Lost Landmark Episodes 20th Anniversary: One of Them

Once again some personal history.

When I started watching TV in the 1990s I'm not sure I would have been able to tell you what an antagonist was and even if I'd know I'm not sure if I'd have considered them that important.

I might have used terms like 'villain' or even 'adversary' but when I watched network TV – the only game in town until the late 1990s – it was rare to find one that impressed. To be sure there was William B. Davis's incredible Cigarette Smoking Man but he was far more a cipher and considering that basically every episode of The X-Files had them to dealing with some kind of adversary, whether it was Monster-of-the-Week or mythology very rarely did they register as characters.

So many of the procedural dramas I watched whether they were Law & Order, Homicide or by extension The Practice (I'll get back to that one) did have characters who were villainous but the adversary was basically the criminal justice itself. Same with ER (at least until Dr. Romano arrived); the characters were dealing with an underfunded medical system which is bad enough on its own. In truth the best one to use antagonists were Buffy and Angel, in large part because Joss Whedon went into such depth with many of his best antagonists and season after season they would become allies with the Scoobies and the Fang Gang against greater adversaries.

I'm not entirely sure when I began watching HBO dramas that many of them had antagonists in the traditional sense. OZ was full of murderers, rapists and other monstrous criminals that it was a challenge to feel sympathy for them at all and it wasn't until the second season you realized the biggest antagonist was the 'hoary judicial system' itself.  That message was crystal clear by the time the series was over but it was always difficult for viewers like myself to feel empathy for the majority of them.

Considering The Sopranos was the first drama with an antihero as its central character it was always difficult to consider if the antagonist model worked. Considering how challenging it was to follow Tony as he became more and more monstrous each season and combined with how David Chase would frequently eliminate potential adversaries in ways unexpected even to him I'm not sure we ever followed it that way. With Six Feet Under the only real antagonist was death and as that always won we basically ignored it. The Wire's entire plan was that America itself had forced everybody on the show into a broken system that there were neither heroes nor villains. Only Deadwood had anything resembling a conventional antagonist and David Milch's showed it through the threat of the Hearst combine, first with Francis Wolcott in Season 2, then Hearst himself in Season 3. And the premature cancellation of the series left us unclear who would win that struggle.

24 very much had the villains and antagonists throughout its entire run and utilized them brilliantly throughout eight seasons. Part of the reason the show worked so well was because you spent much of every season right in their with Jack and CTU: we had no idea who could be trusted. But of course the greatest antagonist was one we were always reminded of: the ticking clock, counting down whatever threat first LA, then DC and finally New York would face.

All of which brings us to Lost when I was first watching it. (For purposes of this and all other articles I will be sticking with series that aired up to the point of the time; in this case 2006.) Lost had already proven to me such a brilliant show that if I'd seen the DVD extras from Lindelof and Cuse at the time I might have chided them. In the Season 2 DVD they say they were kind of amazed that "they'd gotten along a year and a half without an antagonist."

I'd have argued they were doing just fine without it until then. We'd spent the first season moving at what I consider the absolute perfect pace for the show, particularly in comparison to all the series that tried to imitate its success during its run. The first season was all about trying to survive on the island and honestly that was hard enough. They'd been hunting, gathering water, slowly trying to find out "where are we?" and making attempts to find a way to save themselves. Halfway through the first season we became aware of 'The Others" and we were starting to figure out what the 'monster' was. The survivors on the beach were still feuding a lot and forming alliances and by the end of the season Jack and Locke were starting to feel at loggerheads.  During the second season the presence of the Tailies made it very clear the real threat the Others held and we'd gotten our first real glimpse at the Smoke Monsters.  I was fine without an antagonist.

That said by the middle of the second season it was clear Lost needed something. After the Tailies reunited with those on the beach for the next five episodes the plot started to drag a little. This became clear after Michael ran off into the jungle after Walt in 'The Hunting Party' and Locke, Sawyer, and Jack ran after him. What should have been a high point of the conflict ended up being one of the weakest episodes of the series so far as so much of the episode was spent in internecine squabbles between the three of them that made it clear they only wanted to snipe at each other.  The meeting with 'Mr. Friendly' seemed like a big deal at the time but Jack's self-righteous and complete denialism was so dumb you almost thought he was willing to get everybody killed just to prove a point.

It didn't help matters that the next few episodes represented some of the weakest points in Season 2 as the writers seemed to completely lose the thread. Jack talked about training an army with Ana Lucia, that went nowhere. Charlie decides that Aaron needs to be baptized, that seemed pointless. Sawyer decides to steal all the guns and basically nothing changes after that. All of this seems to be putting the show in a holding pattern, especially considering that it was following an already frustrating pattern set in Season One. During that season Claire had been snatched by the Others and for four episodes everybody forgot about it until she reappeared at the behest of the writers. Walt had been abducted at the start of the season and they'd spent half Season 2 really do nothing to find him. Now Michael is gone and for much of the next third of the season the show forgets him too.

As I said I think Season 2 overall works rather well but I do understand why so many fans began to get frustrated with it when it was going on.  The show needed to get going again. "One of Them' provided us with the energy.

It's worth noting that the character of 'Henry Gale' (if you've read my other articles you know who he really is but again I'm going to act like it was at the time) was originally just supposed to be there for a three or four episode arc. At this point Cuse and Lindelof were working on the idea of who the leader of the Others was but they hadn't figured it out yet and they certainly hadn't cast it.  But when they came up with the idea of Henry, they decided to cast Michael Emerson. That would turn Lost from being potentially a great show into a masterpiece.

Because even in 2006, I knew you could never take any character Michael Emerson played at face value.

I’d only seen him in a few major roles on television prior to Lost but they were significant enough to tell you everything you needed to know about him. In 2001, he had won an Emmy for playing William Hinks on The Practice, a man caught standing over the body of a dead woman who confessed to being a serial killer. His court-appointed psychiatrist came to Lindsey Dole convinced that not only was he not insane; his delusion was thinking he was the killer. Lindsey went along with it, and interrogated Hinks on the murders and pulled him apart on the stand. Then the DA made such a convincing closing that it actually sold Lindsey on what she was being told – and Hinks revealed he was right. On a series that was known for mesmerizing guest characters, most of whom fooled their attorney, Emerson scared the hell out of you and even when he met his end, it wasn’t the end of the trouble he caused.

Then, in what would be the penultimate episode of The X-Files Emerson played Oliver Martin, a young man who lives in a house that neighbors say looked like that of The Brady Bunch. Eventually we learned that he was actually Anthony who as a boy had been the greatest example of telepathy ever seen, the proof of the paranormal that Dana Scully had been looking for. Many of the changes in Oliver’s character over the episode would have been difficult to believe in a lesser actor, but Emerson completely sold them, this time showing a level of humanity.

