After last week’s episode I’ve found a stronger interest in the show. Not that I lost interest, but this week certainly held more anticipation than the past few did. The show has found a flow as Linden and Holder have grown closer. Their relationship is what is now driving the show. Richmond’s campaign seems to be spiraling downward since going negative, and the Larsen’s have been promised that Bennett will be arrested soon.
We see Stan and Belko back to work, unloading a house and Stan is asked by a little girl for her bike out of the moving truck. As Stan gives it to her, you can see him pretending she’s Rosie. He puts her on the bike, and fixes the chain, and straps the helmet on her head. As he sends her down the road and tells her to be careful, it seems symbolic of letting Rosie go. Stan is moving on.
Linden and Holder’s warrant falls through and their wire is inadmissible. And Richmond? His release of info on Mayor Adam’s mistress has been spun by Adam’s to look like lies and Darren’s problems just continue to grow, as his supporters jump ship in the wake of the perceived lies.
As Richmond’s political aspirations dwindle, his buddy Bennett attempts to return to work. He garners support from neither co-worker or students, and his class actually walks out on him. If this isn’t a bad enough way to start the day, unbeknownst to him, his wife has gone to Linden with the phone number of Muhammad she seeks.
Using the number given to them by Mrs. Ahmed, Linden and Holder track down the elusive Muhammad, but not before being confronted by Mitch Larsen. She is irate that Bennett is still free. And this is something that Stan is gonna hear about.
Richmond has hit rock bottom and must once again crawl to Tom Drexler for another handout. This time he wants $5 Million to fix the Somali community damaged by recent events and bad pub. He believes this will be the gesture that wins him an election. It’s a ‘Hail Mary’, or more accurately, a $5 million shot. Drexler gives Darren the Basketball and tells him the money is his if he makes it, but if he misses, he must withdraw his name from the race. Cut to commercial…
Once we return from commercial break we learn that Muhammad and Bennett didn’t kill Rosie, but have instead taken the missing girl from the Muslim community. They are trying to get her to Canada to help her escape her parents. Mitch then finds Rosie’s pink ‘Grand Canyon’ shirt in the wash and quickly realizes what we already know – Bennett didn’t kill her daughter. It’s realized too late however, as Mitch has already sicked her husband on the teacher. As the Stan and Belko open the back of their van we hear Bennett scream in terror.
Richmond returns to his office with a basketball in hand. This means of course, he hit his shot. He has his funding. The screen then cuts back to Stan and Belko as they proceed to beat Bennett. Beat him to viscously to hear Stan’s phone ring. Mitch is unable to call off the attack.
It’s a good follow-up to last week, but it does re-open the suspect list and it doesn’t get us any closer to a solution. Though, as many people have already guessed, the ‘Belko Theory’ gained some grounding tonight. As Stan is beating Amhed, Belko can be seen punching a rock in frustration. I give it a a solid 3.5/5 Bears.
After the killing of his men and the injury of his leg by the Lannisters in the last episode, Ned Stark wakes up in bed to see the King and Queen standing over him. Cersei is of course angry at Tyrion being held by Catelyn, and now they’ve spun the story of Ned Stark being drunk outside of a brothel and attacking Jaime Lannister. Robert commands them both to shut it, having to smack Cersei for questioning his status as king. Robert orders Ned to make peace with the Lannisters and release Tyrion, while also offering him the clasp of the Hand back. Ned takes it as Robert leaves for a hunting trip.
Queen Punch courtesy of WARMING GLOW
Bran, Robb and Theon have their own expedition in the forest underway as the Bran gets to test out his new saddle from Tyrion’s design. Things seem to going well until the little Stark runs afoul of a couple wildlings and a Wall deserter who try to rob him. Unfortunately for them, Robb shows up and whoops some ass, and Theon finishes the job. Robb decides to let the wildling woman (Soon to be known to us as Osha.) live after she surrenders her life to him. It was interesting in this scene to see Theon speaking to Robb of going to war with the Lannisters, because that would mean weakening the kingdoms and creating an opening for his father Balon to rebel again, not to mention an opportunity for Theon to return home.
Tyrion is having a rough time himself in the Eyrie. Besides his uncomfortable sleeping arrangements in the sky cells, Mord the turn-key of the cells decides to come in and yell at him for making noise and hits him repeatedly. He finally convinces Mord to tell Lysa Arryn that he wishes to confess his crimes. After appearing in front of the court of the Vale, Tyrion confesses to a number of crimes he committed in his childhood. Putting goat shit in his uncle’s boots and tossing off in his sister’s turtle soup. It was all pretty hilarious to me, but nothing was better than actually getting to see the Moon Door and getting to see Tyrion proclaim his right to trial by combat.
