This Week on My TV: November 15, 2014

Disclaimer: Consider the fact that there could be spoilers ahead. You read at your own risk!



**(Madam Secretary, S1E5 "Blame Canada") Canadian Ambassador Lester Clark: What do I get out of this, Madam Secretary, if I release the boats? Elizabeth: You get to not find yourself on the business end of a midnight phone call with President Dalton about salmon. -- I see no problem with Henry being named arm candy. His being easy on the eyes is greatly enhanced by his loyalty, intelligence and high moral standards. -- Jackson is a jerk. Read a thousand page environmental report on the pipeline for Canada within 24 hours, while also attempting to avoid potential nuclear war with Iran and "sometimes you have to walk *and* chew gum," he says? -- Elizabeth: Have you read this? Nadine: No one has, ma'am. Except the people who wrote it. -- It's pretty crazy to watch what someone with morals and principles could do to the wheels of politics. -- Whoa. That scene in the bar of the restaurant with a drunken, out of line soldier trying to redress "Mr Arm Candy of Madam Secretary of State" showed a tougher, stronger side of Henry and his time in the military. -- Interesting how the second someone in Washington isn't doing exactly what someone else wants them to, they are suddenly "not doing their job." -- Holy crap. Elizabeth is having Nadine confidentially investigated?? Likely as a result of her romantic involvement with deceased form Secretary of State Marsh, and what appear to be his shady agendas, but still.

**(Madam Secretary, S1E6 "The Call") Nothing like a long stressful day at work, hoping to go home and climb into bed, and then get guilt-tripped by mass genocide in the Republic of West Africa by a former professor of your husband's who just happens to be sitting at your dining room table. -- I pretty much fell in tv-love with Hank when Elizabeth went off the scripted speech in her first major address and started talking about the situation in West Africa, and Henry started pointing excitedly at his television saying "*That's* my wife. *That's* MY wife!" -- I think I would weep if I were summoned from my bed and my pajamas to go back to work as often Elizabeth is. -- Elizabeth: Nadine, I came to tell you I had you investigated. Nadine: I figured as much. Lately when I see Blake, he shakes like a chihuaua who just peed on the carpet. ... Nadine handled that much better than I expected her to.

**(The Good Wife, S6E8 "Red Zone") I knew as soon as I saw Owen in Alicia's office that he wanted something. -- I don't envy Cary being in this situation, but I bet it makes him a better attorney in the long run, if he allows it. How it actually feels to be accused. How it feels to be deposed. -- I can't figure out if Kalinda actually has feelings for anyone she is bedding or if she just uses them all for her own gain, Cary included. -- Alicia's face when Canning stopped his address to the judge to suck in some oxygen. Louis Canning is a piece of work. -- I wonder how many times I will inform my husband how much I like Finn Polmar? By the way, I really really do. -- Did Kalinda really tell Cary they aren't "going steady"? Do people even say that anymore? -- I'm not sure I could withstand a panel of people sharing their opinions about me. Not without about a decade's worth of therapy. -- Kalinda is making a powerful enemy in Bishop.

**(2 Broke Girls, S4E3 "And the Childhood Not Included") Max [about Oleg speaking rapidly into the phone in Ukranian]: Did Oleg take Liam Neeson's daughter? -- Caroline: What's the Ukranian word for monogamy? Oleg: There isn't one. You're either ugly or sleeping with everybody. -- Caroline's hair looks much better with this new cut and style. -- I really should count how many times I say "ewww" during this show. -- Where did Max and Caroline get all these new clothes they're wearing this season?