So when we see Emerson screaming in a net that he is Henry Gale from Minnesota and that he is begging for help, naturally I was inclined to agree with Rousseau. No matter what any character he plays, I already knew outright that Michael Emerson never played straight with us. I don’t think I could have imagined how right I was at this stage (we will never know for certain if the writers had even figured that much out) but I was convinced as quickly as Sayid was that no matter how much he pleaded and implored with us, how frantic his cries for help were, how pitiful he seemed, that he just wasn’t being straight with us.

One of Them is one of the greatest episodes in Lost’s history for many reasons besides the introduction of Emerson to the cast of the show. Perhaps the most important is that it completely revitalizes the character of Sayid. For the first part of Season 2 he was underutilized, after Shannon’s death he basically went into mourning, and he’s been detached from much of the action ever since. This gives Sayid’s character a complete new direction to take things and while it does much to unleash the darkest parts of him, it also gives Naveen Andrews a chance to flex his acting muscles at a whole different level. He will demonstrate it many times going forward in the series but few times to the level he does in both the flashback and the story on the island.

It's stunning to see Andrews in the flashback thirteen years before we saw him on the island: there’s an innocence in his face that we honestly did not think he ever had throughout the flashbacks and a sense of devotion and loyalty to his cause that we did not see even in his first flashback. We are in the middle of the First Gulf War and Sayid has been taken prisoner, and his fate will end up being determined by Americans and two faces, one that we have seen before, one we will see again and both times they have connections to characters that are vital to the island.

When Sayid is escorted from holding the man standing over him is Sam Austen, the man who at this point in time Kate believes is her father. Sam clearly knows differently, but it's clear he still loves Kate with all his heart in the final flashback as he stares lovingly at a picture of a young Kate and asks Sayid if he has family. It is hard to put that in context with the man who has little trouble telling Sayid to interrogate his commanding officer to get the location of a missing pilot. There’s a very clear difference in his tone in both the beginning and the end of the episode.

The other character we meet is identified as Joe Inman. His face was familiar to me but from other roles: Clancy Brown was a fairly busy character actor.  To that point his most famous role was one of the lead characters in the flawed but fascinating Carnivale, an HBO mythology series that was cancelled before it could realize its potential (or maybe disappoint its fans, that does seem to happen a lot.) Inman seems to be a decent man when he talks to Sayid but it’s clear he intends to manipulate him early on. Looking back on it, I sometimes wonder if in a way Darlton was making a subtle political statement about the War on Terror in this episode. Was what the American military did to Sayid here just a rehearsal for what would be do a decade later without getting our hands dirty? I think of that quite a bit in the last scene when Inman leaves Sayid by the side of the road, telling Sayid he now has a new skill set that might come in handy. The fact that he does so in perfect Arabic reveals the true mastery of the deception. They never needed him as a translator in the first place, which means they were using him from start to finish.

It's worth remembering the previous Sayid-centric episode was willing to use him first to infiltrate a terror cell in Australia and then manipulate him to turn a reluctant participant into a full-fledged martyr all while manipulating Sayid with the carrot of seeing Nadia again. (Nadia isn't mentioned at all in this episode or indeed until Season Four in relation to Sayid.) When Essam learns the truth of how he's been used and takes his own life the government is so cold-blooded they won't even bury him according to his wishes because in their mind he's just another terrorist. Sayid demands his flight be changed to give Essam a proper burial – which puts him on Oceanic 815 and brings him here again. We are not yet sure of the greater forces that put everybody on the island – that's been moved to the background for much of the next couple of seasons – but its now clear that a greater force did put Sayid on his path: the U.S. government. This was a bold statement to make, even as fatigue over the Iraq War had begun to set in (months after this episode debuted the Democrats would regain control of Congress as what was seen as a political repudiation of W's handling of it) and perhaps tellingly the writers never discuss it again. (To be fair, Lost was never that type of show the way 24 was.)

Andrews is superb throughout the flashback: we don’t actually see him torture someone for the first time, only the aftermath when he emerges from the room, tells Inman about the pilot’s fate, and we see that his sleeves are stained with blood and the look of horror on his face. When he tells Inman at the end that he never wants to do anything like that again, we know that’s what he believes even though the viewer knows better. The fact that he is left alone at the end is perfectly fitting; Sayid has always been solitary and now we see he started out that way.

But his performance on the island is just as magnificent, surely his highpoint for Season 2.  He goes through a remarkable range of emotions throughout. It helps matters that Rousseau, who has yet to make an appearance this season returns to bring Henry to his attention. Despite what happened in the first season finale Sayid trusts Rousseau in a way no one else does. Sayid is shocked by Rousseau’s actions in the initial scene, but it's worth noting that everything she tells him is absolutely true all the way through. We will not learn that they have a connection until much later in the series but Rousseau knows enough about him to know better.

And Sayid is suspicious about what he sees and keeps working slowly. He is quiet at the start in his approach, but it's very clear that he’s got a plan and he knows outright that it’s easier to manipulate Locke by putting him at odds against Jack. He arranges things so that he can lock himself in the armory and its very clear what he’s going to do.

The scenes between Emerson and Andrews will be a highpoint in Lost from this point forward, particularly in Season 2. Henry will very quickly prove that he is good at manipulating the survivors of the crash but he never can quite pull it off with Sayid. He has answers to every question Sayid has, and there are no obvious flaws in his story. Even the fact that he claims not to remember just how deeply he buried his wife could be something that could be overlooked out of grief. But Sayid knows better.

And then there is the monologue he delivers before an act break when he ‘introduces’ himself to Henry. It is by far the fullest realization of who he is and in  a way, it’s acceptance. When he tells him that: “My name is Sayid Jarrah and I am a torturer” it is exhilarating, terrifying and heartbreaking simultaneously. I have never understood why Lost received no major acting nominations in Season 2; the fact that Andrews never got one  is by far the most blatant offense.

But as much as the episode is dominated by Emerson and Andrews, One of Them is also incredible because it puts a human face on the divide between Locke and Jack. They will spent much of the next several episodes divided on how to handle the situation with Henry, and I have to say that from the start Jack comes away looking worse.

Everything that both Locke and Sayid tell Jack about the situation is not only accurate but rational. Locke’s speech to Jack is perfectly sound: if Jack is raising an army, they are at war. Part of war means doing unpleasant and horrible things to people you consider the enemy and it also means making alliances with people you might not normally trust. But rather than take this as the sound advice it is, Jack gets self-righteous because someone else has taken the choice out of his hands. And when he decides to force Locke to open the armory or let the timer run on, he looks even worse. He chooses this opportunity to possibly risk the lives of everybody on the island to get what he wants and throw in a chance to mock Locke’s devotion to task he considers pointless.  When Locke gives in and runs to the computer – and the viewer gets their very first hint that something bad might happen when the timer runs out -  we get the feeling of how utterly reckless Jack is when it comes to getting what he wants.