In trial by combat, the accuser and the person on trial are able to either fight themselves or choose a champion. Lysa Arryn chooses Ser Vardis of the Vale while no one except the sell sword Bronn will stand for Tyrion. Bronn as you will see loves gold and no doubt expects a great pay out from the little Lannister. The fight was excellent, showing us what a crafty fighter Bronn can be. He had to be in order to beat a knight in full armor. After Ser Vardis leaves via the Moon Door, Tyrion leaves through the main door. But not before paying Mord with his gold purse for delivering the message of confession and proving that a Lannister always pays his debts. Meanwhile in King’s Landing Ned filling in for Robert at court, hears from people in the Riverlands where his wife’s father rules that there is a rather large bandit and his men burning their villages and killing their loved ones. Based on his height, Ned deduces that it must be Ser Gregor Clegane who is one of Tywin Lannister’s men and Ned announces that Clegane shall be stripped of his knighthood and all of his lands, not to mention his life. As an extra added bonus he also has the Grand Maester deliver word to Casterly Rock that Tywin Lannister must come to court to answer for the actions of Clegane and if he refuses then he will be marked as an enemy of the crown. Ohhhh boyyyy. So much for peace between the Starks and Lannisters.
Flawless. Victory. (Warming Glow)
We are then treated to a Sansa scene, where Joffrey actually comes to see her and offers her a necklace that she gladly wears. He also apologizes to her for how he acted and promises to never disrespect her and marry her so she can be queen. They even share a tender kiss after he is done telling her this. It makes me want to puke because he’s such a demented little turd and time will tell you the viewer just how sincere his promise is.
You can smell the bullshit
And now we get back to the Targaryens finally. In a Dothraki tradition, Daenerys gets the disgusting honor of eating a horse heart in front of Khal Drogo and some assembled Dothraki while Mormont translates for Viserys that her son will become the greatest Khal ever who will rule over the whole world. Viserys can finally see how there is no plan to make him king and decides to go off and sell his sister’s dragon eggs to get enough money to buy his own army. Ser Jorah Mormont stops him and shows that his loyalty lies with Daenerys and not Viserys who surrenders the eggs and storms out.
That just looks delicious… (Warming Glow)
Things get worse a little later as “the dragon” storms into the evening feast honoring Daenerys’ unborn child Rhaego. (Named after her brother Rhaegar who died by Robert’s hand at the Battle of the Trident.) The moron insults her and even draws his sword on her after Mormont tries to remove him. After Viserys threatens to cut out their baby if he doesn’t receive the crown Drogo promised for her, Drogo agrees to give him what he wants…. literally. The Khal has his men hold the Targaryen boy down as he melts down his gold belt in an empty soup pot and then proceeds to pour it over Viserys’ head in what I can only describe as one of the most brutal, yet awesome scenes in the series. The clunking sound that Viserys’ head made as it hit the ground and his screams before were just eerie as can be; and here I was worried about how they would do that scene when not on the pages of a book!
Awesome episode overall. I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 bears because the episodes keep getting better and better, and the tension is building to a climax in the next episode. I promise I won’t be able to keep giving it five bears every week because the episodes will slow a bit towards the end unless HBO has made some changes.
For the Non-Basketball (or at least Non-NBA) fans out there, you may not know that the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls are currently in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs against one and other. In the 82 game regular season the Chicago Bulls finished with the best record, winning 62 games and securing the #1 overall seed for the playoffs. Miami finished just a few games back at 58-24, and entered the playoffs as the #3 seed. Despite these truths, the Miami Heat are looked at by many as the favorites. It’s not often that the team that won the regular season is looked at as an underdog in a series, but here we are.
Chicago built a team largely through the draft, selecting players like Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson, and drafting Derrick Rose #1 overall a couple of years back. Then added a slew of Ex-Utah Jazz players like Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, and finally Carlos Boozer, adding the piece they needed down low.
They were quietly dominant this season, winning at a pace not seen in Chicago since Jordan left town.
Miami on the other hand was anything but quiet. Their off-season marked maybe the single biggest shakeup via Free Agency in NBA history. First re-signing Dwayne Wade, and then adding LeBron James and Chris Bosh. They weren’t done there though. They went on to also acquire Mike Miller, Eric Dampier, Mike Bibby, Juwan Howard, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Before playing a single game they exhibited extreme arrogance previously unseen, even in the NBA.
Now, I grew up in Detroit, so I’m a Pistons fan. That means I grew up hating the Bulls. But it’s surprising even to me, how easy it now is to root for Chicago as if it were my own team. That is how much I despise the Miami Heat. And that all comes back to ‘The King’. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say I was a Chris Bosh fan before this season. And I almost sorta liked Wade too, you know, until the wheelchair thing…
However, LeBron James has now tainted the entire team for me. A lot of people don’t understand my disdain for him, but to me it’s so obvious it’s insulting. LeBron and the Heat has ruined the NBA, but before I get into that, let’s look at LeBron’s rise first…
While still in High School he is annotated ‘the next one’ and gives himself the nickname ‘The King’. Before he’s done anything. He is then so concerned with his image, that while already an established NBA Superstar, at a camp he’s hosting, he get dunked on and conviskates the tape. Really LeBron? Instead of congratulating the kid on a nice play and laughing it off, he and his handlers at Nike try to squash the thing. What’s gonna happen if it gets out? Are you not any good anymore? Grow up…
So anyway, he’s awesome. No doubt, but Cleveland can’t seem to get it done. And instead of taking his game to the next level – like MJ did vs the Bad Boys and the Celtics, he blames his team. This breeds ignorance for years to come as ‘LeBron Supporters’ will tell you that “Cleveland didn’t do enough for him”, which is of course total poppycock.