**(Chicago Fire, S3E2 "Wow Me") Casey told Severide he was welcome to stay "as long as he needs." That's an open invitation to never leave. -- Hmmm. Something up with Baby Boden that has a doctor concerned? Even if the doctor is saying it's just standard procedure given Donna's age and medical history, it feels foreboding. -- I'm not sure who was more surprised by that shiny diamond waiting at the top of those stairs: Dawson or me. -- Uh, what was up with that stack of cash in Brett's rental? Secret trust fund kid who actually owns the place and doesn't actually have to work? -- Awkward: Having to cut off one of your firehouse co-workers who happens to be trashed at your bar and getting a bit too familiar with the new girl who bears a vague resemblance to Shay. -- I suppose I'm supposed to feel bad for the still grieving Severide, clearly trying to drown his feelings in booze, but mostly I wonder how many addictions one person can have and still continue to be a fire fighter. -- Is this Mills blackout that can't be attributed to equipment malfunction going to force him to have contact with his father's family in order to uncover some kind of medical mystery? -- I'm already pretty tired of Welsh or Welch or whatever that guy's name is from the Austin house.

**(The Blacklist, S2E8 "The Decembrist") Well, know we know a) where Tom's body went and b) how Liz ended up with him. -- Um, how does Tom know to call Mr Kaplan to clean up a mess? -- I love the way they tied in older episodes, like the Stewmaker and why Red took that photo from the "trophy album." -- What is this group Fitch kept referencing being part of? And why would Red need to be worried about them? -- It was awkward and a bit sad to watch Berlin trying to reconnect with his daughter in any way. -- How badly do you suppose that bomb defuser wanted to tell Fitch "shut up shut up SHUT UP!!" after warning Fitch that the simple vibration of his vocal cords could set off the bomb and yet Fitch just kept talking and talking. -- That was mighty gross when Fitch blew up. -- They do such an interesting job of blurring lines on this show. The good guys have secrets, the bad guys still manage to have sympathetic moments. They make morals so grey, leave the viewer wondering where they stand, what they would do. -- Red: When you love someone, you have no control. That's what love is. Being powerless. ... Red tells Lizzie so much about himself, between the lines. -- Red passes Tom an envelope and tells him to stay away from Liz. Tom replies with "You know, for what it's worth, I spent four months on that ship, chained up, and I never told her about us. Not one word." What?? WHAT?! What us? What is there to tell? What connection does Tom have to Red? Did Red send Tom to be with Liz? Is Tom some kind of double agent for both Berlin and Red? What does Tom know about Red and what Red wants from Liz? HOW DO I WAIT UNTIL FEBRUARY FOR SOME KIND OF ANSWER?! -- I want to know what's in that safe Fitch so urgently told Red about right before the bomb went off. -- If anyone needs me, I'll just be over here, trying to figure out what I just saw. UNTIL FEBRUARY.

**(Madam Secretary, S1E7 "Passage") I love that when Elizabeth asked for a drumroll, Blake had one ready to go on his iPad. -- How often are Daisy and Matt are going to have the "we're not a thing anymore...except for last week"conversation? And no, I don't think her engagement will change a thing. -- That look on Jason's face when the earthquake hit was pretty much the one I had earlier this year, when I experienced my first (and only) quake. -- Daisy: So I should tell the Secretary, right? Matt: And be the woman who told her boss about the other woman? That makes you the other other woman. That's the worst woman of all. That woman's so bad, she's not even in a country song. -- Ouch. That conversation Elizabeth had with Matt about his commitment and passion to his job. -- I like that Elizabeth is less concerned with spin to make herself look better than in actual action to make herself look better. -- I liked the way Elizabeth put Daisy in her place about falling prey to rumors about the McCord family and the admonishment that she knows about Daisy's "thing" with Matt and doesn't appreciate being used as a smokescreen for Daisy's guilt. -- What on earth kind of NSA mission is so Top Secret that the Secretary of State can't know about it? -- Elizabeth: If you enjoy your privacy as much as you claim, then please respect ours. Besides, Stevie, if I really thought your dad was really cheating, do you think he'd still be breathing, let alone living here? -- Elizabeth [when Stevie protests being grounded for underage drinking]: Guess that's why most adults don't live with their parents. -- I am so pleasantly surprised by this show. It's so much better than I expected it to be.