Even when everything is all done and Henry spends the next several episodes in the armory Jack utterly refuses to admit he has made a mistake. I think his actions going forward have less to do with controlling the information – Sayid has already told Charlie there’s a prisoner in the basement – and more about exuding his dominance. Jack has to be in charge even if it’s not in the group’s best interest.

Its worth noting that when Sayid expresses his certainty that Henry is one of them, Locke points out a very real truth: the first time Rousseau found Sayid she did exactly what he has just done to Henry Gale and for the exact same reason. "To Rousseau we're all Others. I guess it's all relative."

This is the first time any one of the Losties has made a valid point on the Us Vs. Them mentality.  At this point we think the Others are wrong when they chose to think of the survivors of a hostile force but that's because we've spent the entire series from their perspective. However its hardly surprising no one including the viewer takes John that seriously on the subject: no matter how many times they will try to justify themselves going forward (and this will happen constantly in Season 3 when we finally enter their camp) the Losties have always been on defense and reacting to the threat the Others pose.

Yet at this point and for several episodes to come there's still plenty of room for ambiguity. As Emily St. James points on "What if he really is just some poor guy whose hot-air balloon crash and whose wife died? If that's true then finding himself suddenly a pawn in a much larger war must be deeply horrifying." And the fact is Henry did not break under Sayid's torture and will stick to his story for days to come.

If the episode ends with another storyline being proposed that doesn’t really go anywhere – Sayid’s alliance with Charlie is basically a non-starter, though it's at least carried out a little better than Jack’s ‘army’ – it makes it very clear that Sayid has a true realization of the Others as a threat than Jack does at this point. There’s an argument that Jack's plan for an army was less due to protect his people than the fact that they humiliated him. Sayid  knows how dangerous these people are, and for the rest of his time on the island will do everything in his power to protect the survivors from them and thwart their actions. Sayid has had no direction since Shannon’s death, and now he has one. But in doing so, whether he knows it yet or not, it is started him down a path that leads to darkness that he will increasingly find hard to climb out of.

And though I could have had no way of knowing it at the time Lost had just been given a shot in the arm it desperately needed and one of the greatest characters in the history of television was about to be created.  Less surprisingly was that after this episode Michael Emerson was about to become one of the greatest actors on TV a title that he holds to this day. Of course whatever role he plays we're like Rousseau. We don't believe a word he says, no matter how convincingly he says it.

 

 

Homicide Rewatch: White Lies

 

Written by Anya Epstein ; story by Tom Fontana & James Yoshimura

Directed by Peter Weller

 

White Lies is one of the more interesting episodes in Season 5. So much of the series is devoted to the detectives doing everything they can to work against impossible odds to close cases. The board is a reminder of how frequently they fail, even if the viewer doesn't see every investigation.

White Lies turns the narrative on its head as we see two separate investigations where the detectives overcorrect in their job. One investigation involves a detective who vigorously pursues what he believes to be a crime, only to learn that there was no crime committed. The other involves the work of two detectives which lends the possibility that they have the right criminal in custody but they can't prove it. And all of this is done by progressing the investigation into Kellerman's corruption and reveals he's not the innocent he claims to be.

The most interesting story of the night involves John Munch, Throughout his tenure despite having a relatively minor role Richard Belzer never complained once about it how little he was used. (He had no idea at the time that he was going to be playing it for the rest of his life in practically every show on TV long after it was cancelled.) With the unit depleted by retirements, suspensions and elopements Munch would finally be giving a chance to put more center stage and White Lies is the first time that happens in Season 5.

This is Munch's first encounter with Cox and its great to see the two of them play off each other.  Cox is observant on things that only a woman who get: particularly that Nina Engle was wearing makeup to bed. She can tell that something's strange is going on even if she doesn't know if she died. Munch then has a discussion with Engle's husband and its clear to the viewer that there's something off. Munch picks up on it immediately and tells Cox to let him know the moment the preliminary is done. He knows the husband is lying.

When Cox comes down to the squad room (after some clear flirtation with Bayliss) we see a side of John we rarely see: the kind of thorough investigator trying to poke holes in the suspect's story.  When Cox interferes and says that there's no sign of foul play Munch might be inclined to let it go but Cox chooses to challenge him by saying that he's traumatizing the husband and that it isn't a murder unless she says it is.  Its telling that most of the time John would be inclined to let it go and its clearly the challenge as well as the flaws in the story that keep him going.

It's also worth noting how Howard reacts to this. When he calls her that woman, she immediately says: "She has a name." But Kay's always been a cop first and her feminine sympathies do not extend to those who don't wear a badge. "Since when do we let an M.E. dictate investigative procedure?" She tells John to follow his instincts.

The way John manages to get to Engle is a superb example of his process because he never threatens violence, never even gets angry. Instead he starts to poke holes in the husband's story about how a 29 year old woman could not just die in her sleep. He basically tells the truth – they are going to have to perform a complete autopsy on Nina Engle and that will reveal the cause of death. Her husband admits "It was me" and collapses in tears and its clear this surprises Munch.

And then we get the twist – Nina Engle died of a lethal heroin overdose. Munch is infuriated by all of this but Cox gets to the root of it: "Who are you angry at, me, the husband or yourself?" And Munch as always is honest: "How about three for three?" When Cox asks if he's curious to know why he lies Munch gives an answer that could serve as the mantra for the show:

"I'm a Homicide detective. The only time I'm surprised is when they tell the truth."

The scene where Cox goes to talk to Philip Engle is out of sync with how Homicide usually works: there's no point when an ME would ever talk to someone suspected of murder. However for dramatic purposes its necessary because the viewer needs  closure and Munch isn't interested in giving it. So the husband tells Cox that it was his fault because she promised she'd stop using and he went on a business trip – therefore he takes responsibility for it. He found her naked on the floor and to preserve her memory he dressed her, put makeup on her and put her on the bed hoping to spare her family the truth. Cox lets him off the hook by telling him the autopsy would have revealed it anyway. Forbes's gentleness in the scene shows her with the capability of giving the kind of grace the detectives won't.

Pembleton spends most of the episode working a cold case – Alison Lambert, the only open case on Bayliss' side of the board.  This is clearly him trying to avail himself of what Gee suggested he do when he came back and its telling that Bayliss seems to humoring his old partner when he agrees to run the prints. It doesn't help that when Frank keeps pressing he can't remember the victim's name.