People seem to forget, in addition to paying him ridiculous amounts of money, they basically let him run the team. Brought in the guys he wanted, and he still couldn’t get it done. It was his job to win, and he could not do it. People talk about the lack of talent around him with the Cavs – How about Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who despite injuries early in his career, went on to multiple All-Star games, and became the team’s clutch shooter and free throw specialist, over James. The team around him ‘sucked’ so bad apparently that they were able to secure the best record in the NBA his last season, and were marching towards the Finals until James quit on the team against Boston. So he chokes in the playoffs, again, and his fans blame the organization. I’m sorry, I thought they paid him to win the games, I thought that was his job.
So LeBron now Free Agency hits and ‘The King’ decides to leave his home state of Ohio. A state that loves him, and one that hasn’t had a Pro Championship since Jim Brown retired in the 60s. An entire state whose dreams rest on his shoulders, and to whom he promised a title. But does he leave this people who love him with a modicum of class or dignity? No. He instead holds an hour-long ESPN special called “The Decision”. This is where he’ll announce where he’s going. Keep in mind he has not told Dan Gilbert (Owner of the Cavs) his plans, and it is now late into the Free Agency period and Cleveland has been thus far unable to make a movie waiting to hear from James. So what is his decision: “I’m taking my talents to South beach”. Could you slap the fans of the Cavs in the face harder? Not only have you left your hometown team in the lurch, but you made a national spectacle out of it. One the fans did not appreciate…
So now here he is in Miami, a team that epitomizes a loser mentality. No wonder Jordan has time and again proclaimed that Kobe is better than LeBron. Can you see Jordan, or Isiah Thomas joining forces to try to win? How about Magic and Bird going to Houston to play with Hakeem? Never would have happened, because those guys were competitors. They wanted to prove they were the best, by beating the best. And the sad part, the NBA was much tougher then too. So not only are LeBron and Bosh and Wade weak for needing each other, they are doing it against a much lower level of competition. Today’s NBA is watered down and about to get worse.
As a result of this so-called “Super Team” in Miami, the ripples have already been felt through-out the rest of the league. Carmelo Anthony forced a trade to New York to play with Amare Stoudemire, and Chris Paul has already talked of joining them next year. This is going to give cities like Miami, LA, and New York unfair advantages, and the smaller cities, who will now lose their stars to these Super Team will struggle just to stay a float. Utah already had to ship their best player to New Jersey in Deron Williams because they knew they wouldn’t be able to resign him. That’s right, a perennial playoff contender: The Jazz, lost their star to a terrible Nets team because of their proximity to New York.
All the while, the only remaining Mid-West Team is Chicago, who is winning without a bunch of household names, and is led by a humble super-star in Derrick Rose.
Miami on the other hand represents the chance for a title totally bought and paid for. Style over substance with a swagger totally unearned. Now maybe I’m bias because I saw one of the least flashy Detroit teams ever, whoop the snot out of a Hall of Fame rostered Lakers team in 2004 to win the championship.
But even my undying hate for Scottie Pippen isn’t enough to make me root against the Bulls tonight.
So I ask you: If you are a fan of the NBA, how can you root for Miami tonight?
These days, Wolverine seems to be pretty much invincible. In a world where almost any superhero can die, Wolverine is one of the select few who still hasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should ever kill him off just because he’s one who hasn’t died, it’s just odd, that’s all.
My colleague Dr. Kronner and I were just talking the other day about how he seems to have gotten a little too invincible, and hasn’t been really owned since X-Men #25, during the Fatal Attractions storyline when Magneto ripped the metal off his skeleton. Back in the ’80s Wolverine would lose fights all the time and always get back up, but his healing factor took some time. There was more mystery surrounding the character. Now, he heals so quickly that he could be likened to a T-1000 from Terminator 2. You can’t really stop him, just slow him down. Over the years he has just become much more powerful, which to be honest makes him less interesting, but allows Marvel to stick him into every book out there without any down time.
Once we return from commercial break we learn that Muhammad and Bennett didn’t kill Rosie, but have instead taken the missing girl from the Muslim community. They are trying to get her to Canada to help her escape her parents. Mitch then finds Rosie’s pink ‘Grand Canyon’ shirt in the wash and quickly realizes what we already know – Bennett didn’t kill her daughter. It’s realized too late however, as Mitch has already sicked her husband on the teacher. As the Stan and Belko open the back of their van we hear Bennett scream in terror.
So who’s your guess?
Grizzly Bomb 