's panicky and fumbles with the locks, and the suspense builds.

Until, finally, the deadbolt key is found, the Red Door to Freedom is flung open, and we see a blurry vision of the street outside.  Where is Olivia?  We don't know, and neither, still, does she.  Because she's not on a street at all.  The Red Door to Freedom has led to a projection screen.  In a huge, cavernous black room, complete with sound and light effects.  Someone comes up behind her.  But he has no interest in hurting her.  Ian sure does look better after his ordeal, dressed up like a stock broker and cleaned up real nice.  And he's in a much better mood since he's gotten out of that cell and ditched the game he's been playing with Olivia all along.

Ian reveals the whole point of this multi-day exercise has been to confirm that Fitz, back in the States, will do anything to rescue her.  Which she did, and pretty much on her first day in the joint.  Ian reveals that her need to give others hope led to her spilling the beans on Fitz.  Ian is actually pretty nice while he makes a big deal of illustrating how Olivia aided him.  And he politely escorts Olivia back into her prison.  Old lines of Olivia's from the last episode, declaring that she's free clash with Abby telling her she's on her own as Ian re-enters the prison with her and closes the Red Door to Nowhere behind him.  Olivia's finally met The Guy In Charge.

Will Ian continue to be the Gentleman Extorter?  Will Blake wake up?  Will Jake ever find her?  Will Daddy Pope decide to care?  Or will Mama Pope learn of Olivia's ordeal, break out of prison, and unleash the full fury of her old terrorist self?