But Bayliss does find the prints of a suspect Samuel Colby, whose fingerprints were on the steering wheel and who wasn't in the system six months ago. So he brings him in the box and interrogates him. He comes close to doing but in the midst of the interrogation goes off on a tangent in which he mistakenly loses the thread. (Or does he? See below.) Bayliss knows he does but Frank observes him and then makes it clear where and when.

Tim is already mad at himself for what he did and the fact that Frank is pissing on his leg in the aftermath has got to be a bridge too far. He chafed enough under Frank's tutelage when they were partners and the fact he's doing it even though he's suspended is a bridge too far. So he calls Frank on his BS and tells him to go into the box. You can see the longing in Frank's eyes as the offer is extended as well as the desperation. We actually see him doing so in his mind before we realize that it is just there and then Bayliss walks out.

At the end of the episode Pembleton finally expresses the misery he's in ever since he came back. "My old life hangs over me," he tells Frank. And he tells Tim just how much he misses the box. "Four walls. A mirror. A table. Two chairs but getting a confession…its better than a cigarette better than coffee1"

The final moments feature one of the best segments in Homicide history (see Get The DVD for the full effect.) Frank goes into the box for the first time since coming back to the squad as Garbage's iconic song "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" plays. No suspects are there so he won't be in trouble. And in a series of quick cuts we see Frank in some of the most famous interrogations during the show's run going back four seasons and like him we are reminded of just how great Homicide was when Andre Braugher was working his magic. Like him, we long for what we can't have…though that time is coming closer.

Of all the storylines Homicide pursued during the run there's an argument that Kellerman's attitude during the FBI investigation is the most problematic. Much of it has to do with Kellerman himself. It's worth noting that every week Mike takes a different position on the kind of support he wants from the squad. When he was first suspended he was pissed when people stopped talking when he entered the room. When the Feds were interviewing his fellow detectives he was upset both when they withheld what they discussed and when Meldrick shared information, he was pissed by what he shared. And now that he's actually being asked directly what happened in the opening teaser he immediately turns on Bayliss as though even the questions are an offense.  It's never clear if anyone in the squad even momentarily thinks Mike took bribes but considering just how mean Kellerman says no matter what his fellow detectives say it would be hard to blame him for thinking it.

And when Kellerman chooses to go to the man who has named him in a bribery charge, physically threaten him and basically tell him to call the U.S. attorney and recant, it shows that Kellerman doesn't seem so much to think he's above the law but has forgotten how it works. He has no cards to play against Roland and has to know that a defendant accosting his accuser only makes him look guilty because he's been on the other side of it. The fact then he knocks stuff of his desk and threatens to hit him would be bad enough even if Roland hadn't called the U.S. Attorney on the other line.  That he doubles down by choosing to yell  at Ingram shows just how badly he's forgotten the idea of due process.

Again its worth noting that everyone in the process, whether they are Feds or the chain of command are following the law and doing everything by the book. And when he's called into Barnfather's office with Giardello presence he decides to lie to their faces. Ingram then calls him on it immediately and he seems more upset he's been caught on his lie then the trouble he's in. Ingram seems willing to bend over backwards to make sure Kellerman doesn't end up getting added more charges to his indictment that might end up with him going to jail right then. Furthermore he doesn't think he should be suspended and when Ingram offers him a string he demands full reinstatement. Kellerman's behavior is childish from the moment he meets the woman charged with his prosecution and if anything he seems inclined to make it worse.

When the polygraph takes place and Kellerman answers various questions we seem to get a sense that he's probably telling the truth – until he's asked if he knows if other detectives were taking bribes. He first refuses to answer the question and takes the equipment off. Ingram seems fine with this but Kellerman knows different as he tells Lewis

The thing is Kellerman is guilty – not of taking a bribe but because he knew that Goodman, Connelly and Perez were taking bribes and didn't report it to anybody.

The attitude of Hoffman on this storyline argues that there is a larger dilemma: "What is the culpability of those who knew the wrongdoing of others but chose to remain silent?" Andre Braugher it should be noted was vocal about the moral shortcomings of this storyline and expressed it at the time:

How pure is a cop who sits back and watches corruption going on? What is the virtue in remaining silent?"

Indeed Hoffman argues that the so-called blue wall being invoked is dissatisfying. He tries to take the burden off Kellerman by saying his 'fellow arson bunkies did nothing to free him from the jam even though they knew he was innocent." But then he adds: "Maybe the answer is Kellerman wasn't such a good cop from the beginning." We've already seen quite a few examples of it even before the investigation began and if anything Kellerman is making actively worse with each week.

And it is telling that even though his job is on the line its basically understood that going to prison is being equated as nearly as bad as being a rat. This is not a theory that other detectives in the unit might believe. Pembleton in particular would look down on it. One of the quick flashes we get is of one of Frank's most problematic interrogations – when he got Gerry Staley to falsely confess to the murder of C.C. Cox. Frank did so out of deference to Giardello because he was convinced that a cop had killed Cox and Al had made it very clear the fellow police officers were to be assigned the benefit of the doubt. Frank felt otherwise and as was proved Frank was correct.

Perhaps its not shocking that Gee chooses to stick up for Kellerman with Ingram as he walks her back to her car. Ingram may be doing this purely for political gain but she's right when she calls Al on whether he can trust a man he's known for a year and a half for something he did before he knew him. For Al that kind of blind loyalty is typical and most of the time its one of his most enduring characteristics. But by the end of the episode we know its misplaced. Al may not think Mike is guilty of a crime but the law is a different beast.

And by the end of the episode we know that as well. Ingram comes to the squad room and tells Mike that he passed the polygraph. But so did Mitch Roland and unlike Mike he answered every question. When Mike asks Ingram what that means he already knows the answer and its not a comforting one.

The truth will not set Mike Kellerman free. In fact, it may be the thing that ends up sending him to prison.

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

 

The story line of Nina and Philip Engle is borrowed from Simon's book, which also tells the tale of a man concealing his wife's heroin overdose. He wasn't arrested as the autopsy revealed the truth.

Brodie Is On The Move! As you'd expect Lewis throws Brodie out of his apartment claiming he wrecked his marriage. Brodie bemoans his fate and when Howard overhears she agrees to let him move in with her.  

Brodie doesn't think this is a good idea as he's worried as to how it will be if he moves in with a woman. He's proven correctly as Munch and Lewis (both of whom seem to be doing this solely to be petty to him) tease him with sexist terms and Lewis gives him condoms leftover from his honeymoon. Howard doesn't seem to mind but Brodie does. With the kind of sympathy we don't see he tells Howard that she's a sergeant and its important the detectives respect her. "Your reputation is more important then my comfort," he says with chivalry. Then he goes on to sleep in the nook. Aww.

