I think something interesting happens here. Lee mentions again the documents they requested before, and it's Tory, the queen of Plausible Deniability, the stealer of elections, that answers. "Yes, right, I apologize. We've had trouble locating the files. We'll have them delivered to you on the next run?" And there's something about the look that Laura gives her, right then, faster than a blink, that makes me wonder who's driving this bus, really. It's intriguing. I can definitely see the kind of passion for rightness turning on her again this way. One of the things I've always loved about this show is the West Wing feeling it gives me, which is hard to put into words and not something I've been interested in talking about, before now. But at this point in the story maybe it would be interesting. If not, skip away. My friend Alison is an attorney, and we talked a lot during law school about the idea of being an officer of the court, about the ideal that is represented (and failed over and over) by service to the people, by being involved in government. I've been queer for civics since I was little: the first time I voted, I addressed everybody as "Citizen" for the rest of the day. Lame but true. Law is a kind of religion: it lets you know when to stop and it regulates those behaviors we don't always control. That's the point of government, of course -- to keep you from eating other people's babies -- but to dedicate yourself, your skills and your mind, to that service is the highest calling an atheist patriot like myself can even handle. This is the reason I love this show so much -- not the God stuff and the Jung and the Tennyson stuff, I can do that any time, on any show, as I've demonstrated all over this website -- and why I get goofy about it. What is higher than that? What is higher than consecrating your life and the work of your hands to people you don't even know? Hard to talk about. I've been trying to talk about it the whole recap and I still haven't gotten there.