**(Chicago Fire, S3E3 "Just Drive the Truck") Dilemma: Boden will turn his head to Dawson and Casey's personal life, if they can keep personal and professional separate, in order to get Dawson on a truck for House 51, since the rule only states they can't be married. Except...there is that pesky engagement ring. -- Even knowing, from the previews, that the two fire trucks were going to collide, I still flinched and gasped when it happened. -- I do feel bad for Cruz...but it's this cursed fire house. Every time you get your life back together, it falls apart again. No one in that place is allowed to be happy. And when it goes wrong, it *all* goes wrong. Anyway, I kinda wanted to hug Cruz. Seems like someone should have. -- Why did it take so long for someone to start asking more questions about Mills continually passing out? -- Is someone always either a) addicted to something, b) at the mercy of a possible career-ending injury, c) contemplating taking their life, d) in some kind of legal trouble, or e) dead? -- That was a moving moment when Mills met his dying grandfather. -- Convenient swap: Dawson to truck, Mills to paramedic.

**(The Middle, S6E6 "The Sinkhole") I'm impressed that Sue saves every Spudsy paycheck for college. -- LOL: Mike's face when the sink fell. -- Finding out I was short a P.E. credit to graduate,like Sue was informed? I would have wept. Especially with a not very encouraging guidance counselor "helping" me. -- Axl: Wait, why were you even near Dad's lawnmower? Brick: I was going to impress Cindy by driving it past her house. -- Gym Teacher: As long as you're coordinated it should be no problem. ... Ha. HA. I identify so well with the expression on Sue's face. No one would *ever* confuse me with being coordinated. -- Mike [to Sue, who is freaking out over not graduating without that last P.E. credit]: College or not, let me know! It will decide if I use copper or duct tape down here. -- Frankie: Well, where did you have it last? Mike: The is the world's stupidest question. If I knew, I'd have it! ... Yes. YES! -- Where the heck is Darrin? I feel like we should see him at least in passing a little more regularly since he's dating Sue.

**(Person of Interest, S4E7 "Honor Among Thieves") Reese: It would be a shame if I had to slap the cuffs on you. Shaw: It would be a shame for you if you tried. -- This episode, with the assumption that Samaritan was allowing "a tablet for every student" in order to brainwash them into being good little Samaritan minions made meneye my iPad with mild suspicion. -- They've been laying it on a little thick between Root and Shaw lately. I don't need romance on this show. -- *Finally* someone asked "who are you talking to?" as our group of number savers walk around "talking to no one." -- Holy crap! Samaritan flagged Root impersonating someone else by way of gait mismatch?? That is both amazing and terrifying. -- Excellent food for thought. ... Finch: How much wrong are we willing to do in the name of right? -- Ack!! Has Shaw been compromised now??

**(Modern Family, S6E7 "Queer Eyes, Full Hearts") Gloria [to Manny after he said Spanish wasn't appealing to his ear]: What could be more natural than your mother's tongue in your ear? ... I love when Gloria says something that comes out not as she intended. -- ::snort:: Phil called a distracted, overtired Alex a "human Roomba." -- LOL: Mitchell fixing Lily's baby doll that won't stop crying by whack it against things. -- LOL: Andy feels like calling himself a "manny" is too confusing since there is a Manny already in the Pritchett family, so he's trying out"bro-pair." -- Phil gets the best romantic lines. ... Phil: Sometimes a boy might be a good distraction. I remember a certain young lady was pretty addicted to Ms Pac Man until a dashing young gent caught her eye. Claire: Only because you were wearing a feather earring. Phil: It wasn't a feather. It was a dream catcher. And it worked. -- Jay [to Manny]: You know, it's too bad you don't spend as much time on your Spanish homework as you do online, finding passive aggressive ways to use my hobbies against me. -- Andy has the best curses, like, "mother nature!" -- I am enjoying how they keep trying to sell Haley short and she keeps surprising them.-- Jay [in Spanish, after rehiring Manny's Spanish tutor for himself]: I just want to say I love you in every language you know. -- ::snort:: Haley's wide eyes *do* make her look like a cartoon lamb!