In the episode guide Kalat reminds us that in 'Stakeout' Bayliss was planning to move to California but seemed to be talked out of it. The last line was that he wasn't going to leave until he closed the Lambert case. That may be an unconscious reason why he tells Frank not to bother with it and might explain why he confuses Colby with his out of left field speech above leaving Baltimore for Sunny California. As Frank points out: "That's you, not him!"

Get The DVD: In addition to the soundtracks use of Garbage in the closing the opening sequence where we see the Baltimore Sun with Kellerman on the front page being delivered to everyone including the squad we hear The Subdudes: "Tell Me What's Wrong." The former can't be heard on streaming.

This episode marks the first appearance of Rebecca Boyd as States Attorney Gail Ingram. She will appear for the remainder of this storyline and quite a few episodes for the remainder of Homicide's run.

Hey, Isn't That… Scott Bryce who plays Philip Engle was a familiar face to viewers of TV throughout the 1990ss. He made his TV debut as Rick on The Facts of Life and then played Will Forrest, Corky's eventual husband on Murphy Brown. He had recurring role on LA LAW during seasons 6 and 7 as well as roles on Matlock and Sex and The City. His most famous role was as Mike McQueen on Popular. His longest role was on As The World Turns where from 1982 to 2008 he would appear as Craig Montgomery. He has since appeared in the first season of Homeland, the first season of The Good Fight and of course Law & Order and Law & Order:SVU. Also a producer and director, he directed and produced several Lifetime movies

Many of Us Remember This Love Story. Ryan Murphy and His Writers Actually Put Us Inside It

 

On what is their first date in the first episode of Love Story Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) asked John F. Kennedy Jr  (Paul  Kelly) a question that stops him in his tracks: "When did you first realize you were the son of a President?" He's stunned because its first the time he's ever been asked that.

The thing it’s the first time I've ever considered a similar question having been reading and to an extent writing about the Presidency for quite some time: "What's it like to be the child of a President?" I know that for many of them they manage to hold up to it and get into politics themselves: the most successful by far being John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush. Others are overshadowed by it their entire lives: neither Theodore nor Franklin's children ever truly carried the burden that well and all struggled with controversy and often disgrace.  Others like Robert Todd Lincoln had tragedy follow their entire lives in public service. But for John F. Kennedy Jr, it has to have been the biggest burden of all.

My memories of him while he was alive are rather vague even though the series makes it clear it will cover all of them: his courtship of Carolyn, the launching of the magazine George, the premature death of Jackie Kennedy (played by Naomi Watts with the same precision we saw her play Babe Paley a few years ago on Capote With The Swans) how the wedding became the biggest event in during the 1990s and of course the tragic fate that met him and his wife in a private plane off Martha's Vineyard in July of 1999. When it happened it was put under the same net of all the tragedies that have followed that family to the point that it almost seemed inevitable and the mythos around the son became very much like that of the father and indeed many of his brothers and sisters. The fact that John met his fate in a similar fashion to Joe Junior and Kathleen Kennedy just made it seem more symmetrical.

And because of that America put them in color photography and never wanted to talk about them. Perhaps it is fitting that Ryan Murphy, who in recent years has never shied away from telling the stories of the living and never ducked from the controversy, chose to have his most recent production in relation with FX  Love Story choose to focus on the relationship between JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bissette. Perhaps it because the passage of time has done much to take the luster off the Kennedy name (even before the 2024 election took place) that Connor Hines was allowed to write the story much less have FX produce it. As it Caroline Schlossberg is not particularly wild about seeing this project airing on TV.

But unlike almost every project I've come to associate with Murphy's team since the end of Glee and certainly with every true story he's told the chronicle since American Crime Story debuted,  Love Story is a different beast, at least having viewed the first three episodes. For once, the object is not to pull back the curtain on an ugly side of American life but rather to try and see the humanity behind it and the actual people who were so briefly American's couple. This is unique particularly considering the underlying darkness and cynicism that fills even the best TV in the 21^st century. This isn't Feud where we see the unpleasantness of New York society or American Crime Story where were looking at great societal problems using famous crimes as a metaphor. Murphy and his creators just want to tell a real life love story that was tragically cut short. That's almost as revolutionary as asking what it's like to be the son of  a President.

This begins with the two performers playing the title roles. Rather then try to get famous names Murphy and Hines auditioned hundreds of performers for each role before landing on the relatively unknown Pidgeon and Kelly. Perhaps it was a test: if they could survive the audition process they could be prepared for playing one of the most famous and photographed couples of the 1990s. The closest comparison is The Crown when it came to casting the young Charles and Diana during Seasons 3 and 4 and Peter Morgan succeeded beyond his wildest dreams with the casting of Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin.

The critical difference is that while we learned very quickly that every aspect of that fairy tale was a complete fiction almost from the start Pidgeon and Kelly have a slightly different challenge. The Kennedys are as close to America has gotten in terms to royalty something that Jackie herself points out in the third episode. "We were raised on television," she tells her son. "The public thinks they know us and when we fail they hold it against us." This is clear throughout every episode as John spends every moment being shadowed by cameras. Because the Kennedys are not royalty or movie stars they don't have quite the same entourage that everyone else gets – at least not at the start.

Most of what we know about the lies of Camelot comes from Jackie herself. In scenes with Caroline (Grace Gummer adds to her increasingly brilliant list of performances) her daughter asks if she ever wished she'd married another man.  Jackie looks at her and tells her that she was forced to live her mother's dream: "I was supposed to be the most famous accessory to the most powerful men." She admits she created the myth of her husband which she could have punctured but chose not to. In what is a powerful but almost certainly fictionalized sequence when she is taking her last rites she tells her confessor she wanted to die that day, that she knew of her husband's indiscretions and a part of her has hated him ever since. We've gotten a sense of this in a scene earlier in the episode when she takes down a portrait of JFK and to the tune of the Broadway recording of 'Camelot' does a mocking waltz with it.

But the show doesn't make Jackie the saint the world framed her as. In family dinners before this we see that she has judgment over her sons relationship with Darryl Hannah. She turns the car around rather than have a family event with Hannah's presence and won't show her face at a dinner at the Kennedy apartment.  Hannah is hurt by it and is smart enough to know whether this relationship is about something Oedipal. "You show up at your mother's dating a blonde actress?" she shouts during a fight.

