#bringbackblanke

OK what in the Chappell Roan is going on

nun habits are not helping my faceblindness figure out who anyone is

this feels like it's referencing either some recent real-life story or some other episode of another procedural

two death mentions in two minutes subtle show real subtle

ok who is the monsignor guy it's kinda bugging me

wonder if this is gonna imply more supernatural shit

nice Father Crime callback and theme song fakeout

confession on show featured in episode where couple paralleled Kayabeth, foreshadowing? (also, dude's name is Rick between that and the theme song Father Crime does seem more of a Castle parallel despite its SVU-esque length)

OK let's play are they taking shots at Taylor, Miley, Chappell or some combination of the above

lyrics bit by bit kinda my songwriting style too

mother superior kinda creeping me out

producer thing meant to be another Kayabeth parallel? (obligatory #justice4kaya #bringbackblanke)

ah the cliche "trouble is that girl was me" storytelling thing

this intro's kinda going on as long as E4's did

so just like E5 it's another you played yourself thing

Elsbeth back with the hats and back with a trio (and did Reynolds grow out their hair, I remember it being a buzz cut before)

anxiety relief not helping

I know Elsbeth used to wear black at least sometimes on TGW/TGF, wonder if there's a plot-relevant reason (perhaps connected to/not-just-an-excuse-hidden-by why she said it shows everything) she switched to brights

another little moment reminding me of Morgan

Thank you tabloid actually showing me it's spelled Alaia

don't judge a starlet by her cover

what is that suit Elsbeth

nice dramatic entrance

Marissa again, nice

ok cue uncredited Teddy as I didn't see him in either the regulars or the guest stars

more info on Alaia and me and my Billboard special interest still can't figure out who she's an analogue of

looks like Teddy's sticking with journalism and I wonder if whatever the morality of what Marissa's doing he might be some kind of pawn getting caught up in all this

and the show's still popping off with the social commentary and reminding me of things I've seen happen in hip-hop

leave it to this show to connect the two "worlds" of the story with something like that

right place wrong time quite literally

the parallel with the implicitly false confession is making me further believe Teddy might be a part of something bigger he might not like if he knew

and another part where I'm kinda getting reminded of High Potential

stan culture gonna stan culture

looks like Teddy found his guy

assholes, don't knock down the load-bearing part

the way she asked "Do you believe in God?" kinda put the song "Cassie" by Flyleaf in my head

looks like Elsbeth found the Maria of this particular convent

trying to imagine what Elsbeth's wedding dress looked like I keep thinking of Amy's from TBBT

not the confession confession trope

congratulations ya done pissed off the nuns

and the power of fandom saves the day or at least gets Elsbeth in the door

cute little zip-up Elsbeth

little meta-commentary with the celebrity guest thing?

dude's supposed to be a Nathan Fillion analogue but he reminds me more of Captain Hammer than Castle

oh hi Marissa I was wondering when you'd show up

everybody's keeping secrets

so the story wasn't just a ploy

maybe don't touch her shit (cue mother superior jumpscare again)

Elsbeth being neuroweird again

wonder if there's a little bit of parallel

ooh nice poetic license Elsbeth

they're gonna look at the songs

not feeling Elsbeth's outfit but kinda feeling Teddy's

okay shippers-on-deck you were never like this with Kaya or maybe a mf just can't bi-dar his own mom

called it

peas-in-an-airpod reminds me of my sister and I listening to music

surprise mother-superior

nice little break-it-down with the Ten Commandments

criminal activity busted by more criminal activity

art-history-for-the-fucking-win

and everybody comes together I was worried Marissa would be wasted

did Teddy not get the guy

best Morgan outfit in a while

not where I thought we'd start

I get the feeling that (albeit not in an arrest-worthy way of course) this isn't the first time Morgan's blackmailed someone or at least threatened to

the way his eyes just went straight for Morgan

Soto how short is you girl

interesting given the stuff I mentioned last week about the Game Maker in what was technically Wagner's intro episode how he wanted to talk to Oz first

so is this the show taking shots at the system or just Blue Bloods

is this vic going to parallel the Roman stuff

talk about overkill

how did Morgan get banned from all those bars (too good at trivia or something more Penny-y)

what the secret lair

that's something, Morgan doesn't know something

I'm getting Tracker flashbacks

so we've got one dead muckraker (and now I'm getting reminded of Elsbeth and sad because undercover shit #justice4kaya)

cool shot framing

why's Oz completely vermischt the hell did Wagner talk to him about

of course Morgan spots the clue in the seemingly-innocent photo

hey I know this from the game Botany Manor

and here comes chaos

pleasantly surprised the influencers didn't have to explain what ASMR is

seems we found the guy in charge

that's some interesting decor

Karadec look out!

