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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 33822" data-attributes="member: 23">AMENDSA nice procedural plot here. Thornton being on a task force with the women picked up Chris's thread of resentment from Trading Places and Shadow Of A Doubt. The show nicely laid some pipe by showing Thornton to be twitchy and somewhat inept when he came to the van in which they were staking out without considering that he could be drawing attention to them. He went in ahead and a shot can be heard. Chris and Mary Beth run inside to discover one of their own officers - Sergeant Marrin - shot dead. It quickly becomes evident that it was Thornton who'd shot him, thinking someone was coming at him. Nobody else was present. Thornton is still holding a gun, this time at Chris and Mary Beth and has to be gently talked into putting it down.James Stephens again does a nice job as Thornton. In his first two appearances he'd blended in nicely as the ineffectual, milquetoast type. This episode takes it a step further and shows him falling apart in the aftermath of killing an officer. It's also quite painful to watch his former colleagues giving him the big freeze. The only person who treats him like a human being is Mary Beth. As ever, Corassa is quick to judge and Esposito is along for the ride this time.Stephens' actions reinforce Chris's belief that he's pretty useless, and she repeatedly refers to him as a "desk jockey" who has no idea when it comes to going into the field. Stephens' painstaking research is dismissed as a waste of time.Once again, there was a nice little twist to the story: Marrin actually had been coming at Thornton. He'd been involved in gun running over a decade earlier as a uniform and was doing all he could to cover up and sabotage the task force's work by staying close to Thornton. It's a vindication that Chris takes a while to come round to, but the collar is eventually shared with Thornton - a decision that Thornton's former naysayers have clearly given a lot of thought to. It's a nice moment.Smoothing things over is a theme that carries over into Chris's recovery programme. A newcomer to AA asks Chris to be her sponsor, but Chris's sponsor feels she is not ready, having not worked her amends yet. Chris feels she knows better and takes on the sponsee but when the newcomer fires Chris as a sponsor because of her neglect, she quickly realises her sponsor is right.Ironically, Chris's amends process shows as many of Chris's flaws as it does her growth. The amends she makes to Donna LaMarr are grudging and perfunctory, though graciously accepted. She quickly turns the meeting into a snub when she mumbles an apology and leaves Donna to eat alone. When Donna asks if she can call Chris, the response is that Chris will call Donna. The implication being that she won't. Donna and Chris's relationship has been a really fascinating journey. I feel quite invested in it, and really wanted them to work it out. As far as I know, this is Donna's last episode of the show, and it's a bitter ending. I'm curious to know if Chris will learn anything from it in the final few episodes of the series.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?