Pidgeon has a different kind of challenge: to make Carolyn Bissette to seem like a woman in her own right. Carolyn was very much her own woman in the world of Calvin Klein as Love Story makes very clear. She was extremely gifted as a buyer, had roles in putting Kate Moss front and center, and clearly is confident in her sexuality in a way few women were. In her relationship with her model she makes it clear that she is pulling the strings when it comes to sex.

When they meet for the first time JFK, Jr. is clearly attracted to a woman who not only isn't in awe of his famous name but actually seems annoyed by it. The newly minted 'Sexiest Man Alive' has clearly never had to pursue a woman in his life and it’s a challenge. But Hannah comes back into his life at the wrong time and Carolyn goes back with her boyfriend. Indeed when he ends showing up at a diner where she's having lunch she's clearly uncomfortable: in her mind he's off the market and finds her a distraction.

Pigeon and Kelly are superb in the scenes they share and just as brilliant when they're on their own. It's only when Jackie's cancer becomes worse that the two meet in private and he bears his soul more. When she comes with insight he's impressed: "How do you have more insight into my family then my family?" Then she points out how difficult it is to be a single mother under normal circumstances and Jackie Kennedy was the most famous single mother of all time. It's a burden that Jackie acknowledges -  she fears she will be forever known as 'America's Widow' – and its as close as she comes to sharing her insecurities with anyone.

Love Story, I should mention, is another in a line of recent TV series that are erotic in their love scenes rather than pornographic. Because this is a collaboration with streaming the writers could be more graphic and indeed they test the boundaries of basic cable when they're shown, but just as with Three Women I don't think the nudity and sex is there just because its cable. As most of the scenes have Caroline in them (so far) I suspect its to show her as something of the aggressor.

And if that's impressive the show completes another neat trick: it creates sexual tension between a couple we know is going to get married eventually. This should be the ultimate spoiler and yet it isn't. When John finally shows up at Carolyn's apartment after his mother's funeral, it is one of the most romantic sequences I've seen on television in I don't know how long. Done almost in silence when John shows up at her apartment soaked, we hear no dialogue between the two of them. We watch the two of them motion towards each other in silence with not a word exchanged. When they finally kiss for the first time we are actually surprised how it plays out and who's in control. Shonda Rhimes could take lessons in how simple and elegant these love scenes play out.

Make no mistake: the writers don't hide where this story is going. The opening teaser shows us July 16, 1999, make it clear where Carolyn and JFK Jr are emotionally in their marriage, and show them getting on the plane without an instructor. (It's the day of, not the night but same difference.) But that's the thing with so many of the anthologies Murphy has been telling us on FX and Netflix for the last decade. But even when the viewer believes they know the details Murphy and his production team cut to the human emotion. In this case they have a greater burden then we have learning the truths behind the killing of Gianni Versace or the crimes of Erik and Lyle Menendez: they have to tell a simple story about how two unlikely people fell in love, whether it was real and make us believe it before the inevitable tragedy. That's a tough burden but Love Story more than meets the task. And in a world of TV shows where even the best of them are dark overwhelmingly cynical, sometimes we just need to be reminded that all you need is love.

My score: 4.5 stars.

My Recap of the 2026 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament, Part 1: The Quarterfinals

 

With Paolo Pasco wiping the floor with the competition in impressive fashion in the Tournament of Champions the final part of the Jeopardy postseason began on Thursday: the 2026 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament.

It has far more familiar faces then usual with no less then five previous participants in the Jeopardy Masters competing in the Invitational this year. We also have quite a few holdovers from the 2025 Tournament of Champions competing this year as well with three faces from that group. But there are two new wrinkles.

The first is the number of competitors. As opposed to the previous two invitationals this years contains only eighteen participants who will face off in six quarterfinal matches that will produce six semi-finalists. The second wrinkle is one that Jeopardy fans are familiar with: the wild card spot. The three highest scores among the twelve non-winners will advance to the semi-finals.

Almost everyone in this year's Tournament is familiar with this wrinkle to an extent, whether through competing in a previous Tournament of Champions, the Second Chance and Wild Card Tournament and Jeopardy Masters itself. The question was how would it affect play going into the quarterfinals?

Here's how it played out.

 

February 5^th

Matt Amodio vs. Drew Basile vs. Karen Farrell

 

Karen almost certainly did the most damage to any chance she had of a victory in the Jeopardy round. She got to the Daily Double ahead of Matt in the Jeopardy round in ONE OF THESE DAYS when she was in second with $1000. She did what she had to do and bet everything:

This Caribbean Island nation gained its name from Columbus, who sighted it on Sunday, November 3^rd 1493. She struggled and couldn't come up with anything. It was Dominica. (I'd never heard of this island.)

Karen then went really backwards and at one point was at -$2400. It is a credit to her play that she managed to get all the way up to -$200 at the end of the round to Drew's $2800 and Matt's $5400.

Matt, as is his tendency, got to the first Daily Double early in the round in WORLD HISTORY. Perhaps given his and other champions track records in so many masters he didn't go all in, betting just $3000 of his $7000.

Meaning 'the way of the warrior', it was the code of conduct for Japan's samurai, akin to European chivalry. Matt knew it was Bushido and went up to $10,000. Not long after that Drew starting going backwards and Karen began to move forwards. But Matt still had a sizable lead when he found the other Daily Double in COUSINS. Now at $14,000 he bet a relatively small $2000 and in this case it was the right call:

The American composer of the opera 'Satyagraha' is second cousins to this radio personality. Matt stumbled and finally guessed: "Who is Copeland?" It's hard to blame him for not knowing it; only my experience with modern opera helped me realize the composer was Philip Glass and therefore his cousin was Ira Glass." Matt dropped to $12,000.

Matt's performance in this game was by his impressive standards, somewhat lacking. He only got 24 correct responses and had 4 incorrect ones (including that Daily Double) Karen it's worth made a remarkable comeback in Double Jeopardy. Having made five incorrect responses in that round she only made one the rest of the way. However Matt managed to finish with $18,800 and Karen just couldn't close the gap and finished with $8200. Drew struggled and finished with $3600.

The Final Jeopardy category was COINS OF THE WORLD. Coins issued by this territory have depicted Old World monkeys, Neanderthal skulls & Europa Point lighthouse.

Drew's response was revealed first. "What is Gibraltar?" That was correct. (Ken reminded us of the Barbary apes and the famous lighthouse.) Drew did what he had to do and bet everything giving him $7200.

Next came Karen. She also knew it was Gibraltar. She also risked everything, putting her at $16,400.

Matt, however, wrote down: "What is Kenya?" Had Karen been able to get close to him she could have made Matt's life difficult. Instead Matt bet nothing and definitely earned his return to the semi-finals. Karen's score looks pretty good; Drew is in a more precarious position.

For the record I wasn't even in the right part of the world with my guess. I wrote down: What is Samoa?", crossed it out and wrote down Guam.

 

February 6^th

Eric Ahasic vs Roger Craig vs Veronica Vichit-Vadakan

 

As is his wont Roger got off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round and found the Daily Double. Already in the lead with $2800 he bet everything in  BLANK & BLANK:

Involving 2 elements of the magician's art, this idiom is used to describe a situation of deception. He paused and guessed: "What is cloak & dagger?" I thought it was that too but it was actually smoke & mirrors. He dropped to nothing and rebuilt. By the end of the round he was back up to $2400, just $400 behind both Veronica and Eric.

Roger stumbled early in Double Jeopardy but got up to $4400 and found the first Daily Double in FRANCE IN THE 1600s. Again he bet everything and this time it worked out:

Found on the Left Bank of the Seine, this veterans' hospital was built by architect Liberal Bruant in Baroque style.

Another pause: "What is Invalides?" This time he was correct and he took the lead.

He kept building and when he found the other Daily Double in WE'RE BUILDING WORDS HERE he had $12,800. He bet just $4000 this time:

Location of a eustachian tube + a biblical evangelist = this targeted form of fundraising.

Somehow he figured it out: "What is earmark?" He went up to $16,800.

This was a far more dominant game than the one Matt played yesterday: Roger gave 28 correct responses and only four incorrect ones to finish with $24,000. Veronica with $7200 and Eric with $5600 were playing for the wild card spot when it came down to Final Jeopardy.

The category was ART & ARTISTS. He entered the priory of San Marco in Florence in the 1430s & was commissioned to paint its altarpiece by the Medicis.

Eric's response was: "Who is Botticelli?" It was incorrect. He lost everything.

Veronica guessed: "Who is Raphael?" Also incorrect and she also lost everything.

Roger wrote down: "Who is Michelangelo?" Also incorrect. As Ken put it: "You had to think of a Renaissance painter who was also a cleric and that was Fra Angelico. Roger bet bigger then both his opponents and lost $9000 but he also clinched a return to the semi-finals.

Author's Note: I was hung up on the Florence part of the clue and wrote down: "Who is Ghiberti?" My first thought was Brunelleschi but he was an architect.  Ghiberti was a sculptor so I didn't have the right medium.

 

February 9^th

Liz Feltner vs Tom 'T.L.' Cubbage vs. Drew Goins

 

This one was tough for everybody including yon viewer. All three players got off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round. Drew found the Daily Double when he was in the lead with $3000 and bet everything in the difficult category FROM SAMUEL JOHNSON'S 1755 DICTIONARY:

Self-effacing Sam defined this, his occupation at the time, as a 'harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing' words. Drew struggled before guessing: "What is a scribe?" It was actually a lexicographer which is what Johnson would doing at the time. He dropped to zero.

By the end of the round is where very close. Liz was in the lead with $4800 to TOM'S $3600 and Drew's $2800. They did not get easier in Double Jeopardy.

Tom got a chance when he found the Daily Double on the second clue of the round in 8-LETTER U.S. CITIES. In the lead with $5200, he bet $3000: "After Jackson, this city well to the southeast is Mississippi's largest." He struggled and finally guessed: "What is Hartford?" It was actually Gulfport (I had no idea.)

It was a pattern for a round full of triple stumpers and clues that people kept getting wrong because they were so tough. By the time Liz found the other Daily Double in SCIENTIFIC MINDS she was in the lead with $9200. She bet $3000 as well and it went no better for her then Tom or Drew.

"Scientists in Brno dug up the remains of this local hero around the bicentennial of his birth and analyzed his genetic code." I was as hung up on Brno as anyone and like Liz couldn't come up with the clue which involve genes: Gregor Mendel.

By the time the round mercifully ended (and I mean that for me as well) it was incredibly close. Liz had $6200, Tom had $5400 and Drew had $5200.

The Final Jeopardy category was 20^th CENTURY LITERARY NAMES. It sounded easy. The clue was anything but.

In 1950 he won a Tony for Best Play &18 years after his 1965 death, he would go on to win 2 Tonys for a musical/

Drew's response was revealed first: "Who is Miller?" That was wrong. He bet $3600, leaving him with $1600.

Tom was next. He wrote down: "Who is Capote?" Also incorrect. He lost $5399.

It came down to Liz. "Who is Hudson?"  It was not obvious. The musical in question was Cats and the author of the 'book' was T.S Eliot. (For the record the play that he won for was The Cocktail Party in 1950. )

It came down to wagers. Liz bet $4601. That left her with $1599 and by a margin of a dollar a stunned Drew Goins made it to the semi-finals. As it stands right now Liz has the third spot for the wild card berth. Not by much.

(For the record, I wrote down: "Who is Inge?")

 

 

February 10^th

Mehal Shah vs. Jen Giles vs. Andrew He

 

In Andrew's first JIT appearance in 2024 he ended up running away with both his games. This time it was a lot tougher and much of this was due to Andrew's own difficulties.

Andrew found the first Daily Double on the third clue of the Jeopardy round in AT FERNCLIFF CEMETERY. He was only allowed to wager $1000 and its good he did:

After his 1965 death at the Audubon Ballroom at Upper Manhattan, he was interned at Ferncliff Cemetery.

Andrew struggled and finally guessed: "Who is Rockefeller?" That was wrong. The ballroom was where Malcolm X was assassinated. He dropped to -$200.

As a result the Jeopardy round was much closer. Jen finished in the lead with $3400 to Mehal's $2800 while Andrew trailed with $2200.

Early in Double Jeopardy Mehal had taken the lead and found the first Daily Double in BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIRS. He treated it like it was a snake that would bite him betting $5. Ken would joke he had that much in his pocket but for once discretion was the better part of valor:

This poet & author wrote a 6-volume bio of Abe Lincoln made up of 'The Prairie Years' & the Pulitzer-winning 'The War Years'. Mehal said: "Who is Goodwin?" He didn't know it was Carl Sandburg and dropped all the way down to $5595.

Three clues later Andrew, having retaken the lead, found the other Daily Double in AWARDS & HONORS. Rather than showing that same discretion, he bet the $7400 he had. It went no better then the first one he'd gotten:

The IEEE established an award in 1976 to honor the centennial of an invention by this man & named the award for him.

Again Andrew struggled before guessing: "Who is Morse?" It was actually Alexander Graham Bell.

For Andrew He, this was a bad day. He got 19 correct answers and five incorrect ones, including both Daily Doubles. To be fair none of these were easy clues. It ended with close scores. Andrew finished in first with $6000, Jen was next with $5400 and Mehal was in third with $4395.