**(Chicago Fire, S3E4 "Apologies Are Dangerous") If Casey and Dawson have been keeping their engagement a secret all this time, how is she just now having a difficult time getting her ring off? Hasn't she been wearing it at home and taking it off before work since Casey proposed? -- I realized they mostly do head shots of Boden, so I didn't notice what a large man he really is. -- I wonder what the actual number is of people who get crushed, because it sure seems like House 51 gets a lot of these calls. -- I bet there is a lot of weirdness for Dawson and Mills swapping places on emergency calls. -- How long is Brett going to be around? I feel like they're deciding whether or not to write her out. -- I'm tired of being reminded of all Hermann's failed business ventures. It makes me sad for him, every time he deflates. Thank God for Molly's success. -- That was a nice moment at the end between Severide and the girl he saved on the subway, when she said she could feel Shay just by knowing Severide and the effect she had on him.

**(The Big Bang Theory, S8E9 "The Septum Deviation") LOL: Leonard calling Sheldon the albino boogeyman, when he wakes up to find Sheldon staring at him while he sleeps. -- Thank God I didn't have Sheldon around to give me death statistics before my surgery. -- Sheldon: What about epilepsy? Leonard: I don't have epilepsy. Sheldon: No, but the surgeon might. -- Leonard: Buddy, I get that you're worried about me and I appreciate that, but I'm not going to die. Sheldon: You don't know that. Leonard: Well, I do know that it's won't be from an asteroid strike. Sheldon: You know who else said that? Every cocky t-rex currently swimming around in the gas tank of your car. Leonard: If there was an asteroid strike, wouldn't you die too? Sheldon: I don't know. I'm smart and scrappy. I think I'd find a way. -- Sheldon: You're acting odd. Why? Amy: I'm odd all the time. Everyone knows that. -- It says a lot that Sheldon is insisting Amy bring him to Leonard. who is having surgery to correct a deviated septum, given how Sheldon feels about being in a hospital. -- Sheldon: I assume this medical center has already treated the burns on your bottom from the recent pants fire. Penny: Because I'm a liar liar? Sheldon: That's for the fire marshal to determine. -- Well, *I* thought all of Bernadette's muffin jokes were hilarious. -- All week, I saw previews for Sheldon running to "save" Leonard after the earthquake hit during his surgery and going face first into a glass door, and I still died laughing when it happened. -- Howard admits to being in couples therapy but won't say with whom. I love that Bernadette thinks, like I did, that it was with his mother. Turns out it was Raj. Well played. -- LOL: Leonard and Sheldon talking with stuffed up busted noses.

**(Mom, S2E3 "Chicken Nuggets and a Triple Homicide") This would have been a great Halloween episode, what with the new huge house Christy got for super cheap because an entire family had been murdered there. -- My Lord, Violet must have really wanted to prove a point if she stayed in that dismal, infested tenement, rather than come back to Marjorie's. -- Baxter asked Christy if she would think less of him if he left, after hearing the history of the house, and she said yes. I want to know, based on what we know of him, how on earth it is *possible* to think less of him. -- I totally called it! Marjorie went to the house, dressed as "The Fisherman," to freak them out so they'd come back to live with her.

**(Chicago Fire, S3E5 "The Nuclear Option") Yeah, that's who I want racing to my rescue: the guy with the hangover. -- That was actually a pretty cool scene with Cruz rescuing the guy from the balcony. -- I realize Boden is less than thrilled that Casey had Dawson with him to vent the roof, but Casey was a really calm and collected teacher and Lieutenant when they were repelling down the side of the building and Dawson got some cable caught in her pulley. -- With everyone using last names so much on this show, I realized that I'm not sure I know anyone's first names. -- Who walks into their home when it's clearly been broken into when you don't know if those responsible are, oh, I don't know, still inside?! -- I'm not sure what kind of person says to a paramedic "if you walk out that door, I'm not going to be there when you get back," as the alarm in the firehouse is shrieking and the dispatcher is calling the ambulance to service. What's Brett supposed to do? Ignore the emergency in favor of her personal life? -- I did *not* expect that elevator to drop when Hermann shimmied into it to make a rescue. Thank God he was ok. It would be just like this show to create another disaster for one of the house members.