ok what the confession?

so scandal brewed and therefore foamy vengeance

Bill Nye the vision guy

did Karadec just think he could catch a sports car on foot

Ozdec handling the interrogation I like the mixing it up

cue captain flat affect (and why does all the shit he's saying sound rehearsed)

is he trying to manipulate Daphne and separate her from the team or something I thought she was too junior for promotion

and another cute Morgan outfit

so it's all down to the protein powder

or it's all down to revenge

did Ava grow her hair out or is it just me

seems like your typical YouTuber sponsor product

is this a get to know him meeting or a get intel on Morgan meeting

so we're back at the not-Royal-Diner

oh hi AVA! (so who's watching the kids, is Ludo there but we're just not going to acknowledge him

Chekhov's Backpack foiled

so Ozdec doing some investigation together too

so it wasn't just scam company it was drug running

how many twists can one episode have

and Morgan from nowhere with the non sequitur

did we skip a few steps (but I like how it wasn't quite some weird trivia fact alone that broke the case)

tribute issue, that's cool

I caught that

so random encounter in the parking lot

get profiled captain

that puzzle line kinda sounded Game-Maker-esque

Morgan and Ava kinda reminding me a bit of Elsbeth and Teddy from Elsbeth (and not just because, with no context of original show for what they might copy-or-not, I feel like (even if it's not the same thing) they might be foreshadowing Ava going into some kind of similarly-fighting-bad-guys field if this show lasts long enough *knock on wood* to see her grow up)

so she did have the backpack

I wonder how much of this came from real-life Late Show behind-the-scenes

oh so that's coming back again

so we're not starting with the murder?

ADHD Elsbeth go brr

and all the Kayabeth shippers read entirely too much into that line

so is he supposed to be a hybrid of Colbert and Fallon, Colbert doesn't really have a sidekick

okay the hell's with that set decor

so how much of this is any sort of irl commentary on the Late Show

what the Hacks is going on (and is this Kayabeth foreshadowing)

that's not what I thought was going to happen

nice to see Teddy and a Kaya mention

not the path I would have thought for Teddy but this feels like a spinoff setup

STFD Teddy the ADHD doesn't fall far from the tree it seems

hello there Lindsay Mendez (please be recurring, that'd almost make up for no Kaya)

911: Nashville's got a firefighter country singer, Elsbeth's got a stand-up comic cop, that makes my aspiring country singer defense attorney ass very happy

Merrily We Roll Along, nice obscure musical reference (and in-character for a Colbert Expy to be a Broadway nerd) and more meta with Lindsay Mendez's character smirking in the background

and that's two awesome Elsbeth outfits

I'm hoping Kaya's return is heralded by the most special gift of all

Smullen is creeping me the freak out for no reason but good to see the lieutenant's back

ok so how much of this was based on a true story (or at least on true writer feelings)

why do I feel like this show's a step away from nondiegetic-to-the-show-within-the-show fat jokes

Elsbeth nat 20s the persuasion check as usual

is this episode just one big Merrily We Roll Along homage

and I'm getting flashbacks to drama class

another indirect SHMT reference with the yes and on an episode that deals with equivalent CBS-Expy behind-the-scenes drama

is she trying to be Angus and is this meant to be some other kind of foreshadow

I could have sworn (either on Elsbeth or some other similar procedural) I saw someone improv-ing a confession out of someone like that before

neuroweird brain gets stuck on the improv

so Smullen's not the bad guy in this scenario?

yes and another one bites the dust

Elsbeth cute outfit number three

parallels be paralleling

oh hi Cam

so I'm still having trouble figuring out what Kaya's deal is/how temporary the demotion could be/how much she'll appear/if she can come back to regular

but I was right about the best gift being for her

captain laying down the law no pun intended

so what did Elsbeth see in Smullen's prank

quite a way to do the little figured-it-out speech (and is her doing so from the audience in that kind of outfit some kind of reference)

and she sees the reference I saw

her theater-ing and her in the talk show host seat makes me want at least (if she wouldn't have time to lead both a scripted and unscripted show) Carrie Preston hosting SNL

half expecting a High-Potential-esque infodump about shredders

office supplies save the day

heartfelt moment with Elsbeth and captain that would have felt like it had Morgan/Soto energy if I didn't ship Morgan and Soto

and both of Grace's sides of herself get advancement