The Final Jeopardy category was THE CALENDAR. Black History Month was first celebrated around the birth dates of Abraham Lincoln & this contemporary who died in 1895.

For the first time in the JIT all three players knew the correct response. "Who is Frederick Douglass?" Andrew was the only one who spelled Douglass correctly but that didn't matter. (I knew this too.) It came down to wagers.

Mehal bet $1606, giving him $6001. Jen bet $3000, putting her at $8400. And Andrew bet $4801 to give him with $10,801 and giving him a return to the semi-finals.

With her total of $8400 Jen Giles is now in second place for the Wild Card spot. Mehal was eliminated as was Liz Feltner.

 

 

February 11^th

Josh Hill vs, Alison Betts vs. Isaac Hirsch

 

Alison started out the Jeopardy round in grand style when she found the Daily Double already in the lead with $2000. She bet it all in the category USA:

While is library is in Ann Arbor, his museum is in Grand Rapids, where he grew up.

She figured it out: "Who is Ford?" She held the lead for the rest of the round finishing with $5400 to Josh's $3400 and Isaac's $3200.

Early in Double Jeopardy while still in the lead with SIDE HUSTLE PARTS OF SPEECH. She bet $5000 and this one really hurt:

This adjective is used more & more as a noun meaning anyone who generates content, from poems to advertising.

She finally guessed: "What is creator?" Alison was introduced as a creative executive and the word was creative. She dropped to $1600.

Much of Double Jeopardy followed the pattern we've seen in the last few games: many triple stumpers and a lot of incorrect response. As a result the scores were low when Josh found the other Daily Double in ASIA: BACK ON TOUR. He bet the $3600 he had:

Of the 7 – 'stan' countries, we're headed for this one, the southernmost.

There was a long pause: "What is Pakistan?" That is the southernmost and Josh doubled his score.

Double Jeopardy finished with Josh and Isaac tied for the lead at $7600 while Alison had $3200. And it was then Alison did something unheard of it in Final Jeopardy. She became a prophet.

The category was 1960s NOVEL CHARACTERS. An article about autism in fictional characters included him, whose '"reward' is to have his brave act go unrecognized."

Alison wrote down: "What is I hope they both everything?" After the laughter:

Ken: I don't know if you mean you want them to be everything and get it get right or get it wrong.

Alison: "The getting it wrong part is kind of key to my plan."

She wagered $414, leaving her with $2786.

Isaac was next: "Who is Randall?" I think he had the right idea but it was incorrect. He wagered everything as Ken pointed out "So far, Alison's plan is working."

The moment of truth. Josh wrote down: "Who is Caulfield?" That was incorrect. The correct response was Boo Radley, the unsung heroism at the end of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Josh's wager…also everything. There were sounds of shock and Alison dropped her head to the lectern as she realized that she had managed to beat a former Jeopardy master and a seven game champion to earn a spot in the semi-finals.

Author's Note: The only thing I could think of was Lennie and Of Mice and Men isn't even close to the 1960s.

At this point Karen Farrell has officially clinched her spot in the semi-finals via wild card no matter what happens in the final game.

 

February 12^th

Long Nyugen vs. Will Yancey vs. Adriana Harmeyer

 

As has been the habit of all the quarterfinal matches the Jeopardy round was pretty even. Long got off to a fast start but Adriana got to the Daily Double in ANTONYMS. She only had $1000 so she bet it all:

Of seldom: This adjective that as a verb means to go somewhere often. She figured it out: "What is frequent?" and doubled her score. Long finished in the lead with $5200 to Will's $4600 and Adriana's $3400.

Long won points in Double Jeopardy both for his skill in finding Daily Doubles and his honesty each time.  He found the first Daily Double in INTERNATIONAL OBSERVANCES.  In the lead with $8000 he said: "I don't like this category" before wagering $2000:

Meaning 'new day' in Farsi, the March observance of Nowruz dates to spring rites of this ancient religion.

A long pause: "What is Zoroastrianism?" He was correct and went up to $10,000.

Two clues later he found the other Daily Double.

Ken: You didn't like that last category, Long.

Long: I don't like any of these categories

After the laughter subsided he bet $1600.  Just between us, these mammals' genus is Odobenus, meaning 'tooth walk' – they use their tusks to get out of the water.

Another pause: "What is a walrus?"

For a board that had categories he didn't like Long played very well with 20 correct answers and only one incorrect one. And he finished with a runaway victory:$19,600 to Will's $7400 and Adriana's $3400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.  A 1606 map of America shows this archipelago as part of a southern continent by a canoe with smoke billowing from its center.

Adriana's response was revealed: "What is Tierra Del Fuego?" That was correct. "Land of fire." She bet everything, putting her at $6800.

Will started with Florida, crossed it out and wrote down: "What is Antilles?" That was incorrect and it cost him everything.

Long was last and he wrote down: "What is Tierra Del Fuego?" His wager of $2000 was superfluous as he became the last automatic semifinalist.

Yet again I was nowhere near the correct response; I wrote down: "What is Indonesia?" That makes me one for six in the quarterfinals.

And with that here is the official group of semi-finalists as well as their accomplishments:

 

Matt Amodio, the former winner of the Invitational who has appeared in every Jeopardy Masters so far.

Roger Craig,  2011 Tournament of Champions Winner, third place finisher in the Battle of The Decades, part of Team Austin in Jeopardy All-Stars, sixth place in last year's Jeopardy Masters.

Drew Goins, 2024 Jeopardy Second Chance winner, runner up in 2025 Jeopardy Wild Card, 2025 Jeopardy TOC semi-finalist.

Andrew He, runner-up in the 2022 Tournament of Champions, fourth place in the 2023 Jeopardy Masters, third place in the 2024 JIT.

Allison Betts, five game winner, quarterfinalist 2025 Tournament of Champions.

Long Nguyen, Jeopardy Second Chance Winner 2023, Wild Card finalist.

 

And the three high scorers:

Karen Farrell, eight game winner, semi-finalist 2021 Tournament of Champions

Jen Giles, 2015 Teacher Tournament Winner, part of Team Buzzy in the Jeopardy All-Star Games.

Drew Basile, seven game Jeopardy winner in 2024, semi-finalist in the 2025 Tournament of Champions.

 

And as we all know of this group Drew Basile has the most to prove: he was the only seeded semi-finalist in last year's Tournament of Champions who didn't make it to the finals. His fellow seeded players Adriana and Isaac did make it to the finals and to the Masters last year. Can he succeeded where they failed?

I'll be back on Tuesday with my recap of the semifinals. This is where I'd say anything can happen but having watched the quarterfinals I think we all know that ship has sailed.