**(A to Z, S1E7 "G is for Geronimo") Loved the theme of playing out "what if" for Zelda (and to lesser degrees, Stu and Big Bird). Loved that Zelda and Andrew shared their music libraries. Loved that Andrew gave Zelda the opportunity to stop wondering "what if." Loved that she decided to do it, but then realized that even if her audition failed, she still had an awesome life and no regrets, because it meant she found Andrew. LOVED that Cristin Milioti sang in the episode. -- I really liked Cristin as Tracy McConnell on How I Met Your Mother, and I really like her as Zelda on this show, which makes me wonder if she's just really adorable and likable in real life. I bet she is.

**(Last Man Standing, S4E8 "Risky Behavior") LOL: Kyle avoids a particular road because he's afraid he'll have to pay a troll, and Mandy is relieved that Kyle only got a concussion when he crashed his motorcycle because he could have ended up a paralegal. Which leads to a scary thought: What if they ever have a child? Is it doomed? -- Ed's girlfriend is pregnant?? -- I like that Mandy so genuinely cares about Kyle. -- Mike [in his Outdoorman vlog]: Anything good or bad, taken to extreme, is bad.

**(Chicago Fire, S3E6 "Madmen and Fools") I  knew something was up when the mother of that little boy didn't want to have him brought to the hospital. I didn't really appreciate the attitude she gave Brett and Severide, when they showed up at her apartment to doublecheck the story she gave them, after seeking out their help to get her son back from child services. You'd think she'd be willing to prove her worthiness, instead of acting insulted. -- Holy *bleep* was pretty much the only reaction to have to a call that involved a meth addict with a tuning fork sticking out of his eye, and another guy with a corndog shoved down his throat. -- What the *heck* is Newhouse involved in, with his side business?? I figured it wouldn't be long until someone showed up to take out a little vengeance on him. I still startled, big time, when that guy popped out of nowhere to thwack him with that tire iron.  -- Newhouse: Mad man and fools are in the game for thrills, but wise men are all about the money. -- With Clarke gone, I think Cruz is my favorite character on this show. It took me a long time to get any sort of attachment to this show in any way. I'm thinking I kind of like Brett too. She's a bit of a fireball.

**(Chicago Fire, S3E7 "Nobody Touches Anything") Cruz: It's Dominican sausage and peppers. Dawson: Dude. If you keep calling your cooking Domican, I'm going to have to kick your ass on behalf of an entire country. -- What the what? Severide married that chick he found in Vegas?? So, what is this Brittany's big secret? Because she clearly has one, as evidenced by the way she was staring into space when Severide starting talking about family. -- LOL: The look on Cruz's face when he saw Brett in the back row of the Zumba class he teaches. -- If Mills keeps standing by cars for Newhouse, he's going to wind up dead. -- Severide's taking the "how long is this marriage really gonna last" pool exceptionally well. -- I was all "ohhhh, save the guy's photos from the fire." I didn't expect it to be evidence in an SVU case. -- House 51 has a lot of issues, but they definitely know how to take care of their own. I knew they were going to come up with $1500 for Newhouse to make sure Naomi got to take her trip.

**(Law and Order: SVU, S16E7 "Chicago Crossover") What a creepy twisted case. It's so difficult to watch shows on these kinds of topics, involving kids, especially. -- I immediately got a feeling the security guard at the youth center was bad news. -- Some part of me felt really bad for Teddy, when he told Jocelyn that it was better for her that it was him than someone else, which was probably true. -- I can't imagine how truly helpless law enforcement must feel when they can see such a horrible crime unfolding before them online and not know whether they can work fast enough to find the location